Cleaning waste with waste

If you have a hard time getting your children to clean up their desks after they have completed their homework, then it is time to teach them how to create their own duster. You do not have to shop for the material required as you can easily find what you need at home.

Material Required
1) 6 pieces of clean plastic bags that are too small to be used as garbage bag.
2) 1 raffia string (commonly given at the sundry shop) at least 8 inches in length
3) Empty medicine tub (usually meant for storing antibiotic) with its bottom cut away
4) Scissors

Method

1) Use the scissors to cut off the handles and the ends of all the plastic bags. Lay each piece flat, one on top of the other.

2) Fold the the raffia string in half and tie both ends together into a knot. Crunch up the plastic bags together right at their centre and place them on top of the tied raffia string.


3) Push the knotted ends through the loop at the other end of the raffia string and pull it tight across the plastic bags to form a handle.

4) Remove the cap of the medicine tub. Fold the plastic bags in half from the tied centre. Pull the string through from the bottom to the opening of the medicine tub.


5) Screw the cap back on so that you have the knotted ends of the raffia string sticking out at the side of the medicine tub to form a handle. Your duster is ready for action.


4) The duster also looks good for decorating the desk if placed in a container.


Another possible cost saving gift idea for teacher's day.

Making waste music to your ears

In my country parents who send their children to music schools usually end up buying an electric organ or a piano if they can afford it. That is a very expansive musical instrument to invest in if you are not too sure if your children are musically inclined. Start them on it when they are much older and you are concern that they may find it more difficult to pick up.

Why not start by building up their interest as they grow? For toddlers incorporate toys that can create sounds and see how they react to them. When they are old enough to, let them create their own musical instrument. Form a playgroup so that the children can express their musical talents and imitate what their fellow playmates have learned to create.

These are what you can start collecting to create musical instruments:

1) Any empty containers in any material eg, biscuit tins, plastic bottles, etc.
2) Metal bottle caps
3) Tissue Boxes
4) Disposal chopsticks
5) Rubber bands
6) Cardboard from boxes
7) Strings
8) Sands and gravels
9) "Y" shape twigs
10) Scraps of paper or fabric to decorate instrument
11) Toilet roll tube

Here are some ideas and instructions to work on with the children:

Bonko from Exploratorium

Bottle Cap Tambourines and Bottled Music from FamilyFun

Box Guitar from EnchantedLearning

Straw Oboes from MCREL

Earthlink provides instructions for creating simple to more complex musical instrument.

You think this will not work? But then this is how music is being taught to the children at Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra through its "Let’s Beat It weekend"!

Now that I have your interest; need some help decorating your recycled musical instrument? The kids will love the jazz and colours.

Cardbaord from boxes fun

When I was a kid, I loved playing with cardboard boxes. I used to put my younger sister in the box and dragged her around the hall by holding on to one of its lids. We have used them to rear stray kittens and puppies we found in the neighbourhood.

Till today, these heavy or lightweight cardboard containers in whatever material, forms or shapes are still giving me fun as I explore ways to make use of them in my craft work. Here are some stuff I have created using cardboards:

1) Beads for making jewellery for my daughter to play with.

2) Photo frame and jewellery holder.


Add interest to your frame by wrapping the strips at all sides with leftover gift wrapping paper. If you want to give it away as a present, wrapped the sides with wrapping paper to represent the event it is for. Example, if it is a Christmas present, wrapped them using wrapping paper with Christmas theme.



Don't give up on cardboard that are stained. Each time your children paint, have them clean off excess paint on their brushes onto the stained cardboard you have used in your creation.

3) Happy Teacher's Day Card using cardboard from a birthday cake box.


I made it practical by gluing to the top of the card a cardboard sweet container to form a holder for pen or handmade plastic flower. I wrapped the sweet container using plastic bags cut into strips to fit its size.

This handmade plastic flower can also be used to decorate the photo frame.



Following are some free tutorial I have discovered off the web for you to try out:

Cardboard Crafts

Cardboard Box Castle

Cardboard Castle

Bulletin Board

Grouses? Clear them the green way.

Grouses create negative emotions that can affect everyone and anything in your path. What can you do to stop them getting into your life and depress you? The important thing to remember is that every problem that you may have to face have been experienced by others before you and resolved.

Following are some grouses that I have resolved the green way.

1) Love thy neighbours and their pets. My Scoopy Do creation; a diplomatic way to request owners to clean after their pets at the neighbourhood park.



