Going Green: How Much is Too Much - Artist Ira Mency's Mad Quest Against the World, One Trashy Tidbit at a Time

I'm an Eco-Artist. That means I make art from discarded goods, trash, junk, or otherwise unwanted items that would otherwise head to the landfill. I do my best to use earth-friendly non-toxic adhesives in my sculptures, and natural finishes like beeswax in my collage or mixed media work. I'm not 100% green, but I'm sure as heck trying.

I feel good about my lifestyle, and it shows in my art. My junky little creations end up in private collections, and museums. In fact right now I have some recycled toys I made from discarded junk on display at Cameron Art Museum in North Carolina. I do a lot of charity work and donate pieces to fundraisers - from butterflies for the Butterfly Exhibit at the Houston Holocaust Museum, to Kentucky's Youth Charity Auction for the American Saddlebred Horse Association, it's nice to give back!.

I'm the girl you see on the side of the road picking through a "free" trash pile, or walking along school grounds picking up fragments of old glass, broken toys, and bottle caps. Rusty nails are my best friend, and attics full of brittle newspapers call my name.

I love soy candles, because after they burn (so clean) you can use whatever container or jar they were in to make new candles or repurpose it into something else. I'm like that-the mind constantly finding a use for something after it's all used up. Life of an item is sometimes neverending.

I rummage thru everything in life and give it a second purpose. Stamps arrive on my mail, and end up repurposed into a collage or decorate a piece of old furniture. Old jeans turn into purses; broken clocks get torn apart for jewelry making. Poker chips become wearable art pendants. Game parts become robots. Old playing cards turn into small paintings. My cycles of creating from old things are endless.

I use my eco friendly cotton bag made from old t-shirts when shopping, and often find enough plastic bags floating around the neighborhood to wash and do something creative with. These plus the bags from bread or rolls that aren't recycled in my state (except by one grocery store which really ticks me off to think my city does not have a recycling program set up for these type things.)

I end up weaving the old plastic bags into plarn (plastic yarn) and crochet into baskets. Sometimes I iron and press plastic fabric for use as material in other work. My husband wonders why I never have any time. I'm always so busy squeezing in this project or that.

I buy organic items and refuse to buy anything that is tested on animals. I find myself reading labels now and paying more attention. I don't preach my beliefs to others, as I'm not perfect. (My barn is filled with old paint from others, half used gallons of Kilz and other oil based paints. Why throw them into the landfill if I can use them on barn boards?)

I've made a lot of small changes in my life to go greener...but truly I'm not 100% yet. I don't have solar panels (I wish I had a windmill, it's on my to-do list!) I still buy cases of bottled water that have Un-Recyclable lids on them and come in plastic covered cases. (Again, a problem in the recycling facilities, lids should be recyclable!) My car is not bio-diesel or battery powered-- it's a improved gas guzzling Ford. I have yet to convert my oil burning furnace into something more effective, the reason being it runs like a charm. (If it ain't broke why fix it?) . If I did spend lots of money and have someone rip this asbestos filled nightmare out, would I save money or the earth in some way, perhaps I could finally make the break away from oil someday, who knows? I'm not vegan or vegetarian though I should be because it makes me sick to think of where the food came from and wonder if it was humanely killed. (I suppose that's my downfall being married to Big Fat Daddy and his famous pit beef.) So, as you can see, there is still a lot of work to do in my life when it comes to going greener. I feel I'm one step closer to my goals because these things are always on my mind.

So, back to the green in me.....it just feels right to use old Christmas bulbs as parts of my sculptures, the lids on my drink bottles decorate windmills for the garden, and broken china dishes decorate my herb garden.

I try to be creative to a point and repurpose objects--- old magazines, discarded books, and unwanted newspapers, make a work of art. I hate to see these items melted down into toilet paper when old text and old images are so wonderful. My extra clippings after going thru the 1950's McCalls, then go to the recycler, or sometimes I give my customers a small pile of yesteryear memorabilia in a upcycled thank you note, as many are fellow artists or crafters and can in turn use the clippings in their own work. I can't tell you how happy this tiny little gesture makes them. Maybe kindness is contagious!

Doing my wifely duties I help my husband in his catering business which gives me the rare opportunity to travel up and down the East Coast all year long. This gives me a lot of scavenging time and I do a lot of hiking in old areas or backroads. I'm the girl that goes to the beach and picks up all the trash that has floated up to shore. Recently I made a great sculpture out of old driftwood and some old wormy fishing lures I found. .

