Assistants, Assistance and Generosity to Complete the Black Plastic Gyre Necklace

The Black Plastic Gyre Necklace has been a marathon effort to complete within a tight timeline. It has taken the combined effort of many people.

I have been collecting black plastic for years but didn't have nearly enough to fulfill my massive vision because I avoid buying anything packaged in black plastic. However, through the generosity of people that know me personally, or through Facebook, quantities of black plastic started coming in. Some people gave me black plastic one piece at a time, others a bag or whole boxes of black plastic.  I couldn't have reached my goal without this help.

On Saturday, an entire box of black plastic came from Suzane Beaubrun that she collected from her neighbors. It provided a mind blowing variety of black plastic. 

I am both dazzled and dismayed at the vast selection of shapes and patterns -- both seductive and sinful at the same time. 

Even the employees from RethinkWaste in San Carlos sent an envelope of special shapes in black plastic.

I cut all the plastic shapes myself, but this consumed every available moment, day and night, for the past seven weeks.

My studio assistant, Margo Plagemen (right and below) saw this project from beginning to end. She drilled holes into many of the black plastic parts and helped with threading the black plastic tentacles as we solved problems and refined the plan for assembly.

Early in the project, I was looking for additional project assistance for threading the individual pieces together.  Shoshana Phoenixx and Aliza Abrams worked as outside constructors at their shared studio in Oakland. 

Shoshana and Aliza discovered my Facebook post seeking project assistance on the Facebook group titled Support Network for Artist Re-use Contra Costa (SNARCC).  This group is organized by RC Ferris. I am told that she is the "recycling queen" for Contra Costa County. RC Ferris also donated two separate boxes of black plastic. If you work with recycled or reused materials, check out the Facebook page for SNARCC. 

Since this "necklace" is going to be 24 feet long, I needed an assortment of odd black plastic spacers (i.e. junk stuff) and went to SCRAP in San Francisco.

Bottle caps, pen caps, black straws and all too common black plastic parts (diverted from their destiny as trash) were readily available.

SCRAP is an amazing resource for artists, craftspeople, teachers, or anyone looking for materials to reuse at affordable prices. They always have an amazing diversity of discarded paraphernalia from paper to plastic, tins, wood, fabric and more, that can stretch your imagination. 

For my family and me, a regular stop at SCRAP is always a destination in San Francisco because what they have in their building comes and goes. The prices are very low. Donations of materials, leftovers, surplus office supplies, nicknacks, and overruns from businesses and individuals in the Bay Area provide an astonishing range of scrap materials. When you pay for your jackpot from SCRAP, double the amount they ask for as a donation, and you still have a great deal.

My husband. Bill, is my home support.  He drove me to SCRAP while I "double-timed" and cut black plastic in the car. Bill also provided transport dropping off plastic in Oakland to Shoshana and Aliza and picking up completed sections. And toward the completion of the necklace, Bill helped by tying the knots (with his Eagle Scout knot expertise) so that the knots will be invisible and secure as one long Black Plastic Gyre Necklace. 

I am still cutting black plastic, but the finish line is fast approaching (or I am hearing the "bell lap" with the Winter Olympics in the background).

Shoshana and Aliza tell me they have finished their final two units. Knot tying and adjustment are scheduled for this week. 

Suzanne Ramljak, the curator, will see the Black Plastic Gyre necklace this coming weekend. YIKES!!!!!!!!!!  Next on the agenda is a shipping box and photography for the catalog. 

The photo session with Philip Cohen is scheduled for March 3, 2018.  The Pinterest board for planning the photoshoot is here. The plan for the final professional photos includes trying the necklace on a mannequin, and subsequently on two or three live models. I will document the photo shoot preparation with Phil Cohen so it can be shared in a future post. 

Stay tuned for updates on documenting the plastic trash on the street. I have written to Trader Joe's, Lyfe Kitchen, and the local newspaper hoping to gain some traction on eliminating the use of black plastic while I continue to collect black plastic trash off the streets, gutters, and sidewalks.

Thank you to everyone who has made a contribution to this Black Plastic Gyre Necklace.  
 

Plastic Contributors:

Suzane Beaubrun
Belinda Chlouber
Ellen Crosby
Melissa Durlofsky
Mary Ellison
RC Ferris Support Network for Artist Re-use Contra Costa (SNARCC), CA
Madison Guzman – RethinkWaste, San Carlos, CA
Martha Husick
Theresa Kwong
Roxy Lentz
Margot Plageman
Suzanne Ramljak
Aryn Shelander
Sara Sherman-Levine
Carolyn Tillie

Plastic Assembly:
Aliza Abrams
Shoshana Phoenixx
Margot Plageman
Bill Shelander

Additional Resources:
SCRAP, San Francisco

 

Harriete

Related Posts:

"I Can See Plastic -- Everywhere"

 

Black Plastic Gyre Necklace - Jewelry Brings Awareness to Environmental Crisis

 

 

Related articles

How waste from all of the world is ending up in the Arctic Ocean - WAVDO

The plastic bottle scheme that could help clean the oceans - WAVDO

"I Can See Plastic -- Everywhere"

I've been working on my Recycle Series of jewelry for eight years.

