Making Coasters.

Today I have been mostly making coasters and if I am honest I love them all. I can't sell them, they do not look good, bits of them aren't straight and some of them are simply rubbish. I still love them.

This is true for most of what has gone on or anywhere near Etsy, but I like my firsts the most.

These coasters are definitely firsts, I have never made a coaster before and I have never worked with this material and it's fab. I love new things, it can be anything from trying a new breakfast cereal to exploring a new country, I just love new things. They open up all sorts of ideas and pathways in life and suddenly my brain can't stop. The ideas just come with each new thing added to the mix. It is the days when my head is just bursting with ideas that I am at my happiest.

When I started the Etsy thing, I started writing them down, each idea, each pattern, product, new material and colour scheme. Oddly I really didn't find this a helpful thing to do, so I stopped. The list quickly turned into a 'to do' list and to have so much on it that I couldn't possibly achieve instantly, which is how I like to get things done, frustrated me. I found the amount of time I actually spent writing bored me to, I wanted to just do it. So now that's what I do.

I am currently working with plastic. Plastic bags to be precise. I am using the same simple procedure I have used for all of my rag rug type stuff, so it's really easy. I started by sorting through my plastic bags. At the moment I am only using the  ones that I wouldn't find another use for, the thin ones. I don't often re use these anyway so I kind of figured that at least I'm not wasting anything useful by experimenting.The thicker ones, of the bag for life ilk are being kept for use as packaging or errm as bags when required.

The plastic is so much quicker and easier to cut into strips than the fabric. The lack of mess is a dream, it is much nicer not to have to get the vacuum out every time I change colour. I am still cutting it into thin strips as I was with the fabric. My intention was to cut them into strips of approximately ten mil. If I am honest though this does mean, as with the rag rugs, that the strips in fact vary between still attached and about 35 mm wide depending on how much attention I am paying to what I am doing at the time.

The plastic squishes up really small, so I am using tiny needles. Well, the smallest I  have anyway. I'm not sure what size they are, and frankly I am too lazy to go and check, but I think they are about 2.5mil. I am in fact using sock needles which means I end up with a pink polka dot effect on my belly because they are pointed at both ends. The coasters aren't massively successful so far, but I am loving just playing around and daydreaming while I make them.

I find myself thinking about sourcing more plastic bags. I have all of my food delivered and so don't come across that many without trying. I love what this could mean for the future of onac, if I could make really good use of them. If we fast forward into my own little daydream a moment, we can see clearly the benefit of using plastic bags. In my dream, I am a physically fit female who does not have any nine to five commitments. I am living close to the majority of my friends and I can drive.

My daydream ideal day would involve something like, going to a friends to help them decorate/ hang wallpaper or whatever. Talking the talk, catching up, feeling the love and drinking lots of tea and hopefully decorating a room. At the end of the day, I have worked hard,  I am feeling good. My friend hopefully has had a good day too, and can now pay me for my efforts. My friends work hard too and often struggle to get the things that they want, How good would it be if I could use my skills to help them and they could pay me with their rubbish. Everyone has a huge useless pile of plastic bags in thier house somewhere, don't they? As long as I can find another way of turning that rubbish into money then it's win, win, win.

I win, my friends win, the customer wins, the bank manager wins and the planet wins.

I don't want to jump that far ahead though and keeping my feet on the ground is something that I need to be strict with myself on. It is easy to get excited about this as it is something that we both feel really strongly about. We want to be smarter and make much better use of our time, so we are finding ways everyday that we think might help us make it happen. Onac is a constant theme of conversation in our house at the moment. I like this because it is exciting and makes us feel good, but in many ways I would like to step back from the main prize and remain focussed on the journey, if that makes sense. After all, we have a long way to go.

With that in mind then there have been other sourcing thoughts. I am picturing taking trips to the local supermarkets where we just raid their recycling bins. That's just too easy though really. I am scared that you will think I'm crazy for this, but I am actually looking forward to the idea of rescuing them from the streets. I live just opposite a huge and rather lovely country park that is full of litter. How good would it be if I could help clean it up and pluck these bags from the trees?

Each bag would have it's own story. How good would it be if I could put fliers through my neighbours doors asking for them and make a friend or two out of it too. The best thing of all though would be to find a way of doing all of these things without the world thinking that I have gone more than a little bit bonkers.

Here are some pictures of what I have so far, Please let me know what you think.....