Ok, a bit of a random one but, against our completely uncoordinated better judgement, my friend Katherine and I are currently learning how to belly dance.

We’re both naturally clumsy but it turns out that life isn’t like a film where the most hoof-footed woman becomes a goddess once she enters a dance studio. Imagine a drunk person on a pogo-stick during an earthquake: they’d still be more graceful than me.

We’re planning to distract from our natural lack of skill with fancy-swancy hip scarf/belts and since I’m the craft-y one, I’ve been charged with the task of creating them. I *could* just go and buy some scarves from the market and decorate them with sequins, “coins” (circles of metal that clink together) and bells from the haberdashery but, really, where would the fun be in that?

So any suggestions for other, more interesting, more recycled things to use instead? For both the scarf/belt itself and the decoration.

I thought maybe ring pulls/bottle caps for the coins – I’m not sure how to attach them though. I’ve also got a decent stash of empty drink cans for crafty use – shapes cut from them would be nice and light but possibly a little sharp… Thoughts?

We’ve had an email from Louise, saying:

Here in Malta ice cream comes in rectangular plastic containers. I use them a lot to organize my drawers and cupboard, they’re useful for all kinds of bits and bobs. However I’d like to use some as storage boxes on open shelves, and I’d like to decorate them. Any suggestions?

I love those ice cream tubs. The stuff that isn’t aimed at the luxury market in the UK comes in those rectangular tubs too and I’ve got them all about the place – holding beads/craft stuff, packets of seeds, cat medicines etc. The 2litre tubs are a great size for storing stuff in and of course the regular shape is great for stacking.

I haven’t redecorated any of mine though – anyone got any hints/ideas?

Because I’m obsessed with wire stuff at the moment, I might be tempted to try wrapping it in plastic coated wire (something like a less complicated version of these bottles) – I suspect that would really transform it but would take a lot of wire.

Any other suggestions?

We’ve had an email from Clare which is a kinda reverse this thing and a kinda ‘how can I recycle?’ thing:

My boyfriend has a huge collection of shot glasses in various shapes and sizes (he’s not a great drinker, so I don’t know where they came from!) I thought some of them would make great spice jars — but I need some lids for them.

Wine bottle corks are too small. I thought about begging Champagne corks from a local posh restaurant, soaking them to restore their tubular shape and carving them to fit. But I’m a danger to myself and those around me when using a scalpel.

Does anyone have any other ideas for making lids to fit shot glasses in a variety of shapes?

So … any ideas? I can’t think of anything other than those plastic lids you get for open tin cans – and they’d be too big and too ugly to use here.

Or any other suggestions for what Clare can do with the many shot glasses?

We’ve had an email from Kate:

i want to make a pair of slippers for my boyfriend for his birthday. he’s really into green stuff and i’m broke (back at uni!) so i thought i’d make them but don’t know where to start. any ideas?!

After making booties for our niece Mia a few years ago, I got excited about making supersized booties for us but never got around to it, and that’s more knitting than recycling anyway (unless you’ve reclaimed the wool). (On that topic, I also have this “dorm boots” pattern in my “growing and eating and making” bookmarks folder from when I was looking for a pattern for Mia.)

Away from knitting, you can make them out of towels or misc woollen fabric (like a blanket or an old jumper).

John also made himself some “outside slippers” from a pair of old comfortable but battered trainers – we wear socks around the house but he needed something he could slip-on for running out to the bin or going into the sometimes-damp cellar. He just chopped the back out of the shoes to make mules and sewed up the rough edge.

Any other suggestions? Or hints on how to get started?

(Photo by prototype7)

We’ve had an email from Janelle for our new reverse Recycle This section:

hi. i’d love to have a go at making a shopping bag out of recycled plastic but don’t know where to start. any ideas?

I’ve knitted carrier bags into a new bag before now – except I picked thicker than normal bags which were a PAIN. Aside from that though, it was pretty straight forward – I just garter-stitched a strip as wide and twice as long as I wanted the finished bag to be, then folded it in half and sewed up the sides. The (short) handles were made in the same way, just handle-sized dimensions instead. It looked more rugged than it felt though – but I think my knitting/sewing skills were to blame for that.

I love the bags woven from old packaging and am planning to give that a go once I get my million other projects out of the way – anyone got any hints or tips on how to get started? Or what types of packaging to use?

Away from plastic, I’ve made a few shopping bags from old/charity-shop pillow case – either standard tote ones (using the bag part of the pillowcase) or slightly bigger one I made with a little help from the cats the other week (it’s great and seems far stronger because of the wider strap).

Other materials: Ecoist, amongst other people, also makes bags from old movie posters; I’ve seen bags made from old bamboo blinds/placemats (the wood stained a fun colour and fabric used for the gusset); the tops of jeans make good rucksack-type bags (built-in pockets!); and I’m tempted to play with making a wallet or possibly clutch bag using drink cans – the cans cut into strips then woven into a flat sheet (easier than reweaving them into a can again…).

Any other suggestions?

(Photo of a non-recycled but colourful & shiny bag by paiviti)