Plastic Egg: It’s Not What’s for Dinner

by Autumn Wiggins March 24, 2008, 10:53 pm 3 Comments

In keeping with this week’s theme of what to do with those pesky plastic eggs, I set out to find a worthy project. My enthusiasm was curbed when I came across reports of lead being found in these things.

At the risk of being the antagonist, telling you what not to do with them seems reasonable, albeit not crafty. At least I get to make a bullet list…

Don’t recycle them. Generally, you can’t.
Don’t let your kids play with them.
Don’t let your dog chew on them.
Don’t reuse them for food items
Don’t melt them.
Don’t purchase them anymore!

You didn’t think I would wax poetic and leave you hanging right? They may not be destined for the landfill just yet. Try this cool tutorial on Resurrection Fern that uses them as a form for welt felting reusable wool eggs. You could also felt them shut if they are for decoration.

In the interest of convenience, and being realistic, one can only hope that an alternative to petro-based plastic eggs is on the horizon. Compostable corn plastic wouldn’t be a far stretch. That is, if ethanol demand doesn’t further drive up the cost of corn.

Rethink your level of involvement in today’s industrially-driven interpretation of the holidays. The only way to get mass-produced junk off the shelves is to stop buying it. We don’t have the resources to keep making it the same way for much longer anyways.

That said, stay tuned for my Cinco de Mayo post. I can’t wait to polish off a bottle of tequila, and show you how to turn it into a decorative planter!

Written by Autumn Wiggins

This 2008 interview pretty much sums it up:

1. How would you describe yourself?
An oddly situated performer of thought experiments

2. Do you have any anecdotes about your work (how you got started, frustrating moments, or funny stories)?
At this year's Maker Faire in San Mateo, I gave a presentation on how the trend of green crafting can ultimately address the problem of consumption and waste. Dale Dougherty,the publisher of Make and Craft, later had a gift delivered to me, a staple bound book of poetry: Music Like Dirt by Frank Bidart. This is the last thing one would expect to take home from an event so focused on renegade technology. To my surprise, it was an existential reflection on the human need to make things that I now find myself going back to whenever I need some inspiration to look beyond the materials and processes of crafting.

3. What kinds of things do you do for fun?
In my spare time I enjoy amateur astronomy, outdoor adventures, collecting domain names, and hanging out at coffee shops.

4. What interesting projects are you working on right now?
I'm working to organize community involvement in upcycling, and have a few top-secret website projects up my sleeves!

5. Where do you live? Kids, pets, spouse, occupation?
O'Fallon, IL, a suburb (and I mean a totally typical suburb) of St. Louis, MO. Rather than moving to the more culture friendly urban environment, I am staying put and annoying the heck out of Wal-Mart by throwing a massive indie craft show(Strange Folk) in their backyard. I have a husband, Doug, and two sons: a 7 year old mad scientist named Jack, and 6 year old Max, who we think is an aspiring tattoo artist since he's so fond of drawing all over himself with markers. To pay the bills, I do freelance writing, mural painting, and website design, sell my handmade crafts, teach art classes for kids, and work part -time at a local coffee shop.

6. What new idea (in or outside of your field) has excited you most recently?
The concept known as "Cradle-to-Cradle" is a blueprint for sustainability that states everything we manufacture should be either biodegrable, infinitely recyclable, or intended to be upcycled. This is the basis for many of my ideas of how the crafting community can be more widely involved in solving the environmental crisis.