Sustainable Art 04/26/2020

Today I am going to teach you guys how to craft a self-watering planter out of an egg shell, an empty bottle, and scraps of fabric or string! Here I am also going to be using tape and food coloring to decorate the egg to look like a balloon! Helpful tools you can use are scissor, an x-acto knife, a cup to hold the egg, and tweezers. I did not use a tweezer today so it is optional.

What was your idea?

My idea was to make something out of the trash or stuff I was planning to recycle. So I decided to make a self watering planter made from those scraps.

What materials did you choose?

I used egg shells (two- one for practice, in case I break it, and the other to actually use). This is going to be the pot that holds the plant. An empty bottle ( I used an apple juice bottle because I felt like it looks nicer ), this is going to be the water container. Tape, scissor, an x-acto knife, yarn or any fabric or string that can suck up water is fine ( I was going to cut up one of my old socks, but my mom gave me her yarn scraps so I used those instead since it looks nicer ), a cup with water and food coloring to dye the egg, then soil and the plant you are going to grow in the makeshift planter.

Do you think your piece was able to express your idea?

I think my piece was able to express the idea that old materials could be reused for other purposes, plus it still looks cute and pleasing to add into your room!

How did your choice of materials influence the experience of your artwork?

Well when I searched up self watering planters, I saw a lot of videos of regular planting pots being redesigned to be self watering pots. Or people making the self watering planter from scratch with a small pot and clay however I wanted to use recycled stuff so I tried researching recycled diy’s and saw a video that used a water bottle! I liked that idea but I wanted to make something a bit different so I continued to search recycled planters diy and saw a pot made from egg shells! I decided to combine both ideas and decorate the egg to make my artwork. I brained stormed a lot of ideas for the design, for example, the egg could be designed to look like a hot air balloon with wires to hold it up, and I could have the yarns wrapped around the wires or coming out from the bottle of egg, the water container could be an old medicine cup wrapped in grapevine wire, and I could use my ribbons or laces to decorate it- however i did not have wires so I did not do this idea since going out to buy wires would be the opposite of my idea, which is making a project out of old unneeded stuff at home. So I simplified it and decided to make a balloon design instead. I felt like it still turned out to be really cute! If I wanted it to be cuter I could just add a face onto it.

How long should a kiss last?

It depends on the mood I guess. There’s sweet light pecks that may only last a few seconds, while there’s passionate kisses that may last as long as you and your partner like ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), so answers vary.

How long should a great meal last?

I would say a minimum of 2 hours with the maximum being, when all the guests start leaving the table. I say a minimum of 2 hours because if I’m with friends or by eating by myself, I would like to savor the food and take my time eating so I feel like an hour is definitely not enough time to savor everything.

How long should a work of art last?

Depends on the art piece being made. I feel like most art is made with the idea of lasting for as long as possible. However there are art like the parade floats for Las Fallas Festival in Valencia, Spain where groups of people would spend months creating their ‘ninots’ for the festival that starts parading at 8am in the morning, procussions and explosions at 2pm, fireworks at night, and at 1am, which is the earliest time, people would gather in crowd to watch the grand finale, the burning of the ‘ninots.’ So some art is made with the idea of, a rare beauty that lasts for a fleeting moment, while others, like the statue of liberty are made, in hopes, of lasting hundreds of years. It is bittersweet to see your art piece vanish into ashes, however I feel that art pieces that are recycled or vanish quickly are better for the environment because they help take up less space. We should however still have a few long lasting art that could be passed onto future generations as proof of our generation existing in history.

How long should a marriage last?

A marriage should last a lifetime, unless there are unforeseen accidents. However a marriage must remain equal, cooperative, and commutative to be maintained. If you treat your other half horribly, don’t communicate with each other, don’t work together with stuff like domestic chores, then how can you maintain a relationship that’s estrange or abuse?   

How long should a human life last?

85 years old? Ideally, it would be nice if human life could last a century on average. Life expectancy used to be really young in the old days, many babies would die before they are even a year old, and people would usually not live over 30 years old. However as technology advances, as well as health guidelines, so did our life expectancy, and now the average life expectancy is around 75-85 years old with there being a few people reaching a hundred in their lifetime. I don’t believe I could live to a hundred, but I do believe that in the future a greater number of people should be able to live to an age of a hundred.

Does the fact that some things, like ephemeral artworks and human lives, have a finite time and then are gone make a difference in the way we experience them?

Yes! I feel like people tend to savor and feel more sentimental or nostalgic when they see ephemeral artworks; there’s more of an appreciation, because of how short lived it is. Because we know that we won’t ever see that artwork or person anymore when it/they are gone.

Should other things, like clean water, air, and land be sustainable and long lasting?

Definitely! If clean water, air, and land aren’t sustainable wouldn’t the human population die off?

Can one person, like you, make a difference in a global problem like Climate Change?

Yes, I believe that every individual can make a difference in a global problem like climate change. It’s the same thing as saving a dollar each day, by the end you are going to end up with a lot of money saved up. If everyone takes a part in global problems like keeping the environment clean, then one day we could definitely see an ocean or beach without a single trash in sight. If everyone can clean up after their own mess plus one or two other messes (like an old water bottle someone else never threw away), then it would add up over time til the day we can finally see a clean beach. It’s not enough to only clean up after ourselves now, because then the old trash would never disappear and remain on our lands and oceans so we must also help out in cleaning up the trash from the past. As the saying goes, “There is Strength in Number,” an individual action may not add up to much however once millions of individuals take action then it could spark a revolution. But that can only happen once you decide to take that step to make a difference. Nothing will happen if you just sit there thinking, my action won’t make a difference, my vote won’t make a change, there are other people working to make a change already so they don’t need my help, or I’ll work on it tomorrow/in the future. Don’t just think about it, don’t just dream about it, don’t just mope about it, take action and do it or you are going to regret in the future thinking “if only I had done it” or “if only I helped”.