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  Looking for lots of crafts made from recycled materials? You’ve come to the right place. I go beyond soup can pencil holders here. It is all about greening up your crafting and moving toward a more sustainable way of living. This site is full of eco-friendly crafts for children and adults. Making use (re-use really) of otherwise unwanted materials is good for the pocketbook and good for the environment.

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Have fun making moody osage-orange guys. Collect natural materials such as cherry stems, beans, acorns and other seeds… Mix and match to create amusing characters.

An osage-orange (Maclura pomifera)  is a tree not native to Maryland but can be found growing here. My husband remembers having wars with his friends; they would throw them at each other. Boys!

I call this one the Grinch.

I call this one Oscar the Grouch.

I call this one Dude.

Ever come across some clay while on some outdoor adventure and wish you could make some pottery out of it? You can. I love working with clay and have experimented with both a pit kiln and firing pieces over coals of a campfire. Below are tips on the whole process from finding clay to firing your primitive pottery.

This summer I held a workshop for children which included making pinch pots from locally dug clay.

Here are some of the pieces my students made.

This is what they looked like before being fired.

Finding clay and getting it ready to use

Find

You can often find clay along the banks of a river or stream. You can sometimes find it on local beaches. Look for gray or red stuff that clumps when you squeeze it in your hand. When wet, it should also feel slippery. You might also find it dry.

Gather

Bring along a container. Gather clay while trying to avoid surrounding soil.

Clean

Fill the container about halfway with clay and then fill the remainder with clean water. Remove rocks and sticks and other organic matter. Break up the clumps and mix until completely dissolved. Your mixture is called slip. If you collected dry clay, pound with mortar, reconstitute.

Strain

Put a screen (can be made out of hardware cloth or purchased) on the top of a clean bucket. I made a screen out of a wood frame with stapled wire window screen. Pour your slip into the bucket. The screen will take out any unwanted stuff. If after screening it still feels too gritty (sandy), you can strain it again through an old tee-shirt.

Let it settle

Let the clay settle to the bottom. Scoop or pour off the clear water

Dry more

When it is thick enough, put it on a piece of wood to dry in the sun. The wood helps to absorb the excess water in the clay. Check your clay during this drying time because you don’t want it to become too dry. When the clay is the right consistency to use, scrap it up and put in a plastic bag and seal. Your clay will be even better to use if you wait a couple of weeks.

Wedge and knead the clay before using. You may need to add temper (sand, grit, shell, grog (broken pottery), etc. Add 1/5 -1/3 temper, knead, and wedge. Temper is used to open the pores and make them less likely to crack when subjected to heat. Also reduces shrinkage and warping during drying and firing. This is especially important for large pieces.

Drying pieces

3-10 days, depending on the piece and temperature and humidity etc.

Pit Kiln

Dig a pit with sloping sides about 2 feet in diameter and about eighteen inches deep in the middle. This fits the standard round barbecue grill but you can make your hole to accommodate the amount of material you wish to fire. Find a place to put your pit that is away from trees or other plants that could catch on fire. Next, place a three inch deep layer of sawdust and or manure in the bottom. Put the oven rack on top of this layer. Again, you can adjust your design to accommodate your needs. Then arrange the pieces to be fired on the rack so that there is at least one inch of space around all sides of each piece. Fill any bowls or other containers with sawdust. If there are too may pieces on the rack, you can cover the pieces on the rack with more sawdust (4 inch layer). Remember to put the heavier pieces on the bottom to help avoid breakage. Now cover the pieces with at least twelve inches or more of sawdust. You should fill your pit completely. Add twisted pieces of newspaper in a thin layer. These are to be used to set the fire. Place a cover (like an old trashcan lid) to cover the top of the pit. Place some rocks under the edges of the sides of the lid to hold up the cover and allow air to get in. Light the newspaper. After it is burning well, put the cover on. Flames will come out the gaps for a little while and then you should only see smoke. If the smoke soon stops you should relight. Let the pit kiln burn over-night or at least for 6 to 7 hours. It isn’t necessary to stay with the pit the entire time it is burning. Once the flames have died down, it’s safe to leave. For safety, you may choose to post a warning sign. When the firing is completed, remove the lid carefully (it may still be hot). You could use a potholder or a stick. Carefully dig through the ashes to find your pieces.

Firing in Campfire

Place the pieces on a bed of hot coals. Experiment with the placement of your pieces to determine what will give you the best results. I let the fire go out naturally before taking them out of the ashes. Taking the pieces out while really hot can cause them to crack if they cool too quickly.

Obtained information from experience and from:

Make it in Clay 2nd edition by f. Speight and J. Toki.

The Kids ‘N’ Clay Ceramics Book created by Kevin Nierman and written be E. Arima. This is a nice book that has a lot of cool kid project ideas.

Nature Crafts for Kids: 50 Fantastic Thinks To Make With Mother Nature’s Help. By G. Diehn and Terry Krautwurst.

Science Crafts for Kids: 50 Fantastic Things To Invent and Create. By Gwen Diehn and Terry Krautwurst.

After you enjoy eating a bag of cherries this year, amuse yourself and your family too with these Cherry faces. Save the cherry pits and stems to create some amusing faces. My kids and I “painted” these faces using the computer after I took the pictures but all you will need is a marker to draw on the details.

Wouldn’t these be fun to make into cards? Ideas: Birthday card (smile), encouragement card for a friend dealing with stress (stresses out), sympathy card (sad face), Happy you are my teacher card (happy face)…

Glue the pits (eyes) and the stems (mouth) down on a piece of paper if you want to use it as part of your canvas. Alternatively, don’t glue them down. That way you can rearrange them as much as you want as an amusing way to spend some of you summer vacation time. (Eyes can be reversible: draw on both sides.) Here are a bunch of ideas to get you started.

