I Am Not A Radicals Greenie, I Am Not Fanatical About Climate Change, I Am Not Even A Vegan.

I am not a radicals Greenie, I am not fanatical about climate change, I am not even a vegan. So what, you may ask, why are you telling me? In my own small way I save our household waste from landfill. We are talking plastic bottles, egg shells, egg boxes, toilet rolls, paper and more. Not only that I expect you to wear it or proudly display in your home.

No I am crazy. Let us look at soft drink bottles first, my family and friends, and I am sure you do to, drink soft drink from plastic bottle. There is rarely the option for glass bottle, although I did notice a trend in Europe this year for soft drink to come in glass bottles, but they were dinky, tiny bottles.

For me a plastic bottle becomes a brooch, a necklace, maybe earrings, a jewelry box, a vase, or a drinking vessel. Cut the bottom off the bottle, you will see it already looks a bit like a flower. Now shape it, paint it, heat it and decorate with beads, maybe some glitter and there you have a beautiful brooch that does not look or feel like humble its origins. Take the sides and make petals for a necklace. The lids of the bottle become cute little hats, worn as brooch or pendant or hair clip.

A few years back I had an exhibition called "Waste not, Want not" the theme was recycling. As I prepared the catering, I realise how hypocritical it was to use disposable plastic cups. My solution was to take small coke bottles, cut the top off and iron the rough edges to make them smooth. Does not everyone iron plastic bottle? Ok maybe not. They made great drink containers and gave the bottle one more use before landfill. To my surprise, the guests had each taken their drink cup with them presumable to use again.

Eggshells, we eat eggs everyday, my granddaughter loves them, they are so versatile, and I know the do not take up much room. They do however make the most beautiful brooches, rings, or necklace. You can even decorate a whole egg for Easter or just to decorate your house. It was good enough for Faberge.

Ok you have eaten the eggs and you now have all these boxes. Just blend them with water and you get this amazing paper clay. Use like any other clay and make bowls, ornaments. No need to bake, just paint and varnish your finished creation.

How many toilet rolls do you go through in a week? Then you throw out the empty cardboard roll. Not allowed to give them to childcare for craft projects anymore. Still cannot get my head around that one. I am told they are unhygienic. Do you know what kids put in their mouth? and these rolls are unhygienic!!

I make them into flowers, pretty flowers that you do not need to water. You can have them any color you like. I would really love to make a wedding bouquet from them. Not keen on flowers, how about a lovely canvas on your wall? Yes it does look like metal or something more substantial. Abstract, 3 dimensional creations that change when you walk around them, or just a floral arrangement. Lovely ladies in hats are my best seller. Quilling or paper filigree is an art form that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. Anything you can do with Quilling paper, you can make with toilet rolls, but you have the option of larger scale projects.

Not only do I save bottles, eggshells, paper and more from landfill I even make money out of this pastime. My website/blog https://wordpress.com/view/erykagarbuttdesignsblog.wordpress.com is on Wordpress, I have an Etsy Store https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/eryka91?ref=seller-platform-mcnav, I do local markets and sell at a local gallery.