... and a little easier to hug.
loving a Knitimal™ is easy to do.
loving a Knitimal that has already been loved, uses existing reclaimed fabric and is STILL made without any new electricity or machines? SO much easier.
while i love knitting, and the process of generating a piece of soft sculpture, completely from scratch, there is something to be said for working with materials that have already been produced are in need of some good lovin'. see, i have this sweater... well, i HAD this sweater, and i loved it wholly. wear and tear wore and tore the dear thing until wearing it wasn't an option anymore. it was either put patches all over it (easily a dozen would've been necessary) and hope that knit wool defied its natural tendencies to unravel, OR scrap it. with all the trash piling up, that hardly seemed an option.
...making a brand new kind of Knitimal out of it, however, seemed the only option.
As a consumer, i try to be as environmentally savvy as possible--- i buy local and handmade whenever possible, i re-use water bottles, recycle everything, use bio-degradable doggie waste bags and such. As an artist, i am trying to be as aware as possible of my footprint and perhaps more important, my artwork's footprint. i create new things in a world that already HAS a lot of things... so i try to balance the scales a little. with the Knitimals, i hand knit and hand sew the pieces and i already don't use a sewing machine (the only electricity i need to work is a lightbulb in my studio... and it is energy efficient). i buy yarn locally and in massive batches, so i don't have to drive too often to get it; my 2D work is primarily collage based and i keep and use scraps of everything... so why not apply that to the art dolls as well? exactly my point.
and so, in honor of Earth Day, i am happy to introduce "re-nay", the first (of many) Recyclimals (Recycled Knitimals). one beloved sweater, cut up and pieced back together by hand, stuffed with clean, reclaimed soft poly filling and bits of old sweater. she's just as super soft as an original Knitimal, those soft sculpture sweeties made with only the finest materials and like all Knitimals, she was made without a pattern and is completely unique.
recyclimals, like knitimals are "art dolls"--- they make great gifts for new babies, art lovers, doll collectors and those-hard-to-shop-fors who love the one-of-a-kind. each knitimal comes with a hand drawn name tag (which features the 'story of the knitimals'), a 'caring for your knitimal' tag and a "certificate of auth-yarn-ticity™".
Do you have an old sweater that you LOVE but it no longer fits or a blanket from your childhood that you just cannot bear to part with? I'll turn your favorite old sweater into a handmade piece of art out of something you already love!
to adopt a Recyclimal (or any other earth friendly find, please visit me
here(and, to do just a little more good... now through June 1st, 5% of all my etsy sales will benefit the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life, the greenstarstudio May charity)
