I’m a graphic design student who isn’t as interested in selling the world more stuff it doesn’t need as much as wanting to make a social impact, however big or small it may be. I’m a bit of a pack rat and for years the number of old jeans in my studio has been piling up because I was convinced there was some crafty, useful purpose for them and the bizillion more in thrift stores headed to the landfill. A few elements combined and finally my mind bulb lit up. Napkins! Not fancy-schmany-only-for-dinner-parties napkins, but everyday- greasy-fingers-need-wiping napkins. Awesome!
So in the middle of the night I started deconstructing the jeans. Most of the napkins aren’t square, more like trapezoids, but pant legs aren’t perfectly square and really, who cares if they are not perfect? The point is to, say it with me, reduce, reuse, recycle! I soon was at work screenprinting images to serve as ID so each family member can keep track of their napkin. My husband & I have been using them for a few months and we are hooked. I admit napkins & paper towels are a vice for me and every single time I reach for one, I feel the wave of guilt but no more. We usually get a few days of use out of each napkin before they need washing and then they get thrown in with the kitchen towels or some other load and so there’s no waste — no trees, no bleach, no pollution, no jeans in the landfill, no extra water to wash them. It rocks!
I will be using this blog as my soapbox to help convert the willing but uninitiated. Please check out the facts & figures, the tutorials demonstrating how to make your own and pass this link on. if you don’t have the time & energy, I plan to open an Etsy store this summer so you buy a little armchair activism.
Comments are important to me so please leave your thoughts or suggestions. Take care.
Tags: cloth napkins, design, jeans
