On Being a Saver, Part II

In my last post I confessed to saving a couple of really raw materials --- so raw, in fact, that it's difficult to imagine how exactly I might use at least one of them (metal lampshades). This time I'm revealing a couple of things I save (or collect) for their obvious utility, regardless of whether I actually capitalize on that utility (i.e., use them).

These and the other type of saved items highlight the dilemma faced by all city-dwelling up-cyclers: the potential for joyous transformation or economic/ecological conscious practice versus space to live and work in. With regard to the first set of items, the balance is out-of-whack, with the items clogging up space while I figure out how to use them. This second set of items needs management but doesn't yet pose a serious threat to my habitable space.

The reason these items don't pose a threat to habitable space is in part because they're relatively few in one case, and because I have actually used them to good effect in the other case. They are just too obviously potentially useful (and/or even joyously transformative -- the categories are not mutually exclusive) to toss. They just are. Specifically, these items are:

1. Popsicle sticks, and 

2. Baby-food jars

Popsicle sticks are great for scooping, dolling, propping, and stopping (among other things for sure). And you can use them to make neat boxes. Every one of the sticks in my collection comes from a popsicle I actually ate.

I really like popsicles.

Who can argue against the utility of baby-food jars for storing all manner of tiny things? No one. You can also use them to make neat things, perhaps, for example, snow globes.

My collections of popsicle sticks and baby-food jars were sitting in a box collecting dust and verging on becoming a threat to my habitable space until I brought them together to write this post. I did it for the sake of a photo but liked their pairing so much that I kept it.

Now my jars have a use and my popsicle sticks are within easy reach for creative or mechanical purposes. No more threat to habitable space. Yay.

Until next time --

Linda

Purty Bird

On Being a Saver

As I've mentioned before, I'm a saver of things that might rightfully be considered trash and thrown away --- felt scraps, for example. But, per the felt scraps example, I save these things because of their potential to become something not-trash. I see their possibility for transformation. I know I'm not alone in this among crafty types.

Perhaps you can relate to the inherent quandary in being a crafty saver in the big city, namely, a lack of space to keep saved items. I often wish I could strike a better balance between my visions of possibility or intended use and the reality that saved things will likely hang around a good long awhile before I use them, thus contributing to the increasing clutter amid which I consequently live. Alas. Two illustrative examples of this:

1. Milk carton screw-caps, and

2. Lamp shades.

I started saving milk carton screw-caps with the intention of making wristlet pin cushions (they form the base). This was many, many months ago. But the caps are small so it's not a major burden on my space to keep saving them---yet. And the chances of my actually using them as intended are good: Wristlet pin cushions are well within my likely future crafting ventures. So this save is reasonable, if a little annoying when the caps overrun the area above the sink.

I have a harder time justifying the second save, two metal lampshades that I salvaged from floor lamps that pooped out on me. (Am I alone in going through floor lamps like nobody's business?) I saved them with the idea that I could use one or the other as a sun-shield for my scrabble-tile pendants when selling at outdoor craft shows and markets. But I haven't figured out how exactly to rig them up. As with the the screw-caps, it's been months and months since I had this idea, but unlike the screw-caps, these things take up space. I'm constantly moving them around so I clearly don't have any to spare for them. So this save really isn't justifiable: Major space burden coupled with only a vague idea for their use. But, oh, the potential! It's almost intoxicating. Help!

In addition to things I save for their potential transformative use, there are things I save because they're just so obviously useful, whether or not I actually use them. You can relate.  I'll discuss these in my next post. Enough confessional for one day!

Until then --

 Linda // Purty Bird