Upcycling - Recycling - Reusing - Redesigning

I picked up a copy of the Somerset Studio magazine: Green Craft today. This issue had 3 examples of an artist using aluminum soda cans for artistic expressions. One woman used the metal to punch shapes for small tags that she then stamped with words of inspiration. The second woman punched out flower shapes that she layered; similar to many that I have made. But she added ribbon so the flowers could be used as package wraps. The third example demonstrated how to use strips of the metal to make a 3D bow like those you see on Xmas boxes.

All of these are getting very close to what I've been doing for almost 3 years now. It looks like I'm going to have to step it up and try to push samples of my work out to not only Green Craft, but also to Cloth Paper Scissors so I can plant my stake in the ground for having original creations.

If you are not familiar with my work, here are a few examples of favorite pieces.

These first two examples show my scrap lace that I machine create using scrap thread placed between water soluble stabilizer. Each piece is embellished with metallic thread, hand beading and ribbon. The top left piece is Summer Marsh and it is mounted on cotton quilted over an onion bag. The piece above on the top right is mardi gras. It is also machine created scrap thread lace, but it is mounted on perforated aluminum soda cans. The work is mounted on a stretched canvas. 

On the left is a small sample of one of my button flower bouquets. Each flower has stems of salvaged zippers. The flowers are a combination of stacked buttons and punched recycled aluminum petals.

On the right is one of my race track pieces. The soda cans are woven into paper cut on the curve. The whole piece is over stitched with red and black thread using free motion stitches.

The work on the left is an abstract piece made with torn fabric and cut pieces of recycled aluminum soda cans. After weaving the fabric and the metal, the new fabric is then machine quilted and embellished with a single vintage metal button. The pattern of the free motion quilting is very angular; like pipes passing over and under each other.

The yellow piece below includes several techniques. The background is made of coll aged fabric and paper that has been machine quilted. The vase of flowers is from woven fabric and metal. The flowers are punched from recycled aluminum soda cans. This piece below on the right is a small art quilt. The squares are made from thin strips of scrap fabric. The hearts were commercially purchased, but each is embellished with a vintage button.