Artists have always been expanding their craft through the use of new and unusual techniques and supplies. There are many artisans who are taking items that we normally dispose of and creating exciting and often functional works of art.
The sites included in the recycled art category share their recycled art items for sale and many also provide excellent craft tutorials on how to make your own items.
As an added bonus, all the website owners have included their favorite recycled art tips .
Recycling and crafting make for a wonderful adventure. Join me as I explore ideas and techniques to turn items we normally discard into fully functional and often wearable art. From crocheting and knitting with recycled plastic grocery and bread bags to re-purposing old denim, there's bound to be something that would interest most crafters. Join me to explore new ways to merge recycling and crafting and share a bit of friendly conversation as well.
When making plarn (plastic yarn from grocery bags) don't throw away the handles and ends, use them for packing material, stuffing, fringe on plastic projects or use as a basis for other art projects like flowers.
This wonderful blog features a variety of crafty goodness but our favorite idea is using an old T-Shirt to create yarn. The blogger includes a fully-illustrated, step-by-step tutorial along with a great crochet drawstring bag to make with the yarn.
In order for your T-shirt yarn to curl nice, do not make your strip from fabric that contains any decoration. Embroidery, iron-ons and other transfers will make the fabric stiff and keep it from making a consistent thickness of yarn.
As her site explains, Nicola is an e-waste recycler. She makes jewelry, arts and crafts and other useful items from discarded technology items. She offers some items for sale in her shop. Her blog talks about her adventures in recycling and provides a number of cool tutorials to make your own e-waste, recycled crafts.
Instead of buying a fancy card holder to display your business cards at a craft show, how about using an old cassette case. Simply open it up fully and place your cards in it for display.