From Melbourne, Australia, the jewelry artist (or jewellerey artist) Mainichi creates playful necklaces from recycled upholstery leather and found materials. Many of her necklaces contain movement with hanging, dangling strings and objects. Other pieces consist of layering leathers with vintage Japanese kimono silk fabric or felt with stitched details. Simply gorgeous.
Read about her adventures in jewelry design, interior design and parenting on her blog: http://www.mainichidesign.blogspot.com/ and check out her flickr site...it is inspirational!
Necklace is $54.00 at Mainichi’s Etsy Shop

Working on a little peace theme today…. First up:
The peace sign handbag is handmade in Guatemala from recycled vintage textiles. Perfect when you want a unique and original gift. From Gambia, Africa, comes these peace pendants made entirely from leftover scrap wood by local artisans. This is part of a movement that you can support to reduce illegal woodcutting and harvest sustainably. All products from Planet One Gifts are produced under fair trade principles.
Available at Planet One Gifts

I found two etsy artists that are doing amazing work with fused plastic from recycled plastic grocery bags. ... true trash to treasure!

First is San Diego artist, Emily Grace from Emily Grace and the Yellow Suitcase. Her designs are made from heat fused plastic which is then hand-stitched to wire and then combined with sterling silver chain and occasionally some vintage beads. The pieces are soft and pliable and can be left lying flat or gently sculpted into a more three dimensional shape for special occasions or the perfect neckline.

Necklaces are available for $90.00 at Emily Grace Suitcase’s Etsy Shop

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The second artist working in fused plastic from recycled plastic bags is Cynthia Del Giudice located in the Argentine Pampas outside Buenos Aires, Argentina. Cynthia combines delicate flowers made from recycled plastic grocery bags with cultured freshwater pearls and sterling silver chain. So dainty and beautiful …and what a lovely conversation piece to raise awareness of plastic pollution.


$200.00 at Cynthia Del Giudice’s Etsy Shop

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Here’s a few good tutorials for fusing plastic. Don’t forget to work in a well-ventilated area….the fumes can be toxic!

• Fusing Plastic Bag Tutorial via Etsy Labs


• Video Tutorial from Etsy


• Make Sewable Fabric from Plastic Bags via Craftster

Surfing around the web this morning, I’m getting totally depressed reading about the amount of plastic crap that is choking our oceans. And seeing all the plastic crap that infiltrates my life everyday. It is so hard to avoid it! To lift my mood, I am finding inspiration from these necklaces that were created by designer, Barbara de Vries from plastic that she finds along the beaches of the Bahamas. Her website (which will soon be open to online shopping) can be found at: http://www.itsamanmadeworld.com/

Orange Cross Neck Piece – Not for Sale

Black Weave Necklace – $250.00 – Made from a segment of black grid

Turquoise Grid Neck Piece – $450.00 – Created from a turqoise blue crate that had been rolling around in the ocean for years and strung on found blue fisherman rope.

A percentage of the proceeds of these jewelry pieces will go towards the Cape Eleuthera Institute. An organization based in the Bahamas, which researches resource management and sustainability geared to marine and island life.

If this is your thing, more recycled plastic jewelry from the oceans can be found here.

And here are a couple of sites that are helpful for learning how to live with less plastic:
Fake Plastic Fish, The Rubbish Diet and My Zero Waste. This post was inspired by reading Plastic Pollution Coalition’s Facebook Fanpage.

Easter is coming and you can have the most eco-friendly …not to mention the most interesting peeps a person could hope for! Made from recycled vintage radio vacuum tubes. The chicks are flocked so that they are fuzzy and the roosters come with hand shaped comb cocks and beaks. Get them quick because I don’t think my Easter will be complete with out a dozen of these!
$8.00 each at LunaClayDesign’s Etsy Shop

A doodad tchotchke of the recycled vacuum tube kind!
$16.00 at LunaClayDesign’s Etsy Shop

Wear a vacuum tube around your neck and remind yourself of simpler times and bigger boxier TV sets. Those days before flat screens were grand! weren’t they?
$20.00 at HighWindSteamWork’s Etsy Shop

A hanging decor item anywhere you need some inspiration. Perfect for those of you who turn on your lights with a pull chain. It is created from a vintage vacuum tube, also known as a thermionic valve.
$95.00 at TrashandTrinket’s Etsy Shop

This clock is made from a recycled 7” sawblade and is adorned with 1950’s era vintage radio vacuum tubes. Begs you to ask the question, “Does anyone really know what time it is?”
$49.00 at OverClocked’s Etsy Shop

Created from a recycled vintage electrical vacuum tube and adorned with a purple butterfly image sealed on to the outside of the tube.
$50.00 at Thesteampunktrunk’s Etsy shop