Plastic Trash

I am in love with Fresh Mesh.  I am not sure what I am going to do with it, but I find it strangely beautiful.  For years, I did not think twice about throwing it in the recycling bin, but now that I have a huge collection, it is a monument to my kitchen efforts: the empty bags from innumerable avocados, sweet potatoes, onions, lemons and garlic.

I have also been saving little plastic kitchen bits for the past three years or so.  This is just a fraction of the collection:

The colors are so vibrant, and they look beautiful as a collection.  A couple of years ago, I had Diego's preschool class save their bits for a couple of months.  I helped the kids to turn them into a giant mobile that we hung in their classroom.  We talked about recycling and turning trash into art, and we spent a lot of time sorting by shape and color.  It was a brilliant project, and I'd like to do it again this coming spring.

So, back to the mesh.  I have been storing it inside a couple of the larger bags, and I made a little ball of it by cramming a lot of pieces in a bag and tying off the bag.  It is very light and has a fun, squishy texture.  If I have enough of this some day, I would like to make a bean bag chair out of it, perhaps by sewing several bags together to make the cover.

I have a couple different mesh projects that I will share with you soon.  If you have any suggestions, please share them!