Starting with T-shirts
The Phoenix Centre in Buckie was the venue for the first series of upcycling workshops, with a warm and welcoming setting. We got under way with something for absolute beginners, to lay the foundations for more advanced activities. We started with preloved T-shirts, trying out simple ways to transform them into a triangled scarf with fringes. No special skills were required – just cutting, pulling, beading and overhand knots to secure beads. It was an enjoyable process for everyone involved.
T-shirt fabric has properties that make it an excellent source of upcycling potential. It’s easy to cut, doesn’t need to be hemmed and stretching it only makes better.
Next came survival bracelets, where we learned how to apply simple weaving techniques, using yarn that we cut out from T-shirts, after first laying them down flat and then cutting strips out horizontally and stretching them.
We followed by drawing feathers out of denim, embellishing them with some old pieces of beads and sewing buttons.
We rounded off this series of workshops in the Phoenix Centre with fabric flowers sewn together with the help of scrap fabric, leftover ribbons, old beads and buttons and re-used laces, matching favourite colours for a special day out.
One of the group made a poppy to add in to the huge array gathered together onto a vast “waterfall of poppies”, each individually made from wool or fabric and donated from many crafters from round the UK, to be suspended from one of the buildings by the War Memorial in the town square. This initiative to replace plastic poppies by handcrafted ones, made from more natural materials, both reduces plastic and brings an added personal dimension of care and involvement.
We have really enjoyed the visits to the Phoenix Centre, and the great interest from the participants to make something new and learn new skills and to look at waste material in a new light, and the very pleasant and welcoming staff and environment.
Project supported by Moray Leader.
From Cycle Tubes to Statement Necklace
We round off the series of workshops by looking at how to turn cycle tubes into a simple statement necklace.
Moving on to plastic
After a successful start transforming T-shirts, our online classes moved on to plastic, to turn them into jewellery pieces.
The Land and the Sea: costumes in a transformation process
With a physical exhibition now delayed by lockdown to December, we are bringing you a preview online.
T-shirts Transformed
It was quite a change of plans for the project as we had got up to full speed on practical workshops, with excellent feedback from the various sessions and further venues and groups all ready to go.
Online upcycling classes – welcome!
A brief welcome to set the scene for online classes on the way.
Moray Reach Out workshops with trainees
We had two sessions with trainees, to introduce some of the techniques in making use of pre-loved items and everyday materials.
Open Day with drop-in workshops at Moray Reach Out
We prepared a range of activities, with a number of displays as well for inspiration, from upcycled jewellery pieces to items created from yarn from pre-loved T-shirts. We also had one of the specially created costumes with us, with its bright spring green colour.
Upcycled costumes on display
Our costumes made from waste materials are now ready for display. They will appear tomorrow (Monday 17th) late morning in one of the large windows of Moray Reach Out in Church Street, Buckie.
Busy working on upcycled costumes
When constructing an art-wearable piece of garment from pre-loved and discarded materials, the process itself flows and grows organically.
Buckie Christmas Kracker
The annual Christmas Kracker is an event to look forward to, and we were delighted to be there for a creative collaboration with Moray Reach Out at their Yarns and Crafts Centre. There was a keen interest from young people, and sometimes very young, along with their parents, to see what could be done with upcycling t-shirts.
Doodling in 3D with Moray Wellbeing Hub
We tried out 3D-printing pens, using filament recycled from used plastic (from old food packaging and old bottles), to draw the hot thin plastic by hand into simple shapes from nature - feathers, butterflies and dragonflies.
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Performance Costume Design
Exploring the transformative nature of everyday man-made materials, including plastic and discarded textiles, into visually stunning costumes for performance/film embodying characters of folklore and myth.
The Selkie’s New Clothes
“The coastline, always changing with the tide, is where seals and people meet as selkies. It is a nowhere place and yet it is all they have.”
the LAND and the SEA
In celebration of nature and its textures, these costume designs were born, inspired by the nature of the sea and the nature of the land. The materials come from various forms of waste – from plastic bottles to preloved textiles and jewellery pieces.