2) Tears inspired generated idea for teaching my son about life by re-using his "Tumble Down" toy.



3) My "if you can't beat them, join them" battle with junk mails activities.


4) Overcoming my fear of overindulging the children.

5) One man's treasure could be another man's junk! Here is a compassion generated idea to work on to add value to "junk".

6) A frustration inspired way to stop the children fighting by talking about the"Balloon"

7) A green "Mask" to teach my children about negative emotions while they were still too young to understand.

Bicycle tyres and parts? Before you discard, discover their other uses.

What do you do when you have a problem? How about working on making a living out of it? That is what environmentally conscious, Eli Reich, who rode to work did, to clear the used bicycle-tire inner tubes that were lying around his house. He handmade messenger bag out of them to sell.



He did so well with the bags, that he quit his job and using the tag line, "Turning useless into useful", set up Alchemy Goods.

So, before your throw away those bicycle tires, read their recycling instruction to see how you can get their prepaid labels to have them delivered to Alchemy Goods in Seattle. Though you will not be paid for your efforts to reduce waste, you get a mention in their recycling program.

How else, can unwanted rubber tires be used to help solve a problem? Lindsay Smith used them to create Rubbersidewalks. These are rubber pavers for sidewalks that can be unlocked and removed. Her innovation saved mature trees in her neighborhood from being cut down by the city in their bid to reduce cost of repairing the broken concrete pavement damaged by their roots.

Though Rubbersidewalks will not take your unwanted tires, they do provide a very interesting write up with lots of useful links to explain why trees should be saved.

There is a company in Malaysia, Advance PyroTech Sdn Bhd, that takes rubber tyre from Japan to recycle. The facility through its pyrolisis techonology provides pollution-free process to recover almost 100% of the tyres treated. This process uses heat of between 500°C and 600°C to break shredded tyres into their original components of oil, steel, carbon black and gas, with little or no residue. Now that you know where you can recycle your tyres, don't go burning them and pollute the environment.

Other commercially viable ways, scrap rubber tires have been used, can be viewed on this link to Rubber Manufacturers Association.

Here are other stores selling creations out of unwanted tires:

Go Passchal for luxury hand-crafted handbags made from used truck and tractor tire inner tubes!

Hand-Crafted Tire Swings from Recycled Tires, anyone?

Has the information here started you wondering how other parts of the bicycle can be used? It got me.

See what they are selling at Resource Revival at the following link:
http://www.resourcerevival.com”

If this has not inspired you to start collecting bicycle parts to start a business, then consider donating them to Community Cycling Center in Portland. If you changed your mind, you can always consider writing to them to request for some spares. Here is the link to Community Cycling Center if you would like to know what they are up to with the bicycles and parts.

http://www.communitycyclingcenter.org/index.php/about-us/recycling/

Come to think of it going "green" to resolve my problems has always been one of my incentives to recycle. Don't take my word for it. Look out for my next posting about "grouses inspired" green solutions I have created.

For inspiration? Go find something damaged first.

Sometimes you will not fix it until you cannot use it. So, what happened if it is beyond fixing? Recreate with it. And that is what designer, Mary Kaczor, a former F1 racer is doing with the parts salvaged from racing cars, mechanics have worked on.

Isn't it cool to be wearing the jewellery she has created with parts that come with a story on why they have been removed from a racing car? If you think that car parts jewellery will not look good enough to impress, then you must take a look at what she has created and is selling online at Renault for women.

Need an idea to start a business? Maybe you should start visiting the junk shops first.

I won! I won! Talking about nature.

I just won myself a Codd bottle. It is a bottle for fizzy drinks designed and patented in 1876 by Hiram Codd, a British soft drink maker. I learned from Karl Moore's Friday Factoid that alcohol drinkers who disparaged Codd's invention called it "Codd's Wallop". Eventually, the term "codswallop" is used to refer to anything of low-quality or rubbish.

So, how did I win my Codd bottle? I joined Karl's competition and emailed him this little ditty:

"I love reading Karl's Blog because nature cannot put that smile on my face as naturally as he does it".

Is there truth in this statement? Yes, if you agree with me that smiling is the most natural thing one tend to do with a nod of the head in approval. It does not matter that the smile will leave crow's feet around the eyes or smile lines around your lips. You will smile naturally whenever someone is in total agreement with you.

