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Best of the ABS: Recycle a Tomato Cage: Alternative Use of Art Beads

Recycling is gaining popularity. Most of us wouldn’t think recycling and art beads go together but I created a garden sculpture doing just that in this 2007 ABS post….

I’ve been staring at an old tomato cage for a few months. It looked like a tree, it was asking me to make something from it. I had to think, though. I’m a rabid recycler but my weakness is that I ALWAYS think I can re-use something – even when it’s broken beyond repair. But this tomato cage wouldn’t let me send it to the curb. I finally figured out what it wanted to be – a beaded garden sculpture! I’ve been keeping those pretty beads that weren’t saleable in a bowl in the studio. No one is allowed to take them – well, ok, maybe I’ve let a few kids take them – but they’re just not up to the standards I have for saleable items. They’re little pieces of art, though, and I just couldn’t bear to put them into the glass garbage.

I think the beads whispered to the tomato cage – “let’s work together.” I know, I know, the beads don’t talk and neither does the tomato cage, but sometimes art does have a way of speaking to us. Does it speak to you?

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