As an artist and visual thinker, I'm well aware of the huge investment consumer brands put into their packaging with alluring, beautiful jewel tones and shapes.  As an avid recycler I'm also aware that so much of this consumer packaging is for single use -- then just thrown away.  Until recently, I was primarily dismayed about the enormous quantity of plastic that gets thrown away, or perhaps recycled (for those who have an activist mindset and a curbside recycling program.)  

I've come to realize that the plastic pollution problems are much larger than most people realize. 

A lot of single-use plastics go to landfill, and a very small percentage of the plastic is actually recycled.  But vast amounts of plastics are improperly disposed of and get washed or blown into the environment where they do not degrade for hundreds of years.  A new documentary exposes the huge quantity of plastic that is accumulating in our oceans.

In parallel with the oceanic accumulation of plastic, I also learned that black plastic is not recycled (even though it is made of recyclable material).  These two insights launched my current work in progress titled,  Black Plastic Gyre Necklace. It is about the vast quantities, big and small, of plastic in our oceans. The use of only black plastic to appear more threatening.

Coincidentally, while working on my Black Plastic Gyre Necklace, I kept wondering how so much plastic gets into our oceans.  With heightened mindfulness during the past few weeks, I become aware of how much plastic, including black plastic, is littered on our streets. Yes, in the streets and yards or on sidewalks and shrubs.

As one example, I saw this black plastic takeout tray, black plastic spoon, and cellophane laying in the street while on my way to the gym.  I'm always in a rush in the morning and promised myself that I would photograph the trash and pick it up after class.  But then for one reason or another, day after day, I would forget. 

Each day I was again confronted by the same black plastic takeout tray and made the same promise to myself.   After a few days of repeated negligence, I also noticed that the tray inched its way along the curb and soon realized it was inevitably heading toward the storm sewer.  Just a little bit of wind or moved by a car tire, it inched its way toward the storm sewer leading to the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. 

Finally, I photographed it and picked it up. One small crisis averted, but every day I started seeing more and more black plastic in the street.  I feel like I'm in a weird version of the Sixth Sense movie -- "I see post-use plastic everywhere."

This Sharpie pen laid on the street for days.  Crushed by cars, the tube was broken, but the black pen cap proved to be indestructible. I photographed it, picked it up and took it home. 

The pen cap is now incorporated into the Black Plastic Gyre Necklace.

No wonder plastic accumulates in the ocean and waterways. It lasts forever.     

Now I am really paying attention.  In the two block walk to the gym, I almost always find plastic litter. 

This white plastic strap is really tough. You can't break this. You can barely cut it with scissors.  There were two of them. This is what they use to strap boxes and furniture so they don't come apart. 

Next there was a plastic bottle. There is nothing "Super Green" about a plastic bottle.  

I photographed it and then picked it up. This is becoming a very smelly and distasteful experience in plastic waste awareness.

Before I get to my car there is a plastic baggie laying on the storm sewer grate.  

So this is how plastic is getting to the ocean....

This plastic baggie was used for perhaps an hour or two but is now on the brink of going into the storm sewer, floating through the waterways, draining into the San Francisco Bay, and suspended in the ocean for centuries.

Where does my responsibility end?

Sure I picked up the plastic along the street where I walk, but every day there is more. 

This was on 43rd Avenue in San Mateo.  Within these two blocks are several restaurants with takeout food, e.g. Papa John Pizza, Round Table, a taqueria, Molly Stones grocery store, and CVS pharmacy. They all have plastic packaging and takeout food. Every business and every person who walks that two blocks should be responsible for keeping it clean and cleaning up the trash. 

San Mateo has a new Adopt-A-Drain program. I've already volunteered to take care of the storm sewer near my house. At home, I have captured a considerable quantity of organic debris and plastic waste from going into that one sewer. Is that enough?

By 2022, the City of San Mateo will be required to prevent all trash from entering the San Francisco Bay through the storm drains to meet mandates set by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, but who is going to help?  It occurs to me that we will all pay for this trash left in the street, one way or another.

 

Plastic packaging has to be redesigned.

Right now the burden of dealing with plastic waste is on the consumer and they are doing a terrible job. Consumers recycled only 9.5% of plastic waste in 2014.  Another 15% was combusted for energy, while 75.5% of what was collected was sent to landfills. China used to accept America's plastic waste, but no more. We need to think about how we can reduce the quantity of plastic waste, now! 

Future posts will include assembly and progress on the Black Plastic Gyre Necklace and some concrete, but easy steps for reducing plastic. 

Scroll down for continued documentation of more plastic that I discover each day in one block of 43rd Avenue, San Mateo, CA. 

 

 

Daily updates of plastic found on 1 block of 43rd Avenue, San Mateo

 

Pink plastic waste- February 14, 2018

 

Pure Fresh Spearmint Gum plastic package - February 16, 2018

 

"Nice" purified plastic bottle (crushed) - February 16, 2018

 

Plastic Bottle Cap  & Cigarette butt - February 16, 2018
Evidently, someone drove over the bottle (shown above.) The cap burst off and laid in the street until I picked it up. Plastic bottle caps are becoming a huge part of plastic waste in the waterways and oceans. The cigarette but is disgusting (though not part of my project.) Cigarette butts are toxic to fish and marine animals.  

