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Saturday, 13 April 2024

Living & Crafting Sustainably [Pt 5]: Choosing the Right Hobbies

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
How can we sew, craft and live more sustainably?
Are you someone in search of a new hobby? (As opposed to someone "not needing" another hobby. 😉)

If so, is there such a thing as a "bad" hobby? Maybe one that's not so great for the environment or not sustainable? Does your favourite pastime pass muster for being (somewhat) green?

About four years ago, I became aware of a craft called diamond painting. A friend was gifted with a kit and she completed it as part of her pandemic pastimes (photo below).

It didn't occur to me at the time, but what an environmentally unfriendly hobby it seems to be!

For those who don't know what diamond painting is, it involves sticking tiny coloured plastic gems (called "drills") onto a coded mat to create sparkly pieces of art. It's essentially a plastic version of paint by numbers that produces a finish resembling cross stitch.

Diamond painting sample
An example of diamond painting done by a friend...

Those who are strong supporters of the craft say that the detailed attention required to do it has a calming effect on them and thus improves mental health. Personally, however, I can't get over the fact that someone actually invented yet another way to introduce millions upon billions of tiny bits of plastic – contained in small plastic bags, sorted by colour, no less – into our lives.

Not for me, and to be totally honest, I usually find the results gaudy and "unhangable". (My other half was given one as a thank you gesture. He had told the crafter that he liked it, but it's still rolled up in its box, as there's no way in the opposite of heaven that it's going up on our wall.)

Mental health benefits aside, diamond painting doesn't seem to qualify as a sustainable hobby.




Sewing With the Right Materials


On the other hand, whenever I do a search for "environmentally friendly hobbies", sewing is almost always included in the results. More and more, it's due to the fact that sewers are sourcing supplies in thrift and second-hand stores... and their own closets. (As for sewing machines, they've always been common finds in garage sales and the like, not to mention that you can sew by hand.)

But sewing is not without its environmental controversies, apparently.

Last fall, someone posted a comment on a YouTube video, strongly admonishing "the bag world" for not acknowledging the problem of plastics in making bags and purses, particularly as it applies to using vinyl as the material of choice. This person thought that pattern designers should be taking more leadership in discouraging the practice.

Printed vinyl by ONEART
Printed vinyl called Colorful Heart (by ONEART)...

Apparently, apart from the usual faux leathers that have been around forever, there are now all sorts of clear printed vinyls – called TPUs: thermoplastic polyurethanes – that one can sew with; or more properly, with which one can sew.

I've not made a bag entirely out of vinyl in years, but I do own a small supply of (clear) vinyl that I sometimes incorporate into my sewing projects. Most of it's repurposed, so I'm not so much contributing to the problem per se, but I get the concern over how introducing more options into the marketplace isn't necessarily a good thing. (That doesn't address the ever-increasing practice of sports arenas and stadiums mandating "see through" bags, but I digress.)

Printed cork fabric called French Symbol by SorenCut
Printed cork fabric called French Symbol (by SorenCut)...

Fortunately, there are always better options when it comes to materials for sewing that are environmentally friendly, even apart from repurposing existing textiles. If being transparent is not a requirement, a material that has a similar texture to vinyl/faux leather that is a more sustainable choice is cork.

In terms of cost, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot to differentiate the two; a 12" x 53" cut of the TPU is about $23 (CDN) and a 12.5" x 52.5" cut of the cork is about $26 (CDN). That said, most selections of cork are always going to appear a bit muted compared to the colourful vibrancy available in vinyl. I say most, because there are selections like this one below that might convince you to try cork for your next project.

Portuguese cork fabric
Image courtesy of frameyourbag on Etsy...

This particular piece is smaller than the others at only 26.77'' x 19.69" – and sells for about $19 (CDN) – but it is definitely more colourful than the usual variants of cork.

There is also an increasing movement among established sewers to "sew down the stash." I don't know the actual numbers, but let's say that many people have purchased fabric over their lifetimes, just to have it. Sewing down your stash simply means that you will not buy new fabric until you use up your own supply.


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Indoor & Outdoor Gardening


Gardening, in general, is another widely recommended sustainable, environmentally friendly hobby.

I really dislike outdoor gardening, but the indoor variant that hubby started a couple of years ago has rubbed off on me... somewhat. I must admit that it is tremendously rewarding to see seed, dirt, light and water combine to grow actual food.

indoor garden harvest
Tomatoes, arugula, spinach, romaine and kale from our indoor garden...

And all without the messiness of dirty dirt (indoor dirt is arguably "cleaner", believe me), dealing with insects, and roasting under the hot sun. I am so not suited for outdoor gardening! We grew cucumbers along the side of our house last summer, and for a period of several weeks, I refused to look at them. We had had an explosion in the mosquito population and just venturing out onto the lawn next to the garden was sure to provoke an assault by those pesky buggers.

indoor garden carrots
Emerging carrots...

