In my mother's best efforts to keep me busy on a rainy day as a kid, she would sit me down at the kitchen table with a stack of old Good Housekeeping's, a jar of elmer's, and a couple of wooden tongue depressors. I would roll strips of the magazine paper into something that resembled a jewelry bead, then string the gluey mess into a necklace with some kite rope. I then presented this masterpiece to my Mom; a handmade gift just for her! Love her for at least pretending to wear it to work -- even if ended up in the glove compartment of her car as soon as she left the driveway.
I recalled this happy memory when I read this article on TreeHugger about Dutch designer Mieke Meijer's recycled paper "wood" -- however, our two art-forms could barely be held to the same standards. Meijer stacks, clues, and rolls recycled newspaper into "logs", in which she creates fantastically beautiful and functional furniture and home decor. Surely none of this stuff would wind up in the glove compartment!
