Plarn; a labor of love?

I am making new, durable objects out of something we think of as worthless trash while transforming it in such a way that most people I have come across don’t even know that these were once plastic bags.  But, reflecting back over my long history with plarn, I sometimes wonder, “is it worth it?”

To say that crocheting with plastic bags is labor intensive is an understatement quite frankly.  If you are unfamiliar with the process allow me to break it down for you.

First, I collect the plastic grocery sacks.  Simple right?

That is step one, and already I have hit my first obstacle because I do not have the opportunity to procure bags in the normal fashion.  I’m not saying that I don’t accumulate plastic bags because I am a canvas-bag-toting-saint.  I am saying that my husband works at a Trader Joe’s and does all of our grocery shopping.  He should use reusable bags exclusively but he doesn’t.  Instead he usually uses the paper bags that Trader Joe’s give out (and reuses them over and over until they wear out).  In fact, I didn’t know that TJs even had a plastic bag option until Jon prof read this post.  But I digress.

So where do I get all my plastic bags you wonder?  A couple of places.  First, I have a number of friends and family members who save up their bags and give them to me.  This is how I get the majority of my bags.  But since most of my closest friends and family members try to use reusable market bags whenever possible (which is a good thing!) it can take quite a long time to accumulate the quantity of bags that is necessary to create the products that I make.

The other way that I obtain bags is a little more tricky.  I go to super markets and take the bags that other people bring for recycling.  Yes, you heard me correctly; I steal plastic bags.  Now here I will rant a bit because this bothers me.  Why should I be made to feel like a criminal for taking something that nobody wants (plastic bags) and recycling it?  Once, I went to a local grocery store (the Giant Eagle on W 117th, Cleveland) and I wanted some used bags.  My husband was with me and for some reason he decided that he wanted to actually ask the manager if it would be all right if I take the bags.  To our surprise his answer was NO, it was not all right!  At this point I told him why I wanted the bags and his response was, “well how am I to know for sure what you will do with the bags?  For all I know you could take them and throw them in the lake!”  I kid you not, that is what he said.  Then I went to another local super market (Marc’s in Lakewood, OH).  The first time I went I asked the person at the customer service counter if I could take their recycled bags and was relieved when the man said “of course.”  I did this on a couple of occasions until one day I went in and the bin where the bag are returned was bolted shut!  I now only resort to “stealing” bags when I am particularly desperate for a certain color, or my supply is non-existent.

The next step is sorting the bags.  Above is a particularly good haul of plastic bags that my mom and brother collected over several months and gave to me all at one time.  Each bag is checked for cleanness and sorted by color.  Below I have made small bundles of like-colored bags, which breaks them into more manageable amounts when I go to make them into plarn.

After I have at least 30 or so bags of one color I’m ready to make a ball of plarn, which involves cutting each bag, one at a time, and looping the individual pieces together, as shown below.  For a more detailed explanation of this process you may want to read my tutorial on how to make plarn.

Wow, that was a lot of work!  But wait, I haven’t even “made” anything yet!

Next comes the fun part, crocheting the ubiquitous grocery bags into handbags, durable messenger bags, baskets, and cute little owls that sit in your home and make you happy.  This is the part that reminds me of the classic children’s story, Rumplestiltskin.  Instead of turning straw into gold I am transforming trash into…

some lovely purses…

owl wristlets…

a chevron messenger bag…

acorn baskets…

and cute owl decorations.

I enjoy coming up with different crocheted designs and finding old purses past their prime to take apart and use their zippers, buckles and handles.

But what about the question that I pose in the title of this post; is plarn a labor of love?

This is something that I have been thinking about more and more in the last few months following my participation in the Last Minute Market.  I had a wonderful time at the show.  It was the largest show that I have ever done to date and it was also the first time that I showcased ONLY my plarn items (as opposed to a hodge-podge of upcycled items).  The lowest price point at my table was $25.  To me this was all such a big risk.  What would people think?  Would I even sell enough to cover my table fee?  Three hours into the eight-hour show without a single sale I was beginning to have serious doubts.  But I didn’t give up.  The entire day I stood next to my table and engaged each and every person who walked by and gave my work the slightest side-ways glance.  I greeted them and asked them things like, “do you know what these are made of?” motioning toward my table.  To my surprise, most people couldn’t guess that everything on my table was made from plastic grocery bags.

That’s when I would bring them over to my table and show them the poster below as I briefly explained the process.  As I did so I could hear the excitement in my voice about how I developed my technique over the past seven and a half years, and how when I started I barely knew how to crochet at all!

Inevitably they would come to the same conclusion and ask the same question, which were, “this must take you a long time!” and “how many bags does it take to make one of these?”

Though I do my best to estimate how much time it takes me to make one of my purses and how many bags I use, the truth is that it is impossible to calculate.  Okay, maybe it’s not technically impossible, but it’s not the way I want to spend my time, making plarn and crocheting take long enough as it is!

However, what I suspect is at the root of their questions and comments is this, “is it really worth your time to do this?”  Excellent question, and one that I’m trying to figure out for myself.  It’s a question that a lot of craftspeople face, which is, ‘can I really charge what I would need to charge to pay for my time’ (because let’s face it, in my case that is all you are really paying for since the materials are mostly free).

The answer is…

No, I could never really charge enough for the individual items that I create to make my time worth it.  Yet I still keep making them.  I make them because it really is a labor of love; it’s something that I need to do.  I need to make these things with my hands.  I need to share them with other people.  I need to photograph them and write about them and talk to other people about them.  I need them to leave my home and live their own lives with other people.  I need them to be made out of trash, because it is the act of making something out of nothing that is attractive to me.  Plarn gives me an avenue to design and invent while appealing to my sensibilities toward the environment.  And now that I’m a mother, I want to pass on the ideals about reusing, recycling and resourcefulness to my daughter.

If you have liked this article I invite you to follow zween on Facebook.  You may also like to check out these previous blog posts that I have written about plarn specifically:

Crocheting with plastic bags; a six year journey
Toot Tuesday; Making Plarn
Wise Owl Plarn Wristlets
Cheveron Ombre Messenger Bag

Getting Ready for Market

The Last Minute Market is right around the corner!  It’s hasn’t been easy with a little one underfoot (well, attached directly to me actually), but somehow I managed to take a ridiculous amount of plastic grocery bags (saved from the landfill!) and turn them into plarn in a rainbow of colors…  (a big thank you to everyone who collected and delivered bags to me!  This wouldn’t have been possible without you!)

…It hasn’t always been pretty and my dining room table is still buried as I write this but…

Looking over my small army of owl wristlets, which is currently at 11, I have to say I feel a curtain amount of satisfaction.

Although the majority of my inventory consists of purses (owl and otherwise), I will be selling one lone Lorax made of plarn, which is my environmental mascot really.

Below is what my table will look like when you come to see me on Saturday!  Make sure to check out The Last Minute Market’s website for all the details but in the mean time here is what you really need to know;

When: Saturday December 15, 2012 10am-6pm
Where: The Screw Factory
13000 Athens Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio (My table will be on the 3rd floor)

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This post has been added to the link party Make it Pretty Monday on the Dedicated House.  Make sure to go check it out and see what other crafty people are up to!

Wise Owl Plarn Wristlets

Perhaps you are familiar with the nursery rhyme:

“A wise old owl lived in an oak.
The more he heard, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why aren’t we all like that wise old bird?”

I recently became acquainted with this nursery rhyme from Vernon Grant’s Mother Goose, one of my current favorite children’s books to read with little Virginia.  I love the illustrations and the fact that a lot of the nursery rhymes appear in a longer form than what I remember.  I also enjoy the short biography of Grant on the last few pages which describes his long career as an Illustrator, who is best know for creating the characters Snap, Crackle and Pop for Kellogg’s.

You may remember my first plarn owl wristlet, which appeared on my blog just over a year ago.  Well, it was such a big hit last craft show season, I decided to make a few new ones for the Last Minute Market, which I am so excited to be participating in this December 15th!

