Posted by Snow in 
Everything old is new again, or so the story goes. Now is the time the winter of many homeowner’s discontent, but make a glorious summer of windfall income come Christmas with gifts made from recycled items and clear a profit that would make Dickens grin.
Right now at this time in the economy is an excellent time to get out looking for recycled materials. People are picking up stakes and moving away and leaving things curbside that might make amazing furniture or gifts or even art. This is when recycling is at its cleanest, when owners and consumers let go of their new or slightly used stuff to move on.
Pick your medium in wood, steel, plastic or textiles. There is so much stuff being made available shopping bags of materials may be hitting thrift shops now straight from the closet where they were put when they came home from the store.
Wood is going to need some research and basic skills and tools to handle. Steel will need specialized tools, a workshop, and electrical ot other expertise to operate the tools that manipulate the metal. Plastic will need cutting or even melting facilties if you feel comfortable with the science and can operate in a health, environmentally safe manner.
And any collection of items is a decorator’s top makeover theme, be it lamps, sailboats, anchors, monkeys, lighthouses. If you start looking over garage sales and thrift shops and curbside Freecycle fodder, you will get best pick of designer fabric or pillows or whatever premum item the homeowner is chucking to move elsewhere.
Let’s establish that for example you want to make purses. Finding zippers, fabrics, fabric linings, button or specialty hardware migth be costly at the craft store. But focus on these things in a recycle or thrift store hunt for a year or two and you will have a collection to farm out labor to manufacture those purses.
Textiles is probably the easiest material to work with. Check out what simple crafts or products you can make, then focus on quality. Make this the year you do the booth at the craft fair, or make this the year you put that fun hobby on Ebay, or start selling your wares in trendy stores or coffee houses.
The best of sustainable living and green eco-friendly business is to re-use snaps, zippers, buttons, even sewn button fabrics and zippers from other materials and garments again on another project item or craft. Giving a gift that has saved spaced in a landfill os really giving twice, to the recipient and the planet both at the same time.
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