As I write on this blogspot instead of wondering if anyone cares about keeping the environment green with my ideas, I remember Karl's Friday Factoid that may or may not interest anyone either.

Like Karl said, we do not have to seek approval to do things that we believe in. So, he happily shares his "Random Act of Kindness" while I find my joy writing about creating "Abundance from Abandoned" in "Amazing Ways". Now and then, I get an energy boost when I read his postings and smile in agreement as they go with the flow of my nature.

So, if you are facing some turbulences in your life, maybe it is time to ask yourself if you are living in line with nature.

Love eating eggs? Don't break the shells!

I have been to the National Library and came across some very interesting books. They are about decorating eggs. Like me, if you think that painting eggs are for the Christians and only a traditional Easter day activity, some of the facts I have picked up from reading "Painted Eggs" by Heidi Haupt-Battaglia will surprise you.

Do you know that if you chill an egg after boiling it, it will eventually shrink and dry out in the course of a few years to become as hard as glass? Other than painting them, they can be etched, engraved and waxed for batik technique. You can also dye it with chemical, colour run off from fabric, or natural dye from boiling onion peel for 1 hour, plant, coffee or tea infusion.

Writer Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell shows you in her, "The Decorative Egg Book", how you can decorate it with beads, paper cuttings, leaf stencils, wire, bleach, glittery decoupage and all purpose resin.

To stand and display your creation, you can place it on top of a ring or on top of a box of suitable grains, such as, legumes larger than peas. You can also attach a hook to it and hang it up with a ribbon.

If I have generated an interest to start a hobby painting eggs and going to the library is a hassle, then try googling "easter egg how to" or "wikihow easter egg". These are what I have discovered:

"How to Create Swirled Easter Eggs"

Like to read up more about "How to Decorate Easter Eggs" before you start? If you need some practice before working on the real thing, you can try it out virtually.

Need decorative ideas and inspiration? See what creators from all over America have delivered to the white House for display this year.

So, now you can save some trees. Instead of using paper the next time you want to draw, consider not breaking the next egg that you are going to eat.

Need more money in your life? Save time, save resources.

If you think your time is precious, then saving it and your resources should equate to savings in $. Here are some tricks I have discovered and I am not going to waste them.

In the kitchen
1) Not all food need the same degree of heat to cook. So, when you boil your soup or use the rice cooker, always try to heat up or steam another dish at a go. Example, you can stew a dish half way and let it tenderize above your pot of boiling soup.

Come to think of it, why can't the paper and steel recycling industries work together? Work on the basis that steel needs more energy to breakdown compared to paper. Also, oil palm fibre have been used to produce biodegradable packaging. The packaging breakdown with moist and heat to become fertilizer. What the players of these recycling industries should do is work together to share heat resources in their processes.

Instead of letting the biodegradable packaging degrade and fertilise areas where they have landed, such as, landfills, where it is not required; soil (or possibly ashes?) can be added to them and processed into compost through the heat source from the steel or paper recycling industries.

2) Serve dishes that required ingredients to be meshed, example boiled potatoes, on days when you are boiling soup that requires those ingredients.

In the laundry room:
1) Buy a washing machine with capacity to wash more clothes so that you can wash them on alternate days. Do you really need a dryer or steam iron if you can iron your clothes right after taking them out from the washing machine? Leaving clothes in the machine will crease them and need more ironing = more energy. Also, when the clothes are still moist, you need less heat and it is easier to iron. After ironing, hang it up to dry completely.

In the garden:
Use water from washing grains and vegetable and fish to water your plants. The blood from your fish is a very good fertilizer. If you are ambitious and use menstrual cup, you can add the collection to your garden too if you are not into painting with it. Yes, there are people who do that. (Doing Your 3Rs. Can you beat this?)

In the bathroom:
1) Take showers as a family activity cum biology class for the children.
2) Pee as your wash your face under the shower.
3) Try to use only one toilet in the house so that you need not have to wash all toilets more frequently.
4) Do not flush the toilet when anyone in the family gets up to pee at night. Flush only in the morning after all businesses of poos and pees have been performed.

Administrative matters:
1) Discovered this from Bnet. Don't let the annoying automated menus of major corporations spoil your day. gethuman 500 database shows you how to skip. No, you do not have to find a rope to start.

2) Keep all your bills in one clear folder. The one I am using is a bag that was supplied with some herbs I bought. Use cardboard cut out from boxes as dividers to segregate one company bill from another. Save time punching holes and looking for the right file to keep each of them.

