Back when I lived in San Francisco I used to frequent this amazing reuse nonprofit called SCRAP. They’ve changed their pricing model I’m sure, but back in 2009 you could fill up a grocery bag and the person at the register would peer at it for a moment before determining that it would cost $3. I never understood how they could keep the lights on at those prices but I absolutely adored browsing the aisles of goodies and dreaming up my next creative endeavors.
SCRAP and creative reuse shops like it accept donations of just about anything that could be used for some kind of project. Their storefront is filled to the brim with fabric, tiles, paint, and many miscellaneous pieces. It’s a dream scavenging spot for creative types, and they keep lots of good materials out of the landfill! They also give supplies to teachers among their other community support programs.
https://sites.google.com/scrap-sf.org/home
One particularly fortunate visit for me featured two enormous bins full of zippers. All different colors, lengths and styles were present, and you better believe I grabbed a few handfuls of those bad boys!
What I didn’t anticipate was that it’s actually kind of difficult to use up a whole stash of random zippers. Typically when I set out to make a project I have an idea in mind and it requires a specific zipper, so I haven’t always used the zippers out of my stash.
Now it’s a full decade later and I decided that the zippers must be used!! I counted, measured and wrote out a detailed list of what’s in the stash so I can easily identify if I have an appropriate zipper for a certain project.
That’s 99 zippers. Holy cow. I have so much sewing to do.
I don’t know if I should even set a timeline for this because I feel like it’s such a huge project, but I know that if I don’t set a timeline it just won’t get done. So here we go, realistically (accounting for the fact that I’ll be making other non-zippered projects too) I’m going to use up all of these zippers by the end of 2021. 50 zippers a year isn’t too bad, right? And two years goes by so fast now…
I really wish that Maui had a creative reuse shop! We do have a Habitat For Humanity Restore, but that’s more building supplies and furniture. When I was visiting Austin, TX this past August I visited their (far, far smaller than SCRAP) Austin Creative Reuse shop. I will definitely be going back when I’m in Austin next but I hope they can find a larger location.
Is there a creative reuse that you like to visit? Comment below, I’d love to know of other locations!
Zipper count as of posting: 99
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