Thursday, August 1, 2013

Plarn and Green Thinking, Green Synchronicity

OK so this is not my usual artistic medium...however in this day and age we must make our art with what seems relevant, and useful

A friend of mine wanted to create "yarn" from plastic shopping bags... to make  a bigger and more reuseable  shopping bag.  OK...this sounds interesting. I had heard of this before.  I watched with interest as this project progressed

There is a special way to cut a bag in a long loop.  Friend J took advantage of this project to invest in   a cutting board and a rotary cutter.  (Always a good thing to have those around.  Most useful.  I use mine for paper.)  The test yplarn is done from a Walmart bag


Along the way it looks like a hula skirt


Knit it up


Wow! That's cute, it's "recycled grocery bag bag" available here

Of course, one can always spin one's plarn first. J gave me some plarn ribbons and I used my beloved Turkish spindle so that when J knit it up, she could just pull from the little cake that came off the spindle.


Would one call this an energized single?  I suppose so. No test knit yet from the single ply spun plan...however the great news is that J is wanting to learn how to spindle and make 2 ply plarn!

So... weird convergence happens...

I am hoping to get to DC later this year and was looking for museums to visit.  Naturally I thought of The Textile Museum. OF COURSE it will be closed when I hope to be there...however at their website I stumbled upon an online exhibit all about repurposing and... well...green functional artistic endeavors, (a la the recyled bag bag).


that's a screen shot, here's the link, which has a lovely online exhibit that you can view!

and here's a bit on youtube about the exhibit which happened live in 2011






And to make things REALLY SYNCHRONISTICALLY WIERD...Maximo Laura was one of the featured artists in this exhibit...it hit me when I looked at the online exhibit that I had visited his studio when in Lima Peru 3 years ago...here's his tapestry featured in the exhibit...


Here is a weaver from the studio (photo by me)





and here I am at the balcony at the studio...overlooking a cemetery that I suspect is Vergen de Lourdes in Lima




1 comment:

  1. I'm pretty sure you're right. As I remember, those small "buildings" near the bottom of the hill were a cemetery.
    Didn't know you had a blog. Looks great- thanks.

    ReplyDelete