Making use of leftovers
Over the years, I have accumulated a nice little quantity of scrap material - from felt, to old clothes, to unused linen - all of which ended up in a bag bundled away somewhere. While I intend to make more sustainable and eco-friendly choices when choosing material for my projects in the future, I wasn't keen on the idea of throwing my scrap bag away, but also wasn't sure what exactly to do with it. In recent years, I started sewing again from time to time, and saw new use for these materials. From a previous dilemma - my mushroom keyrings were born!
Reusing as opposed to discarding is in part what inspired their invention: each one carefully cut, ironed out and stitched by hand. Featuring material from well-loved dresses and using leftover material from old projects as stuffing, these little friends are made as a testament to our ability to make use of what we have when living in a materialistic world that pushes the 'fast-food mentality' - something that the teachings of Islam couldn't stress more against.
If your mushroom starts to show signs of wear and tear, see if you can patch the little guy up! But if it begins to fall apart and looks like it's ready to let go, see if you can continue the cycle and try and re-use it in projects of your own. At some point in the future I'll be releasing the pattern on my Ko-Fi, so for a one time donation you can use it to make as many little friends as you want :)
Happy crafting!
Salt, flour, and acrylic power
It usually goes without saying that the first paints we ever dabble in as children end up being acrylic. However, when I found out a few years ago that they were essentially plastic and that rinsing them out in the sink along with the waste water can be harmful in the long run to both the environment and the pipes themselves, it had me pondering. The fact remains that the medium is generally inexpensive, largely accessible and used by many artists around the globe to make wonderful pieces of art. At the very least, we can look to minimise the negative environmental effects. In a bid to use up the boxes of my old acrylic tubes that would otherwise go to waste, I started to make magnets with homemade air-dry clay, using acrylic paint to decorate and a healthy coating of mod podge as the sealant.
There are many videos online that show how to more effectively dispose of acrylic paint/waste water. And so as not to limit our artistic horizons, we can also look to experiment with a range of mediums which helps develop both new and pre-existing skills and is very rewarding in its own right :)
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