Your Green Life: "Green Crafts"

By KBJR News 1

June 6, 2013 Updated Jun 6, 2013 at 4:21 AM CST

Duluth, MN
Art comes in many forms and in the Northland there is no shortage of materials you can make it from. In this weeks "Your Green Life" Meteorologist Adam Lorch visits one group making art with recycled local materials.

Judy Gordon has more than just a hobby.

"These are all made from recycled t–shirts and some are decorated and some are plain." Says Gordon.

Its also a green hobby.

"These are jewelry," Gordon explains, "using recycled pieces of old jewelry, old wire, driftwood and pieces of stone."

Gordon and a group of women called "Nice Girls of The North" then take their green crafts and sell them locally.

Gordon says, "I think there's a certain market of people that are interested in this and its definitely a growing market but, we also have to compete against big companies that are name brands."

But what big companies don't have is a sense of community.

"I think that there is also a market for locally made so we fit both of those, we are locally made, local artisans and green so people looking for that kind of thing definitely." Said Gordon

Buying locally made crafts used to be a way of life. Now, if something breaks many of us just throw it away and buy a new one. But....

When creative minds get together, there's no limit when it comes to turning something old into something new.

"Being in a group of creative people we just bounce ideas off each other and it seems to grow." She says.

It's not always about making money, but doing something you love and reducing waste and creating artwork will payoff future generations.

Gordon told me, "When you get to a certain stage in your life and you have things and you don't want more things and buying new things, instead of buying new things, expensive things, to be able to find old things and turn them into something else is really fun."

You can find these locally made, green crafts at Lester Park Lakeside Community Center the second Saturday of every month.

Meteorologist Adam Lorch