I got a nice email from premiere polymer clay artist Kim Cavender just now. She said:

" I think the recycling aspect is such a wonderful thing to consider as we create out art."

I had written her about featuring the "Can I Sit With You?" cover, citing its use of found and reused materials. There's a lot to be considered when we address minimizing our impact as craftspeople. (I'm specifically talking about polymer clay artists here, but it applies to sewers, jewelry makers and comics artists, too.)  Environmental impact, waste, materials and tools, money and time. (Totally not in that order.)

There's a wave of "Booga! Booga! Booga!" about polymer clay. Judy Dunn wrote about it this last Friday, "Fear and Hysteria in the Studio."

"But ignorance and fear do not lead to good decisions. Our shower curtains are not going to give us cancer, or destroy our reproductive capacity.
The same gallery owner who suggests that it would be good to avoid purchasing a polymer clay necklace because of the risks that phthalates pose, carries jewelry made with resin, enamel, and other "toxic" materials in her gallery. When the customer buys any of these finished products, they are chemically stable and safe, just as a polymer clay necklace would be...There is no real risk to the consumer with any of them. If we want to eliminate risks, let’s do it judiciously, and with consideration of the facts."

(As an aside, Judy also says, "We are in an environment where our politicians are more likely to be swayed by public fears than by fact." Damn right, says the mom who watches otherwise intelligent people go all Chicken Little over mercury poisoning or Harry Potter.)

Polymer clayers are not at all wasteful with our materials. How much scrap clay gets thrown out as opposed to reused for armatures, underpinnings and base layers? Very little, and a lot.
How much gets passed on to other clayers? Lots!
PC lasts a really long time uncured and carefully stored, so there's less waste associated with shelf life.
How much PC is made into disposable objects? I can't think of any. It's meant to be permanent, and is treated as such.
I think PCer's are, on the whole, very responsible. Most craftspeople are. There's no currency in a race to see how much can be thrown away, or in how fragile and ephemeral we can make our art. How we use our materials is very much connected to our bottom line.
It's the contrast between an art doll or bracelet and a pair of jeans designed to look trashed when they're new and fall apart inside a year.
 
ALL PLAY:
 
What is your favorite thing you ever made for yourself or someone else, or favorite handmade thing given to you (or that you bought)?