You may notice that I’ve made some changes to the design since it’s original creation.  The new version features a grosgrain ribbon for the wrist strap, which feels much better than the crocheted plastic against the skin.  The eyes and beak are a slightly different design as well.   And the over-all shape of the bag is a bit bigger and squatter than the original, making it both roomier and easier to access.

These plarn owl wristlets are made with all recycled and re-purposed materials; plastic grocery and newspaper bags, zipper, buttons and ribbon.   This owl is wise to think so highly of our planet and you should too!

Thank you for stopping by.  I’d love to hear your comments about this project if you have a minute or two.  Happy crafting everyone!

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This post has been added to the linky party Make it Pretty Monday on the Dedicated House, and Made by You Monday on Skip to my Lou.

Chevron Ombre Messenger Bag

Today I finished a messenger bag with a chevron ombre pattern that was made with the humblest of fiber materials; plastic grocery bags lovingly processed into plarn (plastic yarn).

Please enjoy the picture show of how this bag was created.

It all started with a ball of brown plarn…

…and a ball of pink plarn.

Since I had many shades of pink plastic bags I decided to incorporate an ombre design.  See how the pink transitions as I crocheted along, finishing the back panel after three days.

After the back panel was complete it was time to make the front. I could have done the same Chevron pattern here, but I decided to enlarge it instead. This section took one evening to complete.

Next I made a long strip of crocheted brown plarn to give the bag some thickness and then attached all the pieces together. I used pieces of yarn to hold everything in place as I worked so that all of the pieces were perfectly alined.

Finally, I attached an old belt for the strap, since it feels better for wearing than it would had I just made the strap of crocheted plarn.

And here is the messenger bag completed…

I hope you enjoyed the step-by-step pictures of how I made this bag.

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This post has been added to the linky party Make it Pretty Monday week 18 over on the dedicated house, Made by you Mondays over on Skip to my Lou, and Making Mondays Marvelous on C.R.A.F.T. so check them out for some linky fun!

Pink Plarn Bag for October

A few days ago my good friend Chris who owns and operates one of the cutest shops in Lakewood called Crafty Goodness gave me her sizable stash of pink plastic grocery bags along with several fabric belts.  Among the belts was a very tween-y pink and white striped number from Aeropostale, complete with a huge heart-shaped buckle!

I knew right away that I wanted to make another messenger-style bag with these new materials.  After starting over three times, I finally settled on the crochet hook and color pattern that I wanted to use.

This time around I went for my chunkiest hook, so as to make the bag lighter and more flexible.  Since it is a smaller design than my last messenger-style bag I think that this worked well.

This was my first time integrating white plastic bags into a tapestry crochet design.  I really like how the white and the pink bags pop against the brown, neutral bags.

When my husband came home, the first thing he said was that it looked like it was a breast cancer awareness bag because of the pink.  I hadn’t even thought of that!  Of course!

This year is the 25th anniversary of Breast Cancer Awareness Month which is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research into its cause, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and cure. The campaign also offers information and support to those affected by breast cancer.

To learn more about ways to reduce your risk for breast cancer, and how to detect it early, check out this article from the Mayo Clinic.

Thank you for stopping by!  Happy crafting!

This post was just been linked to Made By You Mondays on Skip to my Lou!

Plarn Owl Wristlet

Here’s an idea I’ve had for a while; turning my weeble wobble owl into a change purse.  Since it came out a bit large, I added the strap, thus making it into a wristlet.

This time I used a pale green for the eyes and pink for the beak (instead of white and orange, respectively).  Overall I’m happy with the way this turned out.  It’s the perfect size for your cell phone, credit card/ licence and some cash.

Not formilure with plarn?  Plarn is short for plastic yarn and is made entirely from plastic grocery bags.  To read more about how I came to work with plarn you can check out my previous post titled “Crocheting with plastic bags; a six year journey” and to learn how to make plarn yourself you can check out my post “Toot Tuesday; Making Plarn.”

