7/28/2021
One of my hobbies is sending snail mail to my friends. For me, the lost art of letter writing allows me to share my creativity with others in the form of sketches, hand-made books, and paper crafts. However, rather than spend money on stationary supplies that tends to be on the expensive side, I try to recycle as many materials as I can.
Using Recycled Materials for Snail Mail
7/28/2021
One of my hobbies is sending snail mail to my friends. For me, the lost art of letter writing allows me to share my creativity with others in the form of sketches, hand-made books, and paper crafts. However, rather than spend money on stationary supplies that tends to be on the expensive side, I try to recycle as many materials as I can.
I love the old-fashioned look of envelopes made from brown butcher’s paper, so I save the paper bags I get when I go to Starbucks and Wholefoods. I also save paper bags from Bath and Body Works as well as other stores to have more color. Then I cut and glue the sides of the bags to fit the front of my envelope and start adding other elements to decorate. I also have a Harry Potter book who’s pages have been falling out, so I started cutting them up to use as well. The chapter titles and illustrations add some nice sketch art as well.
Clothing tags and leftover pieces of patterned scrap paper are also great for adding some contrast in texture. I have a lot of full sheets of scrapbook paper and whenever I cut pieces out of them, I always keep the larger scraps to be used for something later. While it’s fun to make crafts, I think it’s even better when you challenge yourself to use materials you already have.
I covered the front of two envelopes with recycled bags to give them an aged look.
I used a Starbucks bag to cover a larger envelope and then used a white Gelly Role pen to draw a flower.
Different patterned paper make great additions. I use them to mount the sender and recipient's address as well as fake bookmarks placed at the top.
Old book pages add a bit of whimsy and personality. I also use different washi tapes to add more patterns. I realize now that the flower washi tape is upside down.
The Problems with Fast Fashion
4/22/2021
This collage I created using objects from my past jobs in retail in order to critique the fashion industry. The items I used are laid out to look like a fashion runway. I used receipts from my purchases at Michael Kors to make up the runway and the seating areas on either side are made up of clothing tags. The money bills in the background are meant to represent capitalism as well as the oversight these companies have on their products and how they meticulously plan their marketing to gain the most profit. Behind the bills I have leaflets that I had to fill out at the beginning of every shift when I worked at Kate Spade. This included the store goal for the day and how many handbags I was expected to sell that shift with the average cost of each one. They also included tips on how to increase sales such as how to introduce a product to a guest or how to persuade them to buy a matching product to go with their outfit or handbag. This again represents how fashion companies are very number-oriented in their goals and how unhuman-like they are.
In the background I also have a cheat sheet that I would use at work to quickly calculate the final prices of various products after discounts. At the very back of my collage, as seen on top, is green paper that I hand-made using recycled paper. I included this to provide a contrast to all of the waste that the fashion industry produces, especially paper waste from packaging. I also wanted to bring light to how if I can do my small part and recycle, then large fashion industries should be able to as well, especially because they have more power and resources to do so. I also specifically chose green paper to resemble the money bills. On top of the hand-made paper, I included some brands that I discovered that sell sustainable clothing.
Fast fashion is designed for people on a budget who still want to keep up with the latest trends. While high fashion has better quality products, you are still essentially paying for the logo, so instead of paying to stay trendy, you are paying for the exclusivity offered. While both industries still produce tremendous amounts of waste, we need to stop equating clothes to self worth and succumbing to these companies who thrive off of peoples’ insecurities. It’s time we learn how to style ourselves with sustainable brands so that not only do we feel good about what we’re wearing, but we’re doing good for the planet as well.
Hand-Made Bookmarks
2/14/2021
It’s nice to be focused on your art, but you should be having fun, too! One project that I like is making paper crafts to send to my friends, just a little something to remind them that I’m thinking of them.
Sometimes I make hand-made paper from recycled paper items and I find different ways to use them such as to write letters to my friends or to make cute doodles for fun. For Valentine’s Day, I used some of my hand-made paper to make bookmarks for my friends. I painted some of them and for others I kept them blank so the patterns of the paper can be seen. Then I wrote their names on them and made some doodles.
Since I’m still not able to see my friends in person, I mailed them their bookmarks along with a hand-made card. I had so much fun with this project, and it costs little to nothing since I used recycled materials!