To Plastic or Not to Plastic ?

For a few years I have been working with predominantly natural fibres that I find in the environment around me. Sometimes, however, I look around at the local markets that I shop at and I am overhelmed by the sheer amount of plastic that is around me - vessels of all shapes and sizes and in a wide range of fabulous colours. Thailand - Land of Smiles (and Plastic).

I have been playing around with some new media - the plastic threads that are used to make Scoobies. A few years back I remember that the teenage kids I taught were almost fanatical about making these things.(I just had a look on the net to see whether I was spelling that correctly and found in fact they can be called scoubidous, scoubi, scoobie, boondoggles, lanyards or gimps!)

See Scoubidous.

Anyway, I came across some packs of the plastic threads and it got me thinking about fads, and how their short-lived fame has such a long-lasting impact on the environment. I have been playing around with the threads, random weaving with them and enjoying their bright and alluring colours.