Recycling

Well I think just about everyone now has got the hang of recycling household waste, or at least we know we should. Actually putting it in the recycling container is where some of us slip up! There is a debate going on in the UK at the moment over how rubbish should be paid for. Should it carry on being part of the Council Tax or should there be some new way of measuring household waste?

When we moved to Switzerland we just presumed it was the same as the UK until someone told us we would have to buy the appropriate colour stickers for our bin bags according to the capacity of the bag. If they didn't have a sticker they didn't get taken. Things have changed slightly now in that you actually buy the official bags so they all look the same, rather than having to buy different stickers for different bags and working out if you had put the correct one on. So in effect we pay for the volume of waste that we put out to be collected.

This immediately made us much more careful in what we threw out and what we collected to be taken to the recycling depots. Our rubbish went down enormously when we moved here. Part of that is due to the fact that we buy almost all of our fruit and vegetables from the market, reusing bags from the last time. But mostly it is down to the fact that it is blatantly obvious that if we didn't recycle what we could we would have to pay for about 3 times the amount of bags that we currently do.

We use 35 litre bags and usually put out only one a week. We have a compost bin in the garden for all our raw food waste. I used to put cooked food in it too, but someone told me that wasn't right and also no dairy. Please correct me if I've got that wrong!
We have a big green bucket for garden waste which is collected 1-2 times per month depending on the time of year. We have a paper collection every 2 weeks which has to be bundled neatly with the right sort of string! There is also a metal collection 2 times a year for everything from tin cans to bike frames.

Most supermarkets, even the tiny local ones, have a glass, PET plastic, milk plastic (white bottles) and battery collection point. And in the last year or so local recycling points have been springing up consisting of what looks like pedal bins in the ground with a huge underground container. The children love watching these being emptied as the lorry lifts them right out of their hole and high into the air to be emptied into the lorry.

I must confess that it did take me a while to get used to the idea of taking some recycling with me every time I visited the shops, but when it started dramatically constricting the floor space in our hall I found it easier to remember.

There are also regular clothes collections done by charities. There are not so many charity shops here as in the UK so perhaps this is why the collections work so well. I remember when we used to get one of the bags put through our door in Scotland we hardly ever put anything in it and didn't notice many on the streets on collection day either. But here most houses manage to find something to donate.

Something else that happens here is that if people have things that they no longer need, and perhaps not enough, or not good enough quality to sell, then they just put them outside on the wall with a sign saying 'GRATIS'/'FREE' and people can help themselves. I've seen bookcases, books, chairs, kitchen implements, crockery, ornaments and all sorts of other oddments. And they all get taken eventually.

When we left the UK there were no door to door recycling collections. We could take paper to the supermarket to be recycled but cardboard was not allowed. Glass was pretty easy to recycle, but I had never seen a metal collection and only a few places for drinks bottles, but no other sort of plastic. I believe it has changed a lot in the last couple of years and I would love to hear how it compares to what we have in Switzerland and how people think it could be improved. Please leave a comment!

Eco Friendly Party Ideas

I have just added a new page to Pogglers for Eco Friendly Party Ideas.

To start with I have put up full illustrated instructions on how to make your own fabric draw string party bags instead of using plastic ones.

I will also be putting up some ideas for what to put in them as well as activities to do at the party and other ways to make your party a bit more eco friendly.

How to Make a Felted Easter Egg

Well, I did get round to it, and here I will explain how you can make your own felted Easter egg. Of course this applies to any sort of wet felting over a shape, so you could make a little round bag over a ball or a felted cup to hold jewellery.

You will need:

Carded Merino wool for felting - please be careful where you source your wool from as some Merino sheep are subjected to Mulesing which is a horrific practice, but mostly affects Australian and New Zealand wool.
Hot water - 60C is ideal although you will want it cooler if doing this with children.
Soap - it must be soap though, not detergent.
Polystyrene shape - to felt over. I could only find a ball so had to cut an egg shape from it.
Bowl - to hold the water.
Scissors - to cut the shape off the mould.
Cloth or Tea Towel - to roll your egg in to felt it.
Wooden spatula or spoon (optional)- to bash your egg with.

Prepare your wool first of all with dry hands! Tear off little pieces of wool and lay them ready. I made the mistake of not doing enough and having to dry my hands and prepare more wool half way through. This doesn't matter too much as I had to break off to re-heat my water several times. The water must be warm or the wool won't felt.
Prepare your warm soapy water. The ratio is usually about 1 tsp soap to 500 ml water.
Cover your egg shape in pieces of wool and, holding the egg over your bowl, wet the wool. Continue to add wool to the shape evenly all over, continuing to wet it as you go, until you have enough layers. If you don't use enough layers then your egg will be too thin and will not hold its shape once it is off the polystyrene. I think you will need at least four layers.