Books? Torn beyond repair? Good!

I enjoy reading and I have this desire to instill this thirst for knowledge in my children. I wrapped their school books and books that I have bought and hope that they will notice the value I placed in processing them.

What I have observed though is that my children have taken books for granted as they are always on the book shelves ever ready for them to read when they are in the mood for it. So, when the Sungai Long Buddhist Society set up a library at their centre, I decided to leave their books there so that other children can appreciate them too.

Has my decision to give their books away affected them? Whenever they are at the centre and find time on their hands, they will be sitting in the library reading "their books" and books other parents have gladly contributed.

So, if you have books that your children have outgrown and they need a new home, consider sending them to the orphanage where the children there can appreciate. Maybe your church or some non profit organisation will be able to raise some funds by selling them. This is where I am sending my collections:

Sungai Long Buddhist Society
7-2, Jalan SL 1/3
Bandar Sungai Long
43000 Kajang
Selangor D.E.
E-Mail: info@slbuddhists.org

No, it is not a good idea to contribute books that are damaged beyond repair. But here is a little trick you can learn to let the children continue to enjoy processing it.

How To Make a Secret Hollow Book

Give me a finger.

The children and their parents were laughing and having fun at Bandar Sungai Long Buddhist Society Saturday Playgroup because two little boys were showing their fingers.

Their mummy was beside them telling a fish story, as she encouraged them to lift their arms up and down so that everyone can see the puppets, placed over their fingers, in action.

The parents were so impressed by all manners of sea creature finger puppets that I have decided to look out for some "how tos" so that they can create them for their children. As the puppets are so small, I am sure that they will not have any problem getting leftover fabrics to create them.

Don't have that on hand? What about that piece of worn out little jumper that one of the children has outgrown?

These patterns are from Free Kid Crafts:

Pig Finger Puppet

Rooster Finger Puppet

More ideas from BillyBear4Kids.com.

How about creating the children's favourite TV character?

Something sinister like Batty Finger Puppets?

Don't enjoy sewing? OK, create with paper, using these templates from Disney.

Winnie the Pooh

Beauty and the Beast

Disney Lion King Finger Puppets

If you have been collecting children's story books by Jan Brett, be impressed by what she has to offer to go with her "Town Mouse Country Mouse" book.

Other places for the children to stick their fingers in.

Jack and Jill

Humpty Dumpty

If you can knit there are three patterns for you to choose, designed by Mary J. Saunders

There are more patterns at this Finger Puppets Links if you need some inspiration first.

Need green fund? Look for "birds of a feather".

Discovered your "eureka" green idea and want to make a business out it? Don't let your dreams die off just because you do not have the fund to start it. There are organisations out there looking for people like you.

Where can you start your search for them? If you remember that "Birds of a feather flock together" then you are on the right track. Get a little notepad and pen ready and start looking through your local newspaper.

These are what you should look out for:
1) Name of companies who have won "green" awards.
2) Name of the "green" awards.
3) Your government or local state green campaign.
4) Names of companies with green "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR).
5) Name of companies who organise "green" contest or projects.
6) Names of organisation who are involved in looking into environmental issues.
7) Look out for key words associated with these organisations or related to them.

Following are some keywords I have picked up.

Green Projects and Campaigns in Malaysia:
charity recycling day
construct greener building
save the river project
tree planting mission
green leaf campaign
Shell Gourami Business Challenge
Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution
Taman Negara Eco Challenge
Malaysia Design Council
aqua culture
harvest rainwater
love our rivers
recycling padi straw for mushroom cultivation

Green Awards:
Responsible Care Awards
Hibiscus Award

Look out for words that are tagged with the word "eco" or "green". Here are some examples:

friendly
environment
living
trends
innovation
competition
nominations
recognition
rating
product design
buildings
conservation funds
government funded
waste grant
fact sheets
sustainable business
biodiesel
biomass
natural resources
fuel-economy
e-waste
tourism

Once you have all these noted on your notepad, you are ready to do your search on the internet. How do you work on it?

1) Key in the name of the company to find its website.
2) Read about their "Corporate Social Responsibility" (CSR).
3) Are you able to start a green project based on what they have posted?
4) If you already have a green project do their "CSRs" relate to it.
5) Don't forget to take a look at their links for useful resources as they may provide links to agencies you are looking for.

If you do not have names of green conscious organization to check up on, you can locate them by doing a search using the key words I have provided above. If you are trying to locate a government agency, after each keyword, add the tag ".gov" or ".org" for organisation.

