This was the scene at Zerolandfill when we arrived yesterday:
Joining Laura and I in our ZL carpool was my friend and local artist Brandi Woodward. Brandi makes up one half of the crafting duo known as The Lovely Wrecks. If the name sounds familiar, it might be because you've seen her work in area craft shows or read about her in Cleveland magazine. You can check out The Lovely Wrecks' Etsy shop here. Her owl pellet necklaces are especially amazing. Brandi was an enthusiastic volunteer who was ready and willing to jump into the fray. I warned her that, depending on how many donations we received, it could be three hours of crazy hard work, but she was game. She said that, since she benefitted from ZL in the past, she wanted to give back by donating her time, which is awesome.
If any of you feel the same way and would like to help out at one of the remaining harvests this season (August 17th and 24th) send an email to [email protected]
Even though hundreds of pounds of materials were harvested at the first harvest of the summer, many were donated that day as well. One of the first things Brandi and I did when we arrived at ZL yesterday was work with other volunteers to weigh and sort the materials that arrived later on the afternoon of the 27th and put them in the harvest area.
While we were working on that, Laura was hanging up new signage at the ZL Gallery and ZL Lab. The gallery and the lab have received a lot of attention from harvesters this season. If you want more details about the ZL Gallery and Lab you can read about them here. Both serve as examples of how my amazing friend uses her creativity to make her corner of the world a better place. I love that she made her signs from ZL harvest materials.
At the harvest on the 27th, it was difficult for some harvesters to see the difference between the materials available for harvest and those that still needed to be processed. The folks at IDA solved that problem this week by fencing off an area that served as the processing station for new donations. Here I am in what I referred to as my "pen":
My smile is 100% sincere. I was pleased to have a clearly marked area in which to sort and weigh all incoming doantions. The other volunteers and I were able to work very efficiently and there was no question about which items were available for harvest.
Although the crowd at noon was smaller than it was two weeks ago (I blame the rain), more people arrived throughout the harvest and I think Friday's overall number of harvesters was higher than the harvest on the 27th .
The word got out about the donation of 480 binders from American Greetings and several were taken for use at school or in home offices. Robin Neorr of The T Shirt Diaries picked up several binders for use with her local branch of Early Childhood PTA. Here she is giving me two thumb's up:
Here is a close up of the binders from American Greetings in case you want to know what they look like:
In addition to dozens of binders from American Greetings, we also have all of these:
If you're all set for school and have already organized your home office you could pick up half a dozen and make this sweet dollhouse. If the children in your life are mostly little boys, you could take the same basic idea from the dollhouse tutorial and adapt it to army guys or superheroes. The possibilities are as limitless as your imagination.
For the first half of Friday's harvest we did not receive any donations so the other volunteers and I kept busy by organizing the harvest area and helping harvesters choose materials and carry them out to their cars. At about one thirty a steady stream of donations began. We processed all we could, but we didn't get through everything. All of this is waiting for us next Friday:
Don't let the plain plastic bags and cardboard boxes fool you. They are full of carpet squares (including floral and animal print), fabric and tile. Here's a sneak preview of what has already been weighed and sorted and will be available to you at noon on Friday August 17th:
Foam core and mat board (which I've never seen before at ZL):
Fabric books galore:
This picture I took on my way out the door yesterday does not look that different from the one I took on the way in. Although some of the specific items have changed, there is an exciting array of materials for you to search through.
The final two harvests of the season are on August 17th and August 24th from 12-3. Zerolandfill Cleveland is located at 4750 East 131st Street in Garfield Heights. Although this may seem like it is on the other side of the moon to my friends out in the western suburbs, it is really not that far and definitely worth the trip. For best results, arrive a few minutes before noon so you can be one of the first people through the door. Yesterday was the final pollination of the season so ZL Cleveland will not be receiving any new materials until 2013. Don't miss out!
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Posted by: Jane Wang | Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at 02:27 AM