If you are planning to go on vacation to the beach this summer, you might come home with a few shells. Put some of them to good use as beautiful photo holders and more!

Uses:

Label your pot luck contribution.

“crab dip”… for example

Photograph holder

I like to give these as thank you gifts.

Business card holder

I needed a card holder so I decided to see how hard it would be to cut into a shell I found. It turned out that it was do-able.

Hold reminder notes…

Place card holder

For your next dinner party, set the table with shells holding the names of all your guests.

Personalized messages

How to:

Find shells. (Finding the shells is half the fun.)

Use a hack saw to cut a slot in your shell. Use a saw blade with fine teeth. It isn’t too difficult to cut this grove but chances are your hand will get tired.

I got the idea to make these thumb controlled pots from the pottery ones I’ve seen at Historic Williamsburg. The original earthenware “thumb pots” were used in 17th and 18th century English gardens. I reproduced this clever watering device using salvaged plastic bottles and jugs. It is ideal for watering delicate seedlings. I use this watering pot all the time now.

To Make:

Find a suitable “pot.” I love using maple syrup containers but I was successful making other smaller pots with smaller plastic milk bottles. The smaller bottles are easier for children.

Drill a hole in the center of the cap of your container. I used a 7/32nd drill bit. Next, drill small holes in the bottom. I used a 1/16th drill bit. When using softer plastic containers, it is possible to poke holes instead of using a drill. Make sure the cap is on tight; otherwise the water will not stay inside.

How it works:

It works similar to holding your thumb over the top of a drinking straw.

1. To fill your thumb pot, place into a bucket of water. Do not cover the hole in the top.

2. Hold your finger over the hole in the cap to prevent water from escaping the bottom as you lift.

3. Continue to hold your thumb over the hole as you lift.

4. Take your thumb off the hole when you are ready to water your plants. Removing your thumb allows the water to gently stream out the holes on the bottom.

How to hold a thumb pot.

This is a craft that is good for large groups of kids like school classes because the mushroom trays can be saved by the parents and the overall project will be very inexpensive. The handle for your “basket” can be made with a lot of different materials but I like the natural ones best. The photos show a basket handle made with a twisted piece of drift wood. You can grow grass seeds or wheat grass berries.

I waited too long to take these pictures: the grass is getting too tall. When we are done enjoying our grass baskets, I let my chickens enjoy the greens ! No wasting.

Note: This project is meant to be a centerpiece and is not meant to be carried around by the handle.

Follow this link for tips on growing wheat grass.

One more note:

I like growing wheat grass because it doesn’t take a huge amount of planning ahead. The plants will sprout in just a few days. When I grew the wheat grass in these mushroom trays, I soaked the seeds overnight and then put them on top of the potting soil, watered it, covered the tray with plastic for the first day or two and then watered only as needed. -Very easy child project.

Sometimes a person only wants a half cup of tea. You need a special cup for this in Wonderland. I thought this would be an amusing addition to my Mad Hatter’s Tea party.

This is my cup of tea: creative, fun…

This cup was originally part of a night light that I got second-hand. I simply detached it from the light bulb: carefully. Then I used some bathroom calk to “glue” the half cup to a saucer. You can actually glue it if you prefer but I wanted the option to easily make it back into a night light.

I wanted a little more green on the table for my Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. Because it was early March, there wasn’t a lot to choose from growing outside. I did however; find moss growing in some spots around my house. So here are the inexpensive yet pretty moss teacups I made.

I used second-hand tea cups. I choose cups from our collection that were the most worn and would be the least likely to be used for drinking tea. I filled them with potting soil then I dug up a circular clump of moss. Moss doesn’t have deep roots like other plants so you don’t have to dig up much soil with the moss. I then arranged the moss on top and watered it. Be careful not to over water. Mist regularly!

So simple and pretty.

A few years ago, my daughter brought home a piece of bark she had carved a design in. I liked the idea so much that I thought wouldn’t it be cool to carve a valentine out of a piece of bark. I like the way it makes you think of the sweet affections of youth carved in trees. However, I don’t really like the idea of scarring a tree.  They can be used in a variety of ways from napkin rings to Valentine ornaments.

You could also carve things like: T.B. + N.R., U R Sweet, Hot stuff, or Kiss me. I used a metal barbecue skewer to scratch out the letters. Bark pieces can be found on the ground around some pine trees or possibly around a log pile.

Napkin rings are made from a slice of a toilet paper roll with the bark Valentine glued on.

Hand carved tree bark Valentine ornament.

Leave a secret love note for someone special to find.

These love notes are carved into tree bark but not into living trees. 

Assortment of hand carved tree bark love notes.

This I heart you message was made to decorate a gift box top.

Something as simple as covering a plastic nursery pot with bark can have wonderful results.

Adding a ribbon around the pot is a nice touch.

Nice for a house-warming gift or teacher gift.

Beautiful for a wedding or dinner party.

Add bark in a horizontal pattern or a vertical pattern.

We have a wood burning stove so I’m able to gather bark from around our log pile. Alternatively, you can harvest some from fallen trees. Using a hot glue gun, attach strips of bark. I used a pair of pliers to break the pieces to the appropriate length. Work your way around the pot: adding strips as you go. Reuse plastic pots you have hanging around your garage or find some secondhand. This blog is about wise use of resources so ask around and reuse items as much as possible.

I used 3 inches tall pots with square tops for a windowsill herb garden and I used a 4.5 inches tall round pot for a centerpiece.

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  Are you having any trouble understanding some of the instructions? Feel free to send me a quick e-mail at HesterJane@FunInTheMaking.net. I’ll do my best to answer your questions. Do you have any suggestions regarding a specific post? Maybe you have a better way and would like to share it with the other creative people visiting this site? -Hester Jane