Can your green project be commercialized? Whatever way you want to run your green project you can try seeking funds or grants to make it more successful.

1) On the websites of companies you have located, look out for links like, "Applying for Grant or Fund".
2) If you cannot find it, look to see if they have a link to "sitemap" and check their list of postings to see if there is anything related to "grant" or "funds" or "scholarship".
3) If you are trying to locate the organisations who provide green funds in your own country, just add the name of the country against the name of the key words you are searching for.

Other search options you can try:

1) Search "corporate social responsibility grant" or "corporate social responsibility green".
2) Search name of green writers you discovered from newspaper or articles or newsletters. Their articles maybe posted on websites that will provide more leads.
3) Join forums where members support keeping the environment green. As a member of GreenYes Forum, I am able to read many useful articles posted by members.

Here is one I received from a fellow member:

$100,000 PRIZE FOR GOVERNMENTAL TRANSFORMATION
From IBM and the Ash Institute at Harvard's Kennedy School
For further information about the selection criteria, or to nominate a group,
visit http://www.transformationaward.org
Or Contact
Christina Marchand,
Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation,
Tel: (617) 495-0557
Email: christina_marchand@harvard.edu.

Good luck in your new venture. Share your success stories so that others can reuse your green ideas in their homeland.

Pop by this link again, as I will be including links to grants and funds providers. Following are some organisation discovered through the above processes:

In Australia:
EPA NSW Waste grant fact sheets

In Canada
Stewardship Ontario

In UK:
Arts & Business

In USA:

Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Environmental Education Grant Opportunities

Fulbrigh Full Grants

South Carolina Recycling Grants

Recycle Guys Awards Program

S.C. Business Recycling Assistance Program

Useful Articles:
Fortune Profiles The Greening of Corporate America By Mark Brandon

10 Tips For Grant Writers

Fundraising Articles

Wikipedia: About Angel Investor/Business Angel

Useful Resources:
In USA

Award Directory Search Resource by GreenBiz. A comprehensive directory of local and national award and recognition programs that honor companies for being environmental leaders. (If only it works).

SchoolGrants! Your one-stop site for PK-12 school grant opportunities


Locate Grantsmakers In Your Field

Green Zone Resource Guide: Scholarships, Grants and Research Fellowships

EPA: Funding Sources for Communities

Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on over 1,000 grant programs and access to approximately $400 billion in annual awards.

Technology Funding Sources

Find who are the donors and grant makers:
Charity Navigator, independent charity evaluato
GuideStarConnecting people with nonprofit information.

Campaigns
In USA:

Patagonia’s 2006–07 environmental campaign

Awards
In Malaysia

The CICM Responsible Care Awards

The Prime Minister’s Hibiscus Award (PMHA)

Malaysia Design Council: Good Design Award

In UK:
The Conservation Foundation's Projects

In USA
2007 CAFR Recycling Awards Program

The Goldman Environmental Prize annually awards US$125,000 to environmental heroes from each of the world's six inhabited continental regions.
http://www.goldmanprize.org

Empty bottles? Before you discard, check this out.

I received this gift from my friend, Eric, from Beijing.



It is a snuff bottle with a picture of my husband and son painted on it. I think this is a neat idea. Instead of throwing away the champagne bottle, you can find an artist to have your photo painted on it to commemorate the event you opened it in celebration.

Here are some useful "How-Tos" from wikiHow.

How to Create a Reverse Painting on Glass

How to Cut a Glass Bottle

See what other artists are doing with glass bottles and containers.

Ann Mitchell and Karen Mitchell

Love playing with sand? Then be inspired to create with it by Andrew Clemens' Sand Bottles Art. If you think that there is no prospect in this business then check out what collectors are paying for his work today.

Changed your mind? Here is an easy tutorial to start out with from KidsDomain. On this site, kids are taught to use Kool-Aid, artificially flavored drink and cocoa (hopefully from expired package) for colours.

So, now that we know that it works without sand, what else can we use to create this form of art? How about gratings from:

Plastic?
Glass?
Organic material like sugar cane or sawdust or wine stopper cork?

For other sources of natural dye, experiment with some flowers and plants. Here are some ideas to play with:

Onion peel (boil for 1 hour)
Redwood or red wine
Coffee or tea infusion
Expired health drinks like Spirulina and Chlorophyll

Seeking forgiveness? Before you give up, look for a little bottle.

