The current challenge of the Iron Craft Challenge was GREEN. The crafters could either use the color green (in homage to St Patricks's Day, I am sure) or green as in "Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse." I chose to do the latter interpretation. Of course, life got in the way and I, once again, needed a quick project. I am in the middle of making cascarones but I didn't have time to finish all of them since the drying time of the eggs has slowed me down in the rainy and cold weather we are having in NYC. So, I decided to make MAGNETS.
It pains my heart to see books destroyed here in NYC. This city is such a city of waste and people throw out perfectly good items that someone else could use. I am not talking about dumpster diving and getting soiled, rotten, or broken items but items that are left out on the street in perfectly good condition. Many children's books get left out or thrown away because the children have grown up or the books have become worn with wear and are no longer perfect. I have friends that collect these books for me and friends that are on the hunt for such books at thrift/resale stores throughout Manhattan.
I then repurpose the books and pages when I can. If the pages are ruined, I take the covers and make new journals out of them. If the covers are ruined but the pages are in good condition, I make pins and magnets out of them. The following magnets were made from recycled Winnie the Pooh books. These are a perfect gift for a child's good grades, or completed reading assignments, etc. My first graders loved to receive them when I would give them out when I was student teaching.
2 comments:
It pains me to see books discarded as well, even if they are a bit damaged. There's still life and usefulness in them. :)
I'm glad you rescued a few books for another use. I used to work at the bookstore in my local library & the biggest seller was the used kids books so I also hate to see them thrown away.
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