Thursday, August 26, 2010

Plastic - can't live with it, can't live without it

A while back I remember there were these commercials that for some reason were promoting plastic and how it makes things possible. The environmentalist in me shudders at plastic and yet it's unavoidable. It does make things possible. However, it also uses petroleum, a non-renewable resource, and it never breaks down in the environment. So what's to be done?

That is a question to which I have no answer. I've been trying to think up a way to use some of the plastics that I would normally throw away in my next series of art quilts about the environment and our natural parks. Anyway, I got onto this tangent today as I was looking over a handbag design competition by LuciteLux. There really are some stunning handbags made of this material.

For some reason...perhaps the plastic connection, this made me think of the 3D design class I took in college where we made an article of clothing out of nontraditional materials and it definitely did not have to be wearable. (Even at that time I was concerned about recycling because mine was a take on patchwork, where I took small bits of old ugly fabrics and stapled them together into a shirt.) One of my favorite pieces from the class was a dress made from walmart bags that the student had woven together. I loved the interesting things that the "fabric" did in the light and was amazed at how something so ugly that we all had in our apartments could be transformed into a dress. Unfortunately I don't have pictures, so I searched out what articles of clothing others might have made from plastic, and here are some interesting ones:
by Jamie K. McIntosh from Twisted Textiles 
 by Elaine O'Malley and Lisa Anne Fullerton for Fiji Water
 Finally, no it's not made from plastic, but from men's silk ties. I first saw a skirt made of ties when I was in college and have wanted to make one ever since:
Also while I was looking I came across an artisan website I've never been to before: ArtFire. I saw these really cool wrist ruffles and think they're great. What an accessory!

Now, back to where I originally started...what should my handbag design be??? Hmmm...

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