Plarn Purses - Using Plastic Bags as Yarn

Interview with a fascinating lady with a fabulous green craft. 

I met Pat at the One of a Kind Show last November. She was perusing the aisles carrying a bag with a story. Keep reading to find out about up-cycling, plastic bags, plastic soup, plarn, Pat's recipe for greener living and some pretty darn good looking Plarn Purses.

How did you get into up-cycling? 

Well, necessity is the mother of invention, My grandma who was a single mother who had to raise her children during the great depression taught me be thrifty and to use any resources I could.I watched (and helped) her cut up old clothing to make patchwork quilts.She said that wasting usable things is sinful. I can remember how she would take old greeting cards and cut them up to make gift tags for presents, She even let me use her pinking shears to make them look prettier.

 She also taught me  how to knit and crochet. She was real good at it, She made those colorful  fancy doilies. My mom still has some of them in her tables.

 For Christmas one year I got one of those looms to make pot holders, Grandma suggested I use loops from cutting up old shirt sleeves to weave into pot holders.

 So for years everyone got woven pot holders as gifts from me.

  My older cousin lived on a farm. She would unravel the string that is sewn across the feed  and flour bags, tie them together and crochet them into dish towels.I thought that was a great idea . henceforth, a monster was born. I kept an eye out for anything that could be used as thread to be either knitted or crocheted.

 Years later I  also found myself  a single mother. So I had to become creative and make do, I can remember cutting up old jeans, to make covers for my daughters diapers. No pampers here , She wore cloth diapers, rubber pants, with fancy embroidered  denim covers, She was called a baby hippie. I still have the denim skirt that I made for myself. I opened the leg seams up and put in a patchwork panel and had myself a "maxi" skirt.

Why Plastic Bags?

 Not to give away my age but I can remember the line in Dustin Hoffman's, The Graduate, where his uncle put his finger in the air and said "Plastics" I was wondering what's up with Plastic? Little did I know that it could become such a hazard to the planet.

The grocery stores started to use plastic bags. They held up so much better than the paper ones especially where I live and have to haul groceries in the snow. I live at 9,352 feet above seal level in the Rocky Mountains. We see a lot of snow! Plastic held up so much better. I always found other uses for the bags. We even used them  on our feet under our boots to keep our feet dry in the snow.There were always plenty of reuse for those bags.

The idea hit, loop them together to make a carryall bag that will hold up with heavy use. I toyed with lots of different styles ( and still am). The handle has to be sturdy with not too much stretching. 

How do people react to your work?

When people first see my purses they don't realize that they are made from recycled plastic bags. They don't look like plastic bags after they are cut, spun onto "plarn" then knitted or crocheted into sturdy carryalls and sometimes elegant purses. So far everyone who has seen them are delighted and have to hear all about the Pacific Garbage patch and the poor marine life.

Where do you get your materials?

After  I used up my personal stash of plastic bags, I put ads on Craigslist asking for people's colorful bags that the newspaper comes in. Sometimes I find a "bag of bags" on my car seat or front door. Needless to say I have an unlimited supply of free plastic bags.

How did you first hear about the "Plastic Soup", the floating waste of the Pacific Ocean?

One Earth day I was watching Oprah. She had people on talking about the "great Pacific Swirl"  I researched and found  out more about the "plastic soup"in the ocean. I was disgusted with what I was seeing and hearing, Oh!, those poor marine animals. They don't know what plastic is and think it is food, eat it  then have it bind up their guts so they die a painful death. Once they die they fall to the bottom of the sea another fish will come along, eat the dead animal, get their guts bound up with the same piece of plastic and also die. How many sea animals can be killed by the same piece of plastic?

Why should people be concerned?

I read research that was done by Greenpeace about this problem. They say that 20 billion tons of trash in dumped into the oceans each year.There is no safe place to dump plastic.  This problem is threatening the food chain because a large amount of the of the food we eat comes from the sea. Another frightening fact is that the oceans produce 70% oxygen on this planet... need I say more?

What steps have you taken to reduce your contribution to the "Plastic Soup"?

I always tried to keep my carbon footprint small as possible. Almost every thing I own was bought on the used market and very little of it is made of plastic.

What green steps do you suggest to people that are concerned about waste?

People need to become conscious of this problem and think twice before buying disposable products. As well as buying in bulk where you could provide your own container to avoid having to throw away packaging. There are many ways each person can be conscious of  their carbon footprint, their own health as well as the health of this beautiful planet.

  

You can read more about the Pacific Swirl by visiting Pat's website www.rockymttreasures.com. Be sure to stay tuned because new designs will be posted soon.

This concludes our Plastic Week on Purple Carrots and Fairy Smoke I hope you had a great week. Have a wonderful weekend, see you on Monday!

Take care!

Turning Plastic Back into Oil

I don't know about you, but I generally get pictures of wide-eyed puppies and dancing elves as FWD messages in my Inbox. My mother, however, seems to have very enlightened friends because once again, today's post is possible courtesy of Mum's Inbox.

The video I have re-posted today is about an exceptional japanese machine, a machine that turns plastic trash back into oil. The Man behind this invention is Akinori Ito, Ceo of Blest. His love of nature and the realization of the present state of the world motivated the invention of conversion technology. The video explains very little of the process but Blest assured Our World 2.0 that if the proper materials were fed into the machine no toxic residues would be produced and that the machine is equipped an off-gas filter to transformed methane, ethane, propane and butane into water and carbon.