In the early stages handle the egg with care, gently passing it from one hand to the other, as the wool will easily come off if you rub it at this stage. Keep pouring your warm water over the egg as you go. As the wool begins to felt you can handle it more firmly, patting and squeezing it. When it seems to be felting up well wrap the egg in a cloth or tea towel and roll it firmly on your work surface. After you have done this you can either slap it with your hand or wrap the cloth over a wooden spoon and hit the egg with that. It is great fun!

Once it is firmly felted you can cut the felt off the shape. Stuff the inside with scrunched up paper or a dry tea towel and fasten it back together with safety pins if necessary, or tie a ribbon around the outside to keep it together while it dries. I pressed mine down slightly so one side has a flattened bit for it to lie on without rolling over.

Easter Eggs

I have been thinking about making some felted eggs for Easter. I don't know if I will have time to do it, but I think the way it goes is to get a polystyrene egg and then wet felt over that. Then you can either leave it like that, or you can cut around the egg leaving a bit uncut to act as a hinge, or make two separate halves, and if you like put a button or other clasp on the open side and there you have an egg ready to fill.

The basics of wet felting is that you need warm water and soap. It has to be proper soap though, not detergent as that won't work. Then you lay the wool out how you want it and wet it with the soapy water and gently rub. The water and soap open up the fibres of the wool which then get tangled together which causes them to felt. As it starts felting you can rub a bit harder.

Another variation would be to just wet felt a solid egg shape, but of course this would just be for decoration as you couldn't fill it.

Alternatively you can needle felt an egg over an egg shaped sponge (a good solid one is best, you buy them specially for felting) and then cut it open as before. If you don't have a sponge then you could just use some scrunched up paper instead.

If I get round to doing this I will try and remember to photograph it as I go along. I still haven't remembered to photograph fairy making. I forget every time. I promise to do it at some point though.

There are some more craft ideas in my Pogglers Crafty Kids newsletter. You will find a great way to decorate your boiled eggs for rolling, entirely naturally, which I learned here in Switzerland. There is also a simple way to make some Easter egg holders for the table. And of course a very simple recipe for Easter nests.
And a suggestion for a birthday party craft. To sign up just send me your e-mail address or fill in this form on my website.

Happy poggling!

More Fairy Choices

I have been busy making fairies galore and there are now another three Fairytale Fairies on Pogglers.

What do you think of the colour choices so far? Any other suggestions?

New item on Pogglers

Well, I am so taken with these Fairies that I have added them to the site. So have a look on Pogglers online store and get yourself a fairy! There is only one design available at the moment, but I hope to add more colours soon. If you have a certain colour that you would like then please do ask, as it is no problem to make one especially.

I will also be making Birthday Fairies who will be holding a little wooden number corresponding to the age of the child.

The fairies come with a thread to hang them up.

I would welcome your comments on these fairies and any suggestions of colours or themes you would like to see.

Fairytale Wool Fairies

I went to the bookshop yesterday to get some crafty books. I saw some nice ones on the German Amazon site to make things out of natural materials and another one with fantastic reviews. I thought I would support the proper bookshop though so took the whole family down with me. Not so bad as it sounds as they have a play area with a tunnel in the children's section. It turned out the craft section just didn't have anything I was looking for but I still came away with three books: one on stuffed animals; one on felting; and one on making fairies and elves with Fairytale Wool.

My mum gave us some Fairytale Wool about three years ago and I am afraid we haven't done anything with it until now. I got as far as finding a bit of hessian and thinking of pinning it to the wall to stick the wool onto, but didn't actually get as far as putting it up. When I was wee we had one wall of our kitchen covered in hessian so we could use bits of the coloured wool to stick on (it just clings by itself) and make scenes and pictures. It was such a wonderful idea.

So this afternoon when my youngest was asleep we got out the wool and made the fairy. It occurred to me half way through that I should have been taking pictures but it was too late really, so I will do that another time and post a tutorial on how to do it. There were some wonderful examples in the book and although it was a bit tricky at times, not as hard as I expected. And I think she turned out quite well. Do you like her?

These fairies make great Christmas tree decorations. I might make some for next Christmas. Would this be something you might buy for your Christmas tree or a present?



Happy poggling!

Indian Cloth Doll

I just have to have a rave about my Fair Trade Organic Indian Dolls that I have at Pogglers, even if I didn't make them myself. When I received my first batch of these I just couldn't believe how wonderful they were and what good value.

The Indian Doll comes dressed in a sari with instructions on how to put it on again. She also has a change of clothes in a little cloth bag. Now all that would be great, but there is more! She is lying in a hand woven rush cradle complete with mattress and pillow. And there are a number of different sari colours to choose from.

They are made by Bishopston Trading's producer partners in K.V. Kuppam in India , where there is a tradition of hand weaving. They are made in an architect designed factory which was funded by the South India Rural Development Trust. All of Bishopston Trading's profits go into this registered charity to benefit the people of K.V. Kuppam. I looked very closely at the company before I bought from them as I didn't want to compromise my ethical standards, and I was very pleased with what I found.