Plastic Sack Button Bag

If you’ve been to a vintage store recently, or remember the 60s-80s, than you’ve probably seen a button bag.  It’s a pretty cute design really.  They have wooden handles, a lining, and an outer layer of the bag which is removable via the buttons and can be reversed.

I came across one such bag on a recent thrift store visit and knew immediately that I wanted to use it to make one of my handbags made with recycled plastic grocery bags.

What you see here is my second attempt.  My original idea was a variation on a granny square, but alas, it was an epic fail

What can I say?  I’m just really in love with working in the round and utilizing the tapestry crochet technique.

Yep, that zig-zag pattern didn’t happen by accident!  I love the variations in designs that can be achieved with tapestry crochet.

What sets this bag apart from all the other plarn (that’s plastic+yarn=plarn) bags I’ve made to date is that it’s lined.  Not that it needed to be lined.  In fact, I like it better when they aren’t, but since the lining was already attached to the handles I figured I might as well just leave it attached.

Like the messenger bag featured in my last post, this plastic bag purse will be available for sale starting this Friday, September 23rd in the gift shop at MOCA; Cleveland.

Thank you for stopping by!  If you are a fellow crafter who makes purses or items with plarn I’d love to hear from you.  Leave me a comment below.

Also, make sure to like the zween facebook page because I like it when people like zween.  It makes me feel good.  Plus, you will be updated whenever I write a post and sometimes I write up crafty tutorials, so what do you have to loose?

This post has just been linked up with Homework: today’s assignment, be inspired.  You can find more show and tell projects here.

AND, this post was just linked to Upcycled Awesome at the T-Shirt Diaries.  Click the link below for more upcycled awesomeness!

This post was also added to Made By You Monday.

Messenger Bag Revisited

Last week I decided to revisit a project that I made almost 6 years ago, a messenger bag made with plarn and featuring arrow designs.  You may remember me mentioning it last month in my post crocheting with plastic bags; a six year journey.

I had a lot of fun with this project.

Before I even started, I dug out the original bag from a box in the attic.  It looked really sad. The edges are all wonky from lack of knowledge in crochet, and because I used to use it quite a bit, it was more than just a little worn looking.

The last time I went thrift store shopping I bought a bunch of old fabric strap belts with metal rings to use as bag straps.  I got the idea from my friend Chris and her mother while at the Car Kulture Show last month.

I decided that a messenger-style bag would be the perfect application for one of these belts.

The pattern of this bag is very simple and almost identical to the original, except of course for the strap and the placement of the arrows. I also decided to incorporate some pink bags to go with the strips in the strap.

So what do you think?  Do you like how my new one came out?

If you really dig this bag and you live in the Cleveland area you will be able to purchase it from the gift shop at MOCA (museum of contemporary art; Cleveland) as of this Friday, September 23rd which marks their very last opening reception at their current location at 8501 Carnegie Ave, Cleveland.

For their farewell season they’ll be showcasing the works of sculpture Ursula Van Rydingsvard who is a “distinctive and compelling voice in contemporary art” and is “best known for creating large-scale, often monumental cedar sculptures that exude great physical and psycological power.  Her sinature abstract shapes refer to things in the real world–simple vessles, bowls, tools and other obejcts–each revealing the mark of the human hand while also summoning natural forms and forces.”

After dropping off nearly all of the plarn items that I have made to date at MOCA this morning I was privalaged to a sneak peak of the exhibit and let me just say it’s very impressive!  If you are in the Cleveland area this is a must-see for sure!  The opening is free and open to the public and will start at 7pm, but come early at 6 to hear Ursula talk about her work in person.

A Natural Evolution

During the Rowdy Indie Craft Fair a couple of weeks ago a young girl, probably between five and seven years old, spotted this basket on my table and excitedly announced to her mother, “mommy, mommy LOOK!  It’s an ACORN!”  Her mother, probably realizing that I had not meant for my basket to look like an acorn, seemed a bit uncomfortable and (needlessly) embarrassed.  She was right, I hadn’t meant for it to look like an acorn, but after the girl pointed it out I thought, hmm… that’s a great idea!  And so I made an acorn, and then another.

