Last week, we featured each of our top five finalists in the Save My Oceans contest. Now we can reveal which of these finalists is the Grand Prize Winner. All the entries in the contest were impressive, and it was great to see all the fun, innovative and practical ways folks are reusing plastics in their CRAFT and MAKE projects. Be sure to check out the Save My Oceans Flickr group to check out more of the projects.
Contest entries were judged using the following criteria:
- Creativity and originality of the project – accounting for 50% of the total score
- Amount of Plastic re-use – accounting for 30% of the total score
- Practicality of the final output – accounting for 20% of the total score
We also had a special-guest judge on the panel: writer, filmmaker and adventurer Jon Bowermaster, of Take Part. To recap, our top five finalists were as follows:
- Olive the Ostrich Plastic Sculpture
- Upcycled Fused Plastic Coat
- Upcycled Plastic Beads
- Upcycled Hairclips
- Upcycled Corset
Ready to see who the Grand Prize Winner is? Check it out after the jump!
Congratulations to Mary Anne Enriquez, who created this fantastic fused plastic coat (her woven cardboard spats are great, too!). From Mary Anne’s entry:
I am an artist and crafts designer who works 95% of the time with found objects and “trash.” The coat is 100% plastic bags and plastic produce net bags, etc. It is unlined, and sewn with cotten thread (also dug out of my old sewing kit. The ONLY thing not found, nor recycled was store bought velcro, used for the front closure.) This is a fully wearable and comfortable coat. Completely waterproof and very warm. The coat is fused with hundreds of bag bits and pieces. I carefully constructed the base fabrics from used drycleaning bags and other super sized bags. Upon that, I added layers and searched for text, logos, imagery, and contrasting bright colors. I would cut up the bags as I would a fine art college, carefully pieces and layering as a quiltmaker would do.
Marry Anne’s Project Inspiration:
I am always inspired by trash. I love being creatively challenged by what others discard, and have no appreciation of. I have always been this way, preferring to make art with “junk” rather then go buy “real” art supplies. That is not satisfying. I am also extremely active in environmental issues. I clean up forests, rivers, and beaches around Chicago and Lake Michigan. It can be back breaking work, but every one of us should do our part. I have had this awareness and conciousness since junior high in the 1960s. Maybe even before then. To me, (recycling and eco environmentalism) is not a fad. I live and breathe it as a lifestyle. Plastic bags are just EVERYwhere. Why not make something wonderful and uniquely different? I also had a former career in the advertising world, so logos and design are important to me.
Congratulations, Mary Anne! Keep up the great work! And congratulations to all the top five finalists and everyone who entered the contest. Keep finding and sharing ways to reuse plastics in your projects!
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