Tired of eco-guilt, Susan Wasinger, author of Eco-Craft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle, decided to work with what she had on hand to create crafty works of art that are beautiful and useful. Now she's a "re-psycho and proud of it". Having learned to look at garbage in a new way she can now shed the guilt and enjoy life a little more, especially after staking out the local recycling center or shaking down a junk store to get goods for her creations.
The Inspiration Behind the Book Eco-Craft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle
Inspired by designer/architect/writer William McDonough the author of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things Wasinger created the book Eco Craft as "a homage to the idea that there is a secret life in even the lowliest garbage. All that is needed is a little coaxing and crafting to bring it back to life and put it to work in our homes and lives. It is a practical renaissance-rebirthing, invigorating, and animating these humble and much maligned materials. To use human ingenuity and imagination to create 'life after waste' is the ultimate transformation, not just of our stuff, but our way of thinking."
Eco-Craft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle: The Projects
Wasinger takes simple everyday items we almost all have on hand, like empty bottles, old sweaters, discarded paper, empty CD cases, plastic bags, plastic milk jugs, metal cans and more into super cool and creative items for everyday use. Old sweaters become a rag rug, glass bottles and jars become decorative vases and useful spice jars and other kitchen storage containers, CD cases become photo holders on a towel rack, paper gets crafty recycling into decorative bowls and pretty wrapping papers. She turns metal cans into pretty ornaments to hang on a Christmas tree or in a window.
My personal favorites are the glass baby food jars transformed into a beautiful candlelight chandelier and the suitcase projects that include a footstool, cat bed, and a serving tray. I also really like the barn wood and license plate birdhouses. The projects that I think are the most amazing...the plastic grocery bags turned into light shades, the milk jug pendant lights, and the six pack plastic screens.
I think with the times being tough people are turning to DIY projects and letting their creativity run wild. This book is a guide to show anyone that they can turn garbage not just into art, but useful, creative things that can be used in the home.
The eco-crafters, creative greenies, and DIYers alike are going to really enjoy Wasinger's Eco Craft book.
Eco-Craft: Recycle, Recraft, Restyle by Susan Wasinger, Lark Books ISBN: 978-1-60059-343-7 List Price: $24.95
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