How To: Milk Carton Coin Purses

Here's a tutorial for my old recycled favorite: The Milk Carton Coin Purse. I've had such success with this design in the past two years - it was one of the top 10 projects of 2008 on cut out and keep, and every time I use mine at a store the cashier will comment on how neat it is. They're great to have on hand to give as birthday presents and little gifts. It requires almost no materials, and it's 100% recycled - not even any tape or glue! Make your own, or let me make one (or many!) for you!

Milk Carton Coin Purse Tutorial:

You will need:

A half gallon milk or juice carton

Cutting knife

Cutting mat

Scissors

Pen

1. Start with a half-gallon sized milk or juice carton. Pull open the top of the carton, clean out the inside and make sure the inside is dry. Be sure to keep the cap!

2. Use scissors or an x-acto knife to cut off the bottom of the container. Pay close attention to the "front" of the carton (the front is the side that has the cap on it) - you want to make sure that this edge looks really neat, and that you cut it as close to the bottom of the carton as possible.

3. Use a ruler to measure and mark one of the sides of the container about 3" from the bottom and 5" from the bottom. The space in between these markings is going to be the body of the purse.

4. Use scissors or an x-acto knife to cut away the sides and back of the carton below the 3" mark and above the 5" mark. Make sure you don't cut away the front of the carton!! We need that part. If you want, put a post-it note on the front of the carton to remind you not to cut that side.

5. Push the back of the carton towards the front of the carton to fold the sides in half.

6. Make two more folds on each side to create the accordion effect.

7. Fold the bottom of the front of the carton up. It should be a little bit taller than the accordion folds.

8. Fold that tall part in, and tuck it under the accordion folds.

9. Now for the top of the carton - cut off the ugly white part that has the expiration date, etc. You should only have the colorful part left.

10. Use the x-acto knife to gently detach the white thingy that the cap screws into. This topmost part is going to be the "lining", providing reinforcement for the top flap.

11. Fold the lining over on the already-existing crease, and trace the circle onto the other layer of the top flap. Cut this out with an x-acto knife, cutting slightly smaller circle than what you marked.

12. Now that the whole top flap has the cap hole in it, fold this over the body of the purse and trace the circle once again onto the front of the purse.

13. Pull out the bottom flap and lay it flat on the cutting mat. Cut the cap hole with the x-acto blade out of only the bottom flap.

14. Once you have your hole, put the white thingy through the hole.

15. Tuck the bottom flap back into the accordion folds so the white thingy sticks out of the front of the body of the purse.

16. Fold the top flap over the white thingy and put on the cap. You're done! Fill it with change, and be prepared to take the whole thing apart every time someone asks you how you made such a cute purse!

Carole Ann

Are we artists?

Adj and I have done a lot of thinking lately about what it means to be artists, and why it's so hard to call ourselves by that title. We started out with our crafternoons about a year ago, messing around with hardly-used sewing machines and getting to know each other as friends. As the year has gone on, our work has evolved from those relaxed afternoons at the table in my kitchen to art-making permeating other and unexpected areas of our lives, and holding crafternoons that we designate as "business meetings".

For Adj, this evolution took form in part by applying to be an Artist in Residence at Firehouse 13. She now lives with four other artists of different mediums in the second floor of the firehouse - she has a bedroom, a large, communal kitchen/living space, and a studio for her work. The walls of her studio are lined with hanging neckties and silverware earrings; there is an entire table covered in sets of silverware that she purchased at various yard sales and good will stores; and intense stuff like clamps, files, and a blow torch. In order to apply to be an Artist in Residence, she put together an art portfolio and had to articulate what motivates and characterizes her work. She's also been a part of a couple of different recent gallery shows at AS220 and Waste Not Want Not and has a show coming up at Firehouse 13 this January.

For me, I've begun to take connect the dots more seriously. We had a booth at the Providence Art Festival this summer - it felt so good to be a part of the local art community and be noticed for our unique recycled and "clever" work. I had the logo and business cards made. Adj showcased our stuff at two more community events this summer. Outside of connect the dots, I became the coordinator of The Hive Archive's Hive O'Clock Happy Hour Art Workshops, lining up artists and venues for this monthly gathering of interesting and creative people. I applied and was accepted to be an Artist Mentor at New Urban Arts, an after school open art studio for high school students. I spend at least 5 hours/week there now, creating with students and

thinking about my own growth as an artist. My craft supplies have grown to occupy not only the living room but also most of my kitchen, and are more often than not spread out all over the place. I've begun to think about creating and sewing on the weekends as not just a pleasant thing that I want to spend my time doing, but something that I "need" to do, something that is demanding more time from me (in both a good and a bad way).

It's become undeniable - with all of the time that each of us is devoting to art, we are no longer just messing around. Art has become a huge and welcome part of each of our lives. Connect the dots is a way for us to support each other as we grow as artists. We had our first business meeting two weeks ago, and drew up a manifesto of sorts.

connect the dots aims to:

• stay true to the crafternoon philosophy (learning and creating as a part of a community)
• contribute to the artist community of creativity
• learn about art/specific skills
• earn a little money to sustain our studio/supply costs
• excite and energize others with our work
• network with other artists in Providence
• become comfortable in our skills are artists

We've been thinking about the blog, and how it weaves into these goals - helping us to contribute to the community of creativity and hopefully excite and energize others. We have high hopes of posting more frequently, including tutorials, and reflecting about our journey to figure out how to call ourselves artists and how our awareness of environmental and social justice weaves into our work. We want this blog to not just be documentation about what we've made, but a means through which we can move closer to the goals we articulated in our manifesto. (and how that manifesto evolves over time.)

So, we're calling ourselves artists now. It's silly how it took official titles like "Artist in Residence" and "Artist Mentor" to allow us to start feeling comfortable with the word, but I guess that's how it is. And even still it feels a little funny.

Stay tuned for more thoughts as we let this wonderful and overwhelming amount of creativity take over large parts of our lives.

Carole Ann

First Commission!

This week I got to work on a super fun project on commission for the museum. I remade a batch of child aprons for the 60's Dominican market exhibit called Fefa's Market.

First I got to pick out some vintage 60's fabric from my favorite fabric shop in my hometown.

Then I created a pattern and cut them all out.

Lots of ironing to make the bias tape that goes all around!

And sewing it all together!

Voila! I can't wait to deliver them tomorrow!

Also, Geneva came over to keep me company while I was working on them. She was on a quest to make an awesome outfit to wear in her marching band for the PRONK! event happening in Providence tomorrow. She wanted to use t-shirts to make something to wear over her bright red spandex pants...

One trip to Michael's, two t-shirts, some cutting, tying, and sewing later, here she is! The best part of the night was when she spontaneously yelled out: "I love sewing!" She did an awesome job!