By Steven Davies,
Healthy Planet Columnist
So, over the years, I’ve attempted to take things like glass bottles and turn them into flower vases and even drinking glasses. I would paint flowers or trees on them to create the vases while I would cut the tops off and then sanding the edges to make the glasses.
The glasses I did back when I was probably in high school. The flower vases I actually did just a year or two ago. Sitting here and thinking about it, this probably all started even before that. In fact, when I was a kid, we used to get old fruit crates from down at our corner grocery store to make things like toys and even go-carts.
Then this past week, I discovered that my neighbor across the street takes old wooden pallets to make things like benches and chairs. When I asked him, he said he hadn’t tried selling them yet. I think the reason I asked him that was because I recently started thinking about trying to sell those glass vases.
I’ve only done a couple but I have a friend who loves to sew and has been selling her quilts at some of the local craft fairs. I think I need to go to ask her about that. I think I also need to get my paint brushes back out this weekend. Truth be told, I’ve been inspired.
Something else I’ve also been doing lately is framing some of my artwork. As a photographer of nature, I first thought I would learn to frame and matte some of my pictures but, then I decided to create my own pieces by buying framed artwork at some of the local used stores around town and then mix and match them with my photography to create new pieces. Whatever I have left over, I then donate back to the stores.
Seems like all in all, recycling, reusing and reducing has been a part of my life, for longer than I even realized. It’s also nice to see my friends and neighbors enjoying it as well.
If you have any recycling questions please email me at thprecycler@yahoo.com