In Maine I found a common free stack of old barn wood. The barn was from 1897 and had fallen down. The wood amazingly had weathered many storms and was great for crafts. The natural habitat had taken most of the weight out of it, and I loaded the truck happily and have been making barn board collages. The town dump was home to an old cabinet face, which I made into a "Welcome to East Grand Lake" sign and hangs proudly on my wall today. An old pier that fell apart also made good wood for crafting. The old buoys that washed up on shore now decorate my Maine cottage. (See photos.)

In Maryland someone had made a bunk bet set for their kids out of old wood in the 40s. It was headed for the landfill. It was so unique, the boards were planks and I hadn't seen this type of routing before. It had been painted a zillion times. I took it and repurposed the boards into a very functional shelf (leaving the old bunk bed ladder on the side for added coolness. I also left the many layers of paint intact, doing a quick sand job to smooth off any rough or chipping paint....) I loved it but hubby thought I was crazy once again until I was offered a ridiculous amount of money for it, and this person is using it in their antique mall today for display of items.

My greatest find all summer was walking around Mount Jackson, Virginia, in the back woods and near old railroad tracks and finding huge piles of garbage that they used to dump long ago. (A common practice I'm afraid...) In this was a great assortment of vintage bottles (IN TACT), rope, old toys, rusty railroad spikes, old ceramic insulators and a huge pile of broken up china. A mixed media artist's dream come true!

To avoid over doing my stash of trash, I often rotate stock. I sell these items in a store on Etsy in hopes another crafter or artist may find just the right use for them. Additionally, I also sell vintage items. Now the question is...........how much is too much?

I recently sold some items and use 100% repurposed packing materials. Items commonly used in my packing are clean egg crates, any leftover gift wrap or tissue paper, any boxes that someone gives me as a gift, any packing materials I may acquire from things I order, any old plastic coated dog food or cat food bags that aren't recyclable because they have the paper on one layer and plastic inside, miscellany papers or stuffing, bread bags, clean plastic wrappings off of Gatorade or water bottles, toilet paper rolls to shove into the corners to prevent breakage, or balled up brown paper bags.

Recently I was chastised for using this type of packing material by one of my customers who we will refer to as "Flo". Flo was not happy with the crumpled up unused paper towel roll containing the one unsued paper towel /toilet paper rolls, plastic wrapping off the water bottles, and dog food bag that was wrapped up around her items (which all arrived safely due to great packing I may add).

Flo wrote a few paragraphs about how much she liked her items, but then how she was upset with the "quality of packing materials." Flo stated, "I like recycling but there's a limit to the use of an item. I am a firm believer that once it's served it's purpose it should be done."

My response was not so short winded, and perhaps I'm among the few hopefuls that my actions may start a chain reaction. Instead of throwing away the plastic wrap off the water bottle case (that would end up in a Maryland landfill, as it's not recyclable here) I chose to use it for something else. I was hoping that by my example that Flo (who also has a shop) would then use that packing material when sending the box to Sally. Maybe in turn Flo would think of new uses for her non recyclable items. Perhaps then Sally in receipt of this box, could then use the packing material to send the box to Lila, and finally Lila lives in a state that DOES recycle that type of plastic, and could easily stuff it in her recycler. The item doesn't have to die immediately (as Flo implied), until it's good and ready and in proper recycling facilities.

I know, it's maybe just a dream. It's not a perfect world, and my theory of reusing and upcycling every little thing is not practical in most cases for everyone.

I dream of the day that I could purchase in bulk water or beverages that doesn't have plastic wrap on it, or bottles that weren't made by polluting the earth......bread that doesn't come in plastic bags but there's always a health factor and health issue with the reasons for this kind of protective wrapping.

I wish my state would implement recycling for these types of materials, and then perhaps the streets of Baltimore wouldn't be littered with so many plastic bags that will outlive me and many generations to come. Our sign should read, "Litter welcomes you to Maryland."

e have so far to go as a whole. I have so far to go in my own personal quest for greener living, but I'm proud of where I am thus far. I don't think there's ever too much that you can do, on an individual basis. I strongly feel that any step towards a greener earth is one in the right direction. A lot of people say "It takes too much time to be green." Some are frustrated that they have to recycle. Some people say, "Who cares?"

I personally don't think there's ever too much to hope for, or wish for-as the hopes and dreams for the future of tomorrow are very real and will impact many generations after we're gone. What if history's greats like Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Graham Bell, George Washington or Ben Franklin just didn't give a hoot or care about making progress in their world or life as they knew it back then? Surely they thought that their inventions and contributions and hopes could indeed impact the world for generations to come. So why can't we?

I think it's not that hard to implement small changes in your own life to make a small, yet subtle difference.

Do you?