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Finding new purpose, in the name of artAPEX, May 07, 2013 (The Cary News (Cary - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- At first glance, it looks like a simple glass Coke bottle. But a closer look reveals a hole at the bottom, a painted plate glued underneath and a chain attached to the bottle cap. The contraption is a bird feeder, and it's part of a trend in the world of craft artists: renewable, reusable and reclaimed wares. This year's Peakfest Apex's largest craft fair drew about 20,000 people on Saturday. Several artists sold eco-friendly goods everything from kitchen towels to furniture to jewelry. Peakfest, which has been around for 33 years and is run by the nonprofit Apex Festival Committee, has made a push in recent years to encourage eco-friendly vendors. About three years ago, the festival started a "Green Zone" that offers free tent space to vendors who live in Apex and operate green sustainable businesses, said David Wood, who is part of the festival committee. Laurel Jenks of Apex bought the soda-bottle-turned-bird-feeder from Elleni's Studio as a Mother's Day present. "It caught my eye," Jenks said. "(My mother) likes things that are unique and different that no one else has." "Handgrown in North Carolina" is the motto of Kirsten Hausman's flower business, Flowerthyme. But you won't see a real flower petal, bud or stem on any of her flowers. They're made out of paper. Hausman, 31, of Durham uses everything from old sheet music to dictionary pages to make her bouquets. She started her business three years ago as a part-time job when she was looking for a cost-effective way to decorate her wedding. A year ago, she was able to focus on the venture full time. She now ships the paper flowers all over the world, including China, Lebanon and Turkey. She also sells them online on Etsy and at a gallery in Carrboro. "For environmental and for financial reasons, I learned how to make them," Hausman said. "Now it's just so much fun to do. They make people smile. It's something that will last years and years." Lindsey Hignite, 35, a stay-at-home mom who lives in Raleigh, started making fabric applique crafts as a creative outlet and a way to bring in some extra money. Her grandmother gave her some vintage fabrics, and Hignite also began making kitchen towels, pillows, wallets and aprons from fabrics she found at thrift stores and flea markets for her business, Piecefully Home. "I like to shop local," she said. "You find cool stuff. It saves me money, and I feel good about it." Hignite is adamant that she doesn't like waste. "I feel like there is a push to go against materialism," she said. "There's been a backlash. People are appreciating the handmade and reusable." Like Hignite, Annette Stowe of Fuquay-Varina likes to shop locally. She bought a recycled mosaic lawn ornament from Apex artist Robyn Johnston-Beam's Whimsical Robyn craft stall at Peakfest. "I'd rather buy from my neighbor than something from a country I've never heard of," Stowe said. Making recycled and eco-friendly crafts is also cost-effective for artists, said wood artist Mariela Dunston-Torres of Cary. "People like to know that they are re-purposing things. People are more conscious about what we put out there. Society has moved from a time of waste to, 'How can we use something again ' " Dunston-Torres makes paintings, jewelry, wall art and other baby-room decorations out of recycled wood pallets and wooden squares that hardware stores are ready to throw out. She turns old men's ties into baby hair barrettes and Scrabble board game tiles into necklace pendants. She started Creative Soul by Leela about a year ago after making a wooden art piece for a friend's baby shower. "I just think to make what I would like for my own baby," Dunston-Torres said. Ramos: 919-460-2609 ___ (c)2013 The Cary News (Cary, N.C.) Visit The Cary News (Cary, N.C.) at www.carynews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |