| We’re not green we’re just Mainers |
| BELFAST, Maine (July, 7, 2011) – Reuse, recycle, repurpose are the ways to go green. The crafters and artists at the Lupine Cottage cooperative on Route 1 in Belfast do this naturally. What do you do with the wood from old schooners? Francis Fraley uses it for his inlaid wooden bowls, jars and stools. What do you do with old magazine covers? Carol Gators makes beads for necklaces. The other beads she uses are from broken jewelry, junk shops and tag sales. What do you do with old wool clothing? Mary Mosier braids it into rugs. What do you do with old blue jeans? Lynne Chick weaves them into rugs and Andrea Cronkite makes children’s totes bags. What do you do with old glass dishes? Ralph Parks makes stained glass with them. What do you do with old buttons? Mary Mosier makes jewelry. What do you do with old pins and fabric? Kathy Veilleux makes purses. What do you do with clam, mussel, and lobster shells? Stuart King makes pens. He also uses moose scat and deer and moose antlers – no kidding. |
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Lynne Chick is proud to say that she works with 90% repurposed materials purchased from thrift shops, yard sales, and donated by friends and family. Most of the yarn she uses was purchased from an old weaving mill that went out of business. |
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Francis Farley got his first taste of woodturning in high school, and he made his lathes from discarded steel off a scrap pile. A lot of the wood he uses was destined to be thrown away. He says he gets a great deal of satisfaction from making an object from something that someone else thought was useless. |
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Kathy Veilleux has been sewing since she was a little girl growing up in Down East Maine. Her family was a home-made wonder, knitting, sewing, crocheting and cooking from scratch. She says her handbags, bags, purses, whatever you call them, are women’s most useful accessories. She makes them out of recycled fabrics, so whatever is available, that’s what’s in the bags. She doesn’t waste an inch of fabric. She makes big bags, medium bags, little bags and littler bags and then the rest of the fabric goes on greeting cards that her daughter makes until nothing is left. |
Here in Maine we don’t like to waste anything. We’ve been green from the beginning.
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