Our World 2.0 quoted Ito saying: "To make a machine that anyone can use is my dream[.] The home is the oil field of the future.” With our garbage bags bulging with plastic packaging  and the threat of disappearing oil, our trash may well be the oil of the future.

For the time being the conversion machine is not available to the public but it has been implemented in farms, fisheries and small factories all over Japan and is slowly expanding to other countries.

Watch the video, read the article by Carol Smith and come back and let me know what you think.

Is this the miracle solution we have been waiting for?
Or another excuse for consumerism?
Or maybe it's a small step towards a more conscious future. 



Take care!

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Sources: 

Smith, Carol. "Plastic to oil fantastic." Our World 2.0 27 Aug. 2010. Oil. 03 Jan. 2010 .

The Ubiquitous Plastic Bag

Plastic bags or more precisely the preferential use of reusable bags is all the buzz these days when talking about concrete actions the consumer can take to help the planet, and for good reason; according to the New York Times, the quantity of plastic bags used in the United Sates of America, alone, may be as many as 1 billion plastic bags every year. 
Consider this: 
1- the average usage is of 20 minutes,
2- they will remain in our landfills or floating around our cities for over 100 years, 
3- if they do not end-up in landfills, they litter our oceans where they are a frequent cause of death for endangered marine life.
With this in mind, it may be a very good idea to find a way to reduce our consumption and find something to do with these bags.

Reducing the number of bags we use per year is quite an easy problem to solve: bring your own bags or leave without a bag. Most of the time the items we buy don’t actually need to be put in a bag; like chocolate bars, packs of gum, or even a bottle of water. Don’t blame the cashiers, they have been brainwashed into a highly efficient monotonous routine of greeting, offering another product or service, rapidly putting items in a bag, and wishing the customer a nice day. They don’t even realize they’re doing it. That’s where you come in. Before getting to the cash, put down your cell phone, put on your nicest smile, rapidly respond to the greeting and add “I won’t be needing a bag, thank you!” This might not register the first time so patiently repeat and if necessary, remove the items from the bag. They may find you annoying and perhaps a little tree hugging weird but keep it up, being slightly marginal for the right causes is worth it. A wise woman once told me that showing the example is not just a good way of effectively influencing others, but the only way. The most common argument for continuing to rely on grocery bags is the promise of a second use: for when you walk the dog, to put in your garbage bins, etc.. We all know plastic bags have a way of coming to you even when you are trying your best to avoid them. 

Side note to Dog Owners: Picking up your precious darlings excrement is most probably your least favorite part of the dog owning experience and although just leaving it there for the elements to wash always may seem to be the "greener" option, it not (especially in a city environment). There is a great option called BioBag. Whole Dog Journal gave these bags a 4 out 4 paw rating because this product passed the ASTM 6400 testing for compostable bags. You can purchase online without shipping fees at dirtworks.net.

Let's be realistic here, occasions will arise when will have no other choice but to accept plastic bags.  Most recycling centers accept plastic bags if they are all gathered up and not left to drift around your blue bin, however, recent information points to differing policies depending on the recycling center. These plastic bags will be melted down and hopefully be used to form new bags or other plastic objects, but their fate is uncertain. Interestingly, most plastic grocery bags are already made from recycled material, that’s one thing they’ve got going for them.

                In Nigeria, they have come up with an interesting idea to put to good use the large quantity of plastic bags that find their way into their city in spite of the recent ban and newly implemented fines; they melt them down to form super resistant cobblestones. The method is quite simple. First you melt down polyethylene bags (those that do not liberate toxic products) in an oven, then you add sand (an abundant resource in this arid region). After 30 minutes, you pour the resulting mixture into a mold and in less than 45 minutes, you have ready-to-use cobblestones. This project was started by Paolo Giglio, a Nigerian artisan, whose aim was to reduce the quantity of bags littering his home town and give jobs to the local people, however, even though the ministry has approved his products, no contracts have been received and the plastic stones are just piling up (2004).

              Plastic bags are practical, easy to dispose of and available; their presence in the future is undeniable. Never the less, a little effort and innovation on our part will reduce their impact on the aesthetics of our cities and the survival of bag eating wildlife like whales and turtles.   

How do you avoid hoarding plastic bags home?

Coming up: Japanese ingenuity to the rescue.  

Take care! 

{Being Green} Reusing Plastic Bottles

Good Morning and welcome to Monday,

Let's start this week off right with a new Green Scheme. This week's concept comes to you courtesy of my Inbox and my Mother who lovingly sent me this viral email.

Although I don't often have plastic bottles available (I try not to buy them), I liked the idea and thought I should share it through another medium.  It could come in handy for my peas and beans I buy per pound from the Health Food Store and who knows what creative ways a fresh Monday Morning Brain can come up with. Right? Okay.

The Concept: Use the top of a bottle to seal the common plastic bag.

What you need: A plastic bottle, scissors, a plastic bag (sandwich bag or bulk produce bag)

How to: 1. Empty and clean the plastic bottle.  With the scissors, carefully cut off the top of the bottle leaving about an inch of the neck bellow the cap.

2. Remove the cap. Insert the bag through the top of the bottle (from the bottom) and screw the top back into place. You now have a bag that is air-tight and easier to pour once you master the technique of holding the bottle.

If you decide to take this idea for a whorl, let me know how well it worked and what you used it for. I'm curious.

Take care!

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Credits
Thanks Mum!
[Picture credits] : Source Unknown, (they came with the email)