And then there was this little guy who I started making on a whim one day.  I didn’t want him to be just a plushy (and since he’s made with plastic bags, he wouldn’t be very plush now would he).  So he became a weeble wobble.

Today I finished this purse that incorporates the owl motif.  The shape is similar; it’s mostly just bigger and has a slightly flatter bottom.  I also added a recycled zipper and handles of course.

These projects are a microcosm of the evolution that my work (and life) have gone though.  With each new project something is learned or discovered and the road to the next project is paved.

I think about this a lot, and not just in terms of crochet.  It’s easy to feel behind in life.  Like I’m not where I should be.

When I start to feel like this I think of all the things that I’ve done that I look back on with any sort of fondness, pride, or satisfaction; trips I’ve taken, jobs I’ve had, projects I’ve finished.  Then I think about all the things that had to happen before I was able to do those things.

About six months ago I created this website as a platform to share my projects, ideas, and inspirations.  One hundred posts later, I’m still evolving.

This post was just added to Made By You Mondays on Skip to My Lou.  Click the link to check out other entries!

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Plastic Bag Bonanza!

As I write this post my studio and kitchen table are in complete and utter chaos, but at least I have something to show for it.

The chaos began yesterday when I decided to try my hand at fusing plastic bags.  though I’ve seen the technique on-line and in books, this was my first time actually doing it.  I found that watching this video by Etsy right before beginning to be extremely helpful.

After fusing the bags I decided to make some wallets.  They aren’t anything new.  I saw a similar wallet made from fused bags in a library book (The name of which has escaped me), but I made up the exact pattern for mine on my own.  It’s a standard bi-fold wallet with a pocket for bills plus four additional pockets for credit cards, licence, etc.

I found that the target bags work well for fusing, which I’m happy about since I wasn’t very excited about using them for making plarn.  I also like that fusing gives me another way of repurposing the plastic bags.

Once I made a few bi-fold wallets I decided to make some single pocket pouches for cards.  I think these would be great to house your business card collection, or better yet, those promotional punch cards that you get from just about everywhere you go these days (I work at a business that gives out these punch cards and people are forever loosing them).  These little pouches could even hold your credit card and licence, then slip discretely into your pocket.  Simple, yet effective, right?  It’s also a good way to take advantage of bags with neat logos or colors that you don’t have many duplicates of (which is important for making plarn).

I suppose you think that I will abandon the extremely labor intensive process of making plarn and crocheting with plastic bags now that I’ve discovered the magic of fusing, right?

Nope, that simply isn’t the case at all.  Below is a bag that I finished a couple of days ago.  The body of the bag was based off of the Easy as Pie Purse by Tracy B over on Ravelry.  If you read the pattern you will see that I removed the gusset and crocheted purse straps.  For the straps I used recycled leather ones off of an old purse and instead of a gusset I simply altered the pattern slightly by adding a couple of rows of stitches that don’t increase, thus making them curve inward.  The button is handmade by Jessi Gerak of Buttons Bones Ceramics.  She makes beautiful utilitarian ceramic pieces and was kind enough to give me this button during the May Day Show where we both vended.

Have you tried fusing plastic bags before?  What was your experience?  I’d love to see what you have come up with using this technique!  If you have, include a link in the comments below.  If you’ve never tried fusing bags but were inspired to do so by this post I’d love to here from you too!

To keep updated on all things zween, like zween on facebook.

Also, if you’ll be in the Akron, Ohio area this weekend I hope to see you at the Rowdy Indie Craft Fair this Sunday, August 14th.  It’s not just a craft fair either, as there will be craft and yoga demonstrations and live bands in the evening in addition to the awesome crafts to buy.  I’ll have these newly-made fused plastic bag creations as well as cards, earrings, gift boxes and much much more upcycled awesomeness!

*this post has just been added to Made By You Mondays over on Skip to my Lou.