People in England generate almost 100 million tons of rubbish every year, so artists who use it up to create beautiful items, do the planet a great service. It’s not ‘creative’ to visit Hobbycraft and buy lots of over-priced plastic tat, to call it art. Real art is about using up reclaimed materials to make into something beautiful, and also help to reduce the world’s trash mountain.
Aimee Maxelon creates beautiful ‘bouquets’ of flowers, made from littered plastic bottles, cut and shaped by hand and coloured with homemade dyes (may fade over time). Ideal for everlasting flowers if you don’t have a garden, or if you can’t have real flowers due to allergies or pets.
For real bouquets, learn of unsafe flowers to display near pets – even brushing a tail against can harm). Avoid facing indoor foliage to gardens, to help stop birds flying into windows.
Know what you’re doing if recycling items. For instance, pallets need rusty nails removed. And never make birdhouses out of upcycled tin (these can overheat and bright colours attract predators). Learn more on how to create safe havens for garden birds.
If recycling for art, never take pebbles or sand from beaches, as this disturbs ecosystems and can cause floods. Likewise, don’t take seaweed (a universe to a shrimp), leave to experts who simply ‘give seaweed a haircut’ without removing the roots – seaweed is also dangerous near dogs, as it can expand in the stomach as it dries, if ingested.
