Thursday, March 14, 2019

Buckets and Straws


Making enamel utensils for the dollhouse is on my to-do list for a long time. Miniaturists do it with so much realism, I thought it would be an intricate process.
Once I started, the only challenge was to stop adding rust stains and chips before the buckets became too damaged and grubby to use. This project was good fun, didn't require special tools or supplies, and it was quick to make. I used cardboard from cereal boxes which I 'rescued' from the dustbin in the interest of protecting the environment, so I feel extra happy with my buckets on that account. When I have a bit more time I will make a tutorial so that you can try it too.

Speaking of the environment - plastic drinking straws were banned in many countries at the beginning of 2019, and the rest of the world is soon to follow. Surveys show that people in affluent countries spend more money on take-out food than groceries. Most take-away food comes in plastic containers and straws are at the forefront of the movement to stop single-use plastic from overwhelming the planet.
I'm all in favour of cleaning up the oceans and reducing the size of landfills but my heart was heavy at the thought of losing drinking straws as a craft source. One can do so many things with them, from dollhouse drain pipes to pram wheel axles, the uses for straws are endless.

One morning last week, Siegfried and I sneaked out for a double thick milkshake (I'm an unadventurous vanilla person). Imagine my delight when I pulled the wrapper off the straw to discover a sturdy cardboard tube! You can see it at the top of this picture. The other straws are a bendy straw from a juice box, McDonald's milkshake straw, and an ordinary plastic drinking straw. While I will jealously guard my stash of plastic straws for future use around the dollhouse, I'm going to invent lots of excuses to go for a milkshake so I can collect paper straws. Just when you think something is taken away, a valuable new provision is added!

What do you use drinking straws for, and what other kinds of plastic or paper containers do you repurpose for your dollhouse?