 

Plastic Dental Flosser -  February 16, 2018

 

Ice Breakers Plastic Box  -  February 18, 2018 
This includes both the top and the bottom of the box. 

 

Plastic Bag  - February 17, 2018 
The plastic bag was obviously driven over a couple of times, but no one stopped and picked it up.

 

 

Plastic sushi tray with soy sauce package - February 17, 2018 


Red plastic straw - February 17, 2018  
Plastic straws are becoming a huge problem as they are dropped in the street, no one cares to pick them up and they end up in the ocean.  

 

I thought plastic 6-pack rings were outlawed because marine animals and fish get trapped inside the loops.

6-pack ring discovered laying on the storm sewer grate - February 20, 2018

Green Plastic Straw with paper wrapper lying in the street on the way to the plastic ocean -  February 19

 

Translucent plastic cup lid with a piece of sand paper and paper litter laying on the storm sewer. This plastic lid is one blast of wind or a rainy day before it arrives in the San Francisco Bay on the way to the ocean.  Of course, I picked it up. Why didn't you?  - February 20, 2018 

 

More photos coming for each day I visit this one block and document the plastic waste in the street. 

 

Related Posts and Resources:

Black Plastic Gyre Necklace - Jewelry Brings Awareness to Environmental Crisis

Plastic Recycling Facts and Figures

 

Black Plastic Gyre Necklace - Jewelry Brings Awareness to Environmental Crisis

Do you know that black plastic is rarely recycled?   When I 've asked around, not one person so far has known that black plastic is not recyclable. 

Most people think that the recycle symbols indicate that it is "recyclable," so did I, but it is not.  This was recently verified by my local recycling center.  The recycling center, ReThink Waste, is now helping to bring this issue to wider attention and issued the following message on Twitter and Facebook to help me collect black plastic for a new artwork. 

Black plastic is not recycled (even if it is labeled as recyclable) because most plastics are sorted by optical scanners that cannot "see" or recognize black plastic. Essentially black plastic can't be differentiated from other trash, so it goes into landfills, or even worse, goes into our oceans and waterways. (More on this topic in the next post.)  

Yet black plastic is used pervasively for catering, take-out, deli containers, and microwave packaging. Pay attention to this issue and you will be shocked!  Black plastics in the form of food containers, pen caps, bottle caps, black spindles, etc. -- all go to trash.

Here is one example.  Shown below are twenty 12-inch diameter bowls from one event catered by Lyfe Kitchen. Lyfe Kitchen sells take-out and catered food marketed as sustainable. But there is nothing sustainable about using black plastic containers.

I contacted Lyfe Kitchen about the use of black plastic. They responded: "...we are in the midst of a packaging vendor transition on the West coast. We have been diligently looking to source a more sustainable option for our catered salads container pictured here."

To bring more awareness to the issues surrounding black plastic I made this bracelet years ago.

 Now I am immersed in making a "Black Plastic Gyre Necklace" that will be 24-feet long. The "necklace" will wrap relentlessly around a model, again and again, to convey the accumulation of plastic debris that is clogging waterways, strangling animals, and damaging coral reefs.  The piece is intended to highlight the impact that plastics are having in our oceans and rivers.  

For the past six weeks, I have been frantically cutting tentacle shapes from black plastic containers to create the gigantic Black Plastic Gyre Necklace to meet an exhibition deadline.

The shapes are cut from black plastic forms such as this container (below) clearly embossed "Go-Green" -- yet it is nearly impossible to recycle.  This is an example of what is called "greenwashing."

 There is nothing green about this black plastic.

 I'm finding that the enormous variety of black plastic items allows me to cut out some very interesting shapes. 

Interestingly, each black plastic container inspires different shapes. The above photo includes exquisite shapes cut from a  Noosa yogurt lid. The lid was soft yet flexible, ideal for cutting curvilinear shapes. I can't imagine why this brand uses black plastic lids.

Why do cookies and candies come with a black plastic insert? Only because I think someone thought it looks good or sophisticated. This is another example of unnecessary plastic waste in packaging. 

One of those 12" black plastic salad bowls (shown above) provides a lot of plastic. In the photo below, I am starting to cut it up into pieces for the necklace.   

One black plastic bowl can generate so many parts, producing a messy pile of great shapes (below) that will go into the necklace.

Every day I spend hours cutting black plastic for the necklace to meet the deadline.

If you would like to contribute your black plastic to this project, contact me to drop off your plastic or mail it to me. The idea is to raise awareness about plastic in our environment and become an advocate for change. 

Stay tuned for more posts about progress on this necklace and the local makers who I hired to help meet a tight deadline.

This Black Plastic Gyre Necklace is destined for an exhibition titled, Uneasy Beauty. Curated by Suzanne Ramljak, it will be in an exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum. If you're ready for more, check out the page on my website that has more images and information.  

Harriete