I was introduced to use Propolis by my family doctor, as it is a natural antibiotic produced by bees. The product works for my family and that started my collection of the small empty bottles.

See the holder I have created for one of the bottles.



It is made up of wire and plastic from an electric cable cut off. The handles are from the strings taken off an old paper bag. How can you make use of it?

As the bottles are opaque, they are very useful for storing seeds. So, start your seeds collection. On earth day you can let the children give away the bottles of seeds to their friends and neigbours so that there will be more greens in your neighbourhood.

You can also use it as a tool to seek forgiveness. Do you remember being hurt and how difficult it was for you to listen to the explanation of the offender? You most likely walk away each time he or she tries to.

If you have hurt someone, seek forgiveness by placing your note of explanation inside the bottle and hang it where he or she will see it. Be creative, do whatever you can to tickle and draw his or her attention to the bottle.

In the note tell the person how sorry you are and how his or her sorrow is affecting you. Request that he or she hang the bottle at a particular spot to signify that you have been forgiven. The thought that you have taken the trouble to create it should soften their heart a bit.

Forgiving, can make life better. Read some points I have picked up through my experiences and from reading, "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus", by John Gray.

Read some writing tips from Lilia Fallgatter if you need some help writing to someone you care about. Watch and listen to how others are managing their relationships and how love and forgiveness impact their lives.

He's given up fishing? Quick! Grab his tackle box!

I do not know one fishing tool from another and I don't care what's its called but they sure make cool jewellery when my husband gave up fishing. See if you can recognise what I have managed to salvage from his tackle box.



Of course, I did not miss out using those fishing lines. Or do you call them fishing wires? Anyway, they do go so well with my evening wear.



Here are more earrings to match.



Do men use tiger tail for fishing? It sure looks and works like one when I use it for my necklace.



Hmmmm.... What other hobby tools does he has that I can steal? Ooops, I mean salvage.

Waste? Waste them not.

I have been reading up some gardening tips and have discovered that there are some garden friendly waste that have been tried and tested by fellow gardeners on the web.

Looking for my weeding solution, I have read that leftover beer and soft drinks have worked. With the children around, my concern is that it may attract more ants to the garden. Hot water and salt should work but that may also kill some poor insects lurking around, which is against my religious practice.



Should I take the time to pull them out? It will be a time consuming and tedious job but my consolation is that I can create fertilizer out of that collection by soaking them in water. But then wouldn't the seeds from the solution sprout more weeds? If you would like to play around with that, make sure you wear gloves while handling the solution to avoid infecting your nails.

I rather like the idea of covering up the area with a piece of plank to block out the sunlight and let them die off gradually. But what a sight that will be. So, what did I opt for? Garden stones...



...and decorative concrete slabs.



These look very neat in my garden and I have the option of growing my plants in a variety of decorative flower pots so weeding is easier to manage.

You can read more about what I have discovered posted at the following link:

A to Z Guide For An Environmentally Friendly Garden

So even if the expiry date of your product tells you to discard it, consider experimenting with it in a little patch of your garden. It could be your best eco friendly solution to your gardening problems.

Don't waste the new use for waste idea either. Share it with your fellow greenbeing friends.

Hair? Before its shorned and forgotten, check this out.

Someone lost her horse and has kept some cuttings from its tail to remember it by. She posted on Jewelry Making Forum wondering how she can create a jewellery out of the tail to wear as a keepsake.

That started my research on what can be done with hair and here are some interesting facts I have discovered.

Asian hair of Chinese and Indian origin are preferred source of procurement for producing hair extensions. Their strength can better withstand the hair-processing operation of acid stripping, twisting around wooden poles, baking into textures before the final process of coloring and polishing.

Other than supplying to artists, braiders, and weavers to work on as hair extensions, how else can hair be used? Here are some techniques to explore working on using strands of hair in place of material suggested:

Floss Friendship Bracelet

Macrame Friendship Bracelet with Baeds

Or, you can learn some "Basic Knots" from Heather's website and create your own braiding design.

Working on clearing "abandoned material" again, consider using the following to hold the strands of hair:

1) Clear plastic tubing
2) Perfume bottle given out as samples
3) Talisman holder

Other than the business of hair extensions, can anyone make a living using hair in other ways? Yes, there is. You will be surprised to see what HuaXia TaiMaoBi Centre in Singapore can do with your baby's hair and umbilical cord.