Turning old into new: 4-H camp teaches youth the art of repurposing
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on August 1, 2017 8:48 AM
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Keaton Gagliano, 9, left, and Laney Kornegay, 10, work on their beanbag craft made from scrap fabric and embroidery thread.
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Flowerpot
News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Owl magnet and magazine beads
Old T-Shirts became tote bags.
Worn out jeans turned bare pencil pouches into works of art.
And magazine pages gave life to bracelets and necklaces.
It was all part of a recent 4-H camp, Something Old ... Something New at the Wayne Center.
Instructor Dina Newcomb said most of the projects done during the camp were recyclable crafts.
"They took flower pots and decoupaged them with cloth and buttons," she said. "They put a flower inside so they can see it grow.
"The flower pots were really cool with the different designs. When it starts out, it doesn't really look like it's going to be much, but it turns out being a great project and very pretty. Something that doesn't start out fancy turns out being fancy when you put it all together."
The youths attending the camp fashioned pencil pouches out of felt, adorning them with buttons, magnets and extra felt pieces. Some of the youths got even more creative and put their names on the pouch with embroidery thread.
They cut old jeans, stitched the pieces together and made an owl magnet. They even added button eyes.
"They made beads out of magazines that they turned into bracelets and necklaces," Mrs. Newcomb said. "They cut out strips of magazine pages, rolled them and glued them. The brighter the color of the magazine page, the prettier the beads looked."
One project that was dear to instructor Vanessa Therrien's heart was making bags out of old T-Shirts.
"We used T-Shirts that cannot be worn anymore or have a small stain somewhere," she said. "Maybe the shirt came from earlier in their childhood, but they didn't get rid of it because it used to be their favorite.
"They can take it and make it into something purposeful instead of it just sitting around collecting dust."
For the no-sew project, the youths cut the neck and sleeves off the shirt and cut the bottom into strips. They tied the strips together to complete to bag.
The red bag that was used as an example used to be one that Mrs. Therrien wore during her high school days when she went on band trips.
Gabrielle Young, 14, liked the idea of taking old stuff and making it into new stuff.
"I made an owl out of an old pair of jeans," she said. "I took some felt and made a pencil pouch. For my flower pot, I put glue all over it and put stuff on it.
"It was fun. I love crafts."
But there was on small mishap that turned out well for Gabrielle.
"For my owl, I was trying to do a regular stitch and ended up doing a wrap stitch instead," she said. "But then I was like, 'You know what, I'm just going to keep on doing that.' With the nose, I did it all crooked and I had to start over on it. But my owl didn't turn out too bad."
Makayla Newcomb, 13, was right at home doing the crafts.
"I love crafts," she said. "I do them at home. I crochet, that's one thing I like doing. I have crocheted blankets and a mermaid tail that you pull up over you. I've made dishcloths, round ones with scalloped stitching on the edges."
One craft was making things with fused beads. Makayla made up her own pattern, a six-sided design of green, blue and turquoise because she really likes these colors. She had started making a diamond shape with the fused beads, but it came apart, so she decided on the other design instead.
Jordan Therrien skipped the pencil pouch because she was still working on her flower pot.
"I took a regular clay pot and put buttons, a washer and embroidery floss on it," she said. "I used all black and white. I also put embroidery floss around the bottom of the pot. Then I put a few buttons at the very bottom so I would be able to have it like on legs."
Jordan took her flower pot and flower home and keep it inside so it won't get knocked over by squirrels -- and so she can look at it whenever she wants.
For her fused bead craft, she made a mermaid using teal and turquoise, which are her absolute favorite colors, and yellow for the skin.
Although she didn't technically have a mishap, Jordan did have a confusing moment when she went to iron her fused bead creation to finish it off and the beads wouldn't fuse.
"I later found out that I hadn't turned on the iron," Jordan said. "I tried it again and it worked this time."
Jordan said the most fun part of the camp was getting to use her creativity.
"It was very fun," she said. "I like that we got to be creative to do whatever we wanted. We didn't have to follow instructions down to the letter."
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"There's been a lot of creativity," Mrs. Therrien said.
I've loved to see that although they're all doing similar projects, they each ended up a little bit different because each person has their own unique style.
"They are also learning skills that they may not have known and improving skills that they may have only had a little experience with, which is helping promote their confidence to be able to go on and do other things."
Mrs. Therrien said that in addition to showing the youths how to make something new out of something old, the camp was also about building confidence, which is the key to success in almost everything.