Greeny Crafters 19 - Recycled, Purposed, Renewed

It has been boiling hot over here, and rain has been long overdue!!  Please give us some rain - but not too much!


This week's Greeny Crafter is Mezzy of Recycled, Purposed, Renewed.  

Tell us a little about yourself.
Hmmm, an interesting   question. I kind of have a dual life. By day I work in the banking industry   which is very conservative, structured and precise. A big part   of  my role finding solutions for complex problems. Once   the working day is done I step out of my cloak of conservatism and morph into   my creative being, which is a refashioner. These two existences may   seem poles apart, but surprisingly enough they are quite similar. Refashioning   too is all about problem solving. You start with something that has   outlived it's use or is no longer appropriate for the task at hand and   then you recreate it into something else. The steps in between to achieve a   final outcome.....are what makes both my working and refashioning life   interesting.

Loving the cuff jeans!

How did you start doing refashioning / upcycling?
I was a thrifter before I   was a refashioner. This resourcefulness all began when I first got married. We   moved to the country, built our own house, had two babies and lived on one   income. I realised early on that we could live a comfortable frugal life   by purchasing other people's offcasts. Thrifting for me has also been   about collecting and preserving history, but that is a whole other  story.


Thrifting gets into your   pysche and just emanates from the inside out.


 The natural progression of   thrifting was refashioning. When I first got married there were no pc's   and certainly no You Tube tutorials. I bought a basic sewing machine and   taught myself to sew. Outgrown t-shirts were refashioned into underwear for my   daughters. Trousers that could not be lengthened were made into summer   shorts. Tank tops would be refreshed by having vintage fabric added to them   which would turn them into a dress. It was a very creative time of my life and   then we had to move back to the city. My sewing machine was packed up and for   ten years it sat in storage. In January of this year, my daughter announced   that she was going to drive around Australia in a converted combi van and that   I was going to make the curtains. My sewing machine finally got to see the   light of day again and after the curtains there was no stopping   us.

What's your favourite project(s) to date?


All my projects are created   for a purpose so each and everyone of them is dear to me.  However I do   have two projects that are my most meaningful. The first one is my   "Flowers for Lauren" Necklace. Lauren was an amazing spirit who came into   my life when a long term friendship had ended abruptly. I was not in a  mind frame to start a new friendship but Lauren made it her business to become   my friend and ingrained herself into my life. I was devastated   when after a sudden and short battle with cancer, Lauren passed away.   "Flowers for Lauren" necklace was created for her birthday and in her memory. 

My second meaningful   project is the "Adrift @ Sea" Cuff. I spend hours walking along the beach,   collecting sea glass and other washed up treasures. I find this past-time   meditative, peaceful and soothing. The sea glass is beautiful when it simmers   and shines in the wet sand. Therefore it is ironic that it begins it's   life with the careless tossing of a glass bottle into the ocean. Why are we so   wasteful? Why are we so willing to pollute our oceans and destroy marine life?   Someone elses lack of care becomes my nature's jewel to admire and behold. The   "Adrift @ Sea" Cuff turns an ugly careless act into something of calmness and   beauty. 

Where do you get your inspiration?


Inspiration is anywhere and   everywhere. It is not just one thing. My inspiration starts with a seed which   is then watered, nurtured and allowed to grow. What I mean by this is that I   collect and buy things that capture my eye. Ninety percent of the time, I do   not have an end project in mind. It is as simple as starting off with a small   piece of amazing vintage fabric that I find in a dusty corner of a bursting to   the brim thrift store. I buy it, put it aside and just look admiringly at   it. Eventually the fabric will inspire me and an idea will come to  mind. 


A big thank you to Mezzy for contributing this.  Looking forward to seeing more of your work :-)