Goin Green bananas

As part of my new year resolution to consolidate my blogs, for the first post of 2008, I present here a little story of how a crazy kid went green bananas... enjoy!

Funny how life moves in cycles. About 15 years ago I started a little eco company in Singapore called Green Bananas that made a paper making kit for people to recycle their own paper at home. Green because I wanted people to know it's environmental bent but more likely because I was totally green to the cutthroat world of business and Bananas because everyone thought I was crazy to give up a good and stable job for what? An unlikely little paper making kit that may not even have a market.

We did sell about 1,000 kits during the 2 or so years the little Green Bananas was out there doing paper making demos; giving magazine, TV & paper interviews encouraging people to start recycling paper in their own homes (in those days, Singapore had no recycling system for anything.


Things have changed now though) and even holding a handmade paper art exhibition called, you guess it, Paper * People * Planet.
Back then I had quit my well-paying
job as a writer for a Interior design magazine and put all my meagre savings into designing, manufacturing and marketing a simple paper making kit that made A4 paper.


It had everything you needed to make paper (apart from the blender) and packaged, quite charmingly in a jute bag.

How I managed to wrangle my friends & family to help out in it's publicity and sales I have no idea. I just stand in grateful awe that they did. We had quite a ride with it. I am willing to bet that at least 50 friends and family still remember how to make their own paper today. And if they've forgotten and would like to teach their children, the next post will help them along their way.

And this is was the purposely unintimadating instruction leaflet that came with the kit.

And now, here I sit years later, writing a blog on the beautiful diversity of handmade & recycled paper. On how people can use this humble medium of paper to help make this planet a bit better, by art & by recycling, for those who live in it now. And also for the children who will come after.

Greening the earth seemed so possible then.

And so it still is. It must be.

Because if not now, then WHEN?

And if not me, then WHO?

Joy of the Unexpected

Sometimes I wished I made jewelery. Like my Etsy friend Marsha has on her blog, the makings of a stunning red (OOAK) necklace. From start to finish. Pictures of every step looks as delicious as the next. All sparkly red & silver.
But instead, I'm making paper these days. Now that the weather is getting warmer, there is little demand for warm, funky scarves which is what I usually make.

The making of paper, especially from recycled paper, cannot be called a pretty or accurate process. What you put in isn't necessarily what you get out. A polite way to describe the somewhat messy process is that it's.....well...hmmmm...... organic? You're never quite sure of what you'll end up with when everything dries. While this makes things interesting, it is does leave the house scattered with stacks of 'experimental' papers.
For instance, I was recycling yellow pages the other day and had expected the finished paper to come out at least a tiny bit yellow, or olive green at least.
But no. I harvested sheets of stony bile grey. Sigh, not something you'd be writing your love letters on I'm afraid.

I do persevere, however. Yesterday I used basically white used printer paper blended with Lover's Rose Elixir tea (I work part-time in a tea shop & can get my hands on all sorts of exotic teas) that has rose petals, hibiscus and lime leaves. The mushy pulp smelt ambrosial (another benefit of making paper, the scent spa your nose gets) and the inclusions (technical term for the tea I added) gave such a cheerful pinky, purplish sprinkle to the mix.
And today, as I peel the newly dried papers from their couching sheets, I'm a happy girl!
The finished paper is in a couple of shades off white, which I guess the best you can expect without the use of bleach. And the inclusions are speckled snowflakes in the white.
All that's left now is to convert these sheets into note cards, envelopes & decorative paper for scrap-booking & other crafty projects. All of which will be sold sooner or later in Rumah Kampung, my Etsy store.

Transformation of a Cushion

This is what I've found since coming to live in Canada. Independence. Those of you who know me and have grown up with me will be arching your eyebrows in in surprise asking "What the heck is she talking about?". I've always been the most independent of spirits, following the trail of my own goofy little star and have mostly done things for myself. But not like this though. Not like here in Canada.
Here, I've had to learn to cook my own meals (no cheap, delish & convienient Tiong Bahru hawker centre nearby), plant my own herbs and make my own cushions, slip covers, scarves and curtains. Unlike Asia, where retail is cheap, variety is, well, various and GST is abysmally low (so stop complaining), Canada has a retail sector that has seen it's heyday (like 20 years ago) and GST is made up of provincial & federal taxes, which together comes up to 14%. The cheapo Singaporean in me couldn't bear to pay out so much, especially for taxes, especially when she knew how much things really cost in Asia. Ergo the girl is now DIY mad.


Forgive me as I indulge and run thru my latest project with you.

Once upon a time, my loving sister, Veron decided that I was in dire need of the jangle of beading and flashes of hot pink in my life. She, from her deep generosity, proceeded to buy me the most darling square cushion from Delhi, where she was living at that time.

Unfortunately, The Spawn of Demon, who also answers to the name of Minke, decided that it was her dominion and proclaimed for her own. Well, that was in Singapore, where the cooling satin fabric of the cushion and the bling of the pink was all good & appropriate. But since coming to live in the land of cold & rain, she's favoured wool & tweed instead. And the poor pink beaded cushion was then only used for the Minkster to practice her own special brand of feline manicure.

Enough already! Said her cheapo DIY mistress and rescued the rare (in Vancouver at least) & highly reusable kapok (cotton wadding I think it's called in English) from the tattered cushion's insides. The following documents the cushion's road to recovery.

Paper * People * Planet

Looks like I've gone blog wild!



I've started another blog. It's called Paper * People * Planet
www.paperpeopleplanet.blogspot.com
And it's to do with all sorts of paper and paper projects, recycling, inspirational people, the environment and anything green. Yes, I guess you could include Kermit too.

Some of you might remember a little eco company called Green Bananas that I started in Singapore which was WAY before it's time.

Well, I had picked up so much info & wisdom while doing it, it's nice to be able to air it out and see if it can be of use again.

So for those of you , and I know that there are many, who want to know how to make/recycle your own paper, just click on this link.



Enjoy!