Inside, I'm able to put my hands into the actual plantings and fiddle with leaves without fear of finding a huge spider climbing onto my fingers. (Although, we have had aphid problems, so it's not all bug free.). I'm not sweating in the heat. I've heard that some folks like the whole experience of "being at one" with nature when they garden in the traditional sense. They are welcome to it.

Scrapbooking Without Supplies


In the three or four years prior to starting this blog, I was very much into virtual scrapbooking. It was a relatively environmentally friendly hobby, quite in contrast to the ultra expensive, material-laden, and ultimately wasteful version of scrapbooking that was all the rage in the early 2000s.

Digital scrapbook pages
Two pages from a digital scrapbook that I made after a Mediterranean cruise...

Digital scrapbooking allow you to scatter various embellishments over your pages just as you would with physical scrapbooking; they're just not tactile "things" with actual texture and substance. Words and text – in various fonts – can be added anywhere, photos can be sized and arranged and creatively edged without cutting, and there is virtually no end to the types of paper you can select for the background.

Digital scrapbooking
As a bonus, you can also use any one of your own photos as the background "paper" (see example at left), which you wouldn't be able to do easily with physical scrapbooking.

After completion, your work can be printed out or left as an electronic file. I don't know what today's preferred apps might be for digital scrapbooking (it might simply still be called a photobook service), but I used Shutterfly back in the day for at least two of my books. (Wait for a sale before printing and you can usually get up to 50% off no matter what resource you use.)

With digital scrapbooking, there is no mess, no need to hoard supplies, and you can indulge your creative efforts without lugging around huge boxes. (There are still scrapbooking events – conventions – that crafters can attend, although they are not as popular or prevalent as they were in their heyday.) And unless you print out every book you make, you also don't need to find a spare room in your house to store the actual scrapbooks that no one will want in thirty years.


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Journaling


Which leads us to the topic of my most recent post, journaling. Whether a junk journal like what's been occupying my time, or an art journal, or a travel journal, or just a day to day diary journal, journaling is usually considered a sustainable hobby.

eSheep Designs' Jumbo Junk Journal sample page
Harvestng Spoonflower packing slips and cards for my jumbo junk journal...

At the bare minimum, all you need is something to write on and something to write with. With junk journals, art journals and travel journals, you just populate the pages with appropriate ephemera, none of which you need to buy... it's kind of like scrapbooking the way it was done in the "old days". In the sense that these types of journals encourage reuse of things that might otherwise be thrown away, they would definitely qualify as being environmentally friendly. (Natasa at Treasure Books has a video showing how she embellished an entire journal using just an old magazine. Just yesterday, I harvested two images out of an Avon catalogue for my journal.)

Project JJJ Update
Jumbo junk journal by eSheep Designs


Speaking of, for those of you curious about my progress on the JJJ project, you can do a virtual flip through of it (of the first signature, in any case) in PDF format here.
 

Reading, Writing & Stimulating Conversation


This last section is sort of a personal aside. I have always enjoyed reading and writing and it suddenly occurred to me that they are quite sustainable activities to enjoy: they cost virtually nothing.

Jessica Pan quote
During my ongoing search for quotable quotes for my junk journal, I came upon a bunch relating to introverts. It may not surprise you to learn that I am a die hard introvert who always plans her escape from large gatherings before arriving at them. Introverts are not automatically shy nor socially inept, they just find being in large groups of people draining and need time alone to re-energize. (I regularly tell people that there are only a handful of individuals in this entire world with whom I can spend more than five hours at a time.) Anyway, it turns out that reading and writing are – no surprise here – popular hobbies for introverts.

The third item in the heading above may appear to you to be an outlier for introverts, but yes, we love one on one conversations. In point of fact, that entire heading is taken from my first real resume. In lieu of extensive work experience, we were told to list some hobbies. I quite correctly assumed that the description of "stimulating" would attract attention and invite questions.

Tuman Capote quote courtesy of BrainyQuote.com
Courtesy of BrainyQuote.com...
Did you know that questions are the lifeblood of conversations? And that truly listening to the other person – and not interrupting – leads to the ability to ask questions that keep a conversation going like a good natured table tennis match?

I was at a fair sized gathering last month and had conversations with five people whom I had never met before. Out of the five, one was truly a great conversationalist, another was good. The remaining three... well, let's just say that I don't know if they ended up learning anything about me after our talk, beyond what little I offered up myself. (I know stuff about them, because I asked.)

In the big scheme of things, learning and mastering the give and take of meaningful conversation is a rewarding and sustainable hobby for everyone. What do you think?

'Til next...

2 comments:

  1. Hi Rochelle, I love a great conversation! I’m reminded that my mother could and would talk to everyone with the incredible skill of getting them to talk to her. I have been inspired by this memory of watching her and have taken to talking to almost all strangers I meet! I’ve found that most anything can start the conversation going and have spent up to 45 minutes having conversations with complete strangers. It’s a joyful exchange that makes me smile in appreciation. Marie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your mom sounds like a wonderful person. Most people – strangers next to you waiting in line, for instance – respond well to a humorous comment or a kind gesture, which can kickstart enjoyable discourses. It's an effort that rewards both parties, as you well know.

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