Eco Craft
Susan Wasinger
In A Nutshell: Ingenious book repurposing discarded items into stylish objects for the home.
This book took my breath away with its sheer ingenuity. It’s all about looking at the stuff you would normally discard and meditating on its possibilities for transforming into something completely different. So the 30 projects are based around rubbish – plastic 6 pack holders are melted together with an iron to produce a screen. Metallic coffee bags are taped together into a tote bag. Plastic milk jugs become a tulip shaped pendant light.
The book is beautifully illustrated – objects may be created from trash but the photos look like they belong in a high end interiors magazine.
My only criticism is that many of the projects would require a patience and skill level far beyond my capacity. Though admittedly there are easy projects such as pulped paper bowls.
The project I’m most keen to try is the painted jars. Blackboard paint transforms empty glass jars into a designer-look item. It’s a great idea for unifying a mish-mash of jars.
Susan Wasinger has inspired me to look at my “rubbish” with fresh eyes and consider its reincarnation possibilities.
