Needlework and Earth Day
22nd April is a fun day of the year for me. As if an excuse were needed to enjoy fresh air and beautiful living things and clean places. As a person who loves needlework and other arts and crafts, though, I often find myself conflicted when it comes to the supplies and materials used to create my pieces.
If the product itself is earth friendly, was the process to make it also earth friendly? What impact on the earth does a company such as DMC (with it hundreds of quality color-fast flosses and myriad nifty products) have in producing all these stash bits we so love to hoard and use? What about frames and hoops? Which option is better for the environment, the plastic, metal or wood? And when figuring in the life of the product, and how often it would be replaced compared to the others, which is best? In the end, I do what most of us probably do. I buy the things that look like they’d be fun to use or have, and I buy the nicest quality product I can afford at the time.
In needlework, it seems that often the nicest quality products, are also the ones designed to last forever, and made from such materials as lovely hardwoods, or high-grade metals. A great pair of needlework scissors will last forever, maybe only needing an occasional sharpening, for instance. The flosses we covet and drool over tend to be hand-colored or made from natural materials such as silk.
I have not seen a company yet that is producing flosses and frames and such from recycled materials, although I poke around online occasionally searching for such a thing. I will be sure to share the information if I do find such a company! :) I had hoped to be able to highlight some recycled fiber needlework projects to create today, and totally failed at finding anything online. If (when?) I do happen across such a project, I’ll share- even if I stumble upon it before Earth Day 2007.
Well, what to do in honor of the day when I couldn’t find a project using recycled goods? I remembered I had seen a Flickr group for using what you already have to create Stuff. Use what you have is a really fun group, and I am planning to do a month of “use what I have” in May. (This gives me a couple more weeks to buy stash first! ahahaha!)
About Use what you have
A challenge for crafters - take a month with no new supply purchases. Post pictures of the things you make using only what\’s already in your stashes.
If you want some inspiration, be sure to check out the photos tagged ‘embroidery’.
Tags: inspiration, Needlework, Stash, thoughtsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Needlework in Culture, thoughts
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