Waldorf Dolls

I have a number of different dolls on my site but most of the ones I make myself are Waldorf inspired dolls. Waldorf dolls are made from all natural materials, usually cotton knit fabric and stuffed with sheep's wool. Their hair is often made from mohair, although any mixture of wool and mohair is quite normal. I found some wonderfully soft Alpaca wool for one of my latest dolls.

The idea of a Waldorf doll is that, because of the natural materials and wool stuffing, it is soft to cuddle and will absorb the heat from the child, becoming warm like a real baby. The faces are very simple so the child can easily project which ever feeling they want onto the doll. If a doll already has a smile and open eyes it is more difficult to imagine it crying, for instance. Some dolls have little noses, some not. I like to make mine with a little nose, but it is easy to leave it without if a customer prefers. Because they have well rounded heads just about any sort of hair style is possible. Hair embroidered flat onto the head is great for babies at there is nothing to pull at, and long hair is wonderful for older children who will love styling and playing with it. I offer a number of different hair styles on my Cherish Dolls and all colours too including white and grey for a Granny or Grandpa doll or perhaps an old gnome. My custom made Cherish Dolls can be fully personalised so you could choose to have one made to look like your child. Skin, hair and eye colours can all be chosen as well as the hair style and type of clothes. And if there is something you would like that is not on the website I am more than happy to chat with you and source something different to create the doll you wish for. I make my doll's clothes from Fair trade certified organic cotton.

I have recently added some Ready Made Cherish Dolls to the site. This is one Oriental boy that I made recently with a funky endearing hair style. I was very happy with his cross over kimono style top as I made the pattern up myself and got it right on the second go. It fastens with Velcro as this is much the easiest for little fingers to manage. We have some doll's clothes that fasten with buttons or clasps and my children are always asking me to help them.

I will go into the making of Waldorf dolls in another post as I always wondered how they were made before I started making them myself. They do take quite a long time to make and the head is the most tricky, but they look great in the end, and there is a real sense of achievement when one is finished.

In addition to my Cherish Dolls I have Cuddle Dolls, organic and non organic, which are perfect for a toddler as there are no fiddly clothes to take off. My toddlers were always taking the clothes off, but never seemed to be bothered about putting them back on again, so they were often traipsing around with a naked dolly in tow! I also sew a bell into the hat which children love.

My Comforter Dolls are the perfect baby comforter. They also have a bell sewn securely inside the hat and little knotted hands which are great to chew on. And they are small enough to stuff away in a pocket when you are out and about. If you choose one of these for a new baby then the mother can carry it around with her or have it in bed with her before the baby is born so that the doll absorbs her scent to give familiar comfort to the newborn.

FREE Pogglers Craft Ideas

I am about to launch my first Pogglers' Crafty Kids Newsletter which will be e-mailed to subscribers. It will have some fantastic seasonal craft ideas and activities to make and do with children. You will find it a great inspiration for a rainy day or for ideas to celebrate festivals like Easter or perhaps the coming of Summer - when we get there!

To get your FREE seasonal craft inspiration fill in the Contact Form at Pogglers and we will send you out the next one as soon as it is available. And you can unsubscribe at any time.

I have some wonderful ideas lined up for Easter including an all natural way to decorate your Easter eggs.

We already have a How to Make a Monster page on Pogglers with step by step instructions on how to make your very own monster from an old item of clothing. It is great fun and children love it. No matter how old they are they will be able to help, even if it is only putting the stuffing in. And nothing beats the feeling of having helped to make your own toy or gift for a friend.

Send us a picture of your monster with or without his proud owner and we may publish it on our website.

Happy poggling!

Toddler Size Organic Cloak

I have been meaning to make a toddler size Organic Cloak to go with my children's size Organic Cloak for ages. This weekend I finally got down to it when my husband took the children out to a book reading in town.

I was going to go with them but they said they might have to do some shopping after and they didn't seem too keen about me coming for that - Mother's Day tomorrow.
So I took the recycling to the recycling point down the road and did the shopping. I know it is not the done thing for people under the age of 65 to have a shopping trolley in the UK, but here everyone has one. I bought mine last Summer and it is so useful. It even has an insulated pocket on the front for the cold stuff and it means I don't have to lug bags around with me, just pull it along. Great to carry the recycling in too.
So after all that I managed to resist putting the computer on and went up to the sewing room and got cracking.

My cloaks are made of organic Fair Trade cotton. I use two contrasting colours sewn together so that they are reversible. They fasten with velcro tabs so that even young children can easily put them on and take them off. The first cloak I made for my daughter for Halowe'en when she was 1 year old had ribbon ties at the front. But the problem was that only an adult could put it on her, and she could undo it by accident just by pulling one end. Making velcro tabs to fasten them with solved both of those problems. My children get really frustrated if something gets stuck on them (jackets that do up with buttons for instance) and if they can't get it off they end up panicking and breaking it. The neck on my cloaks is elasticated for safety, which means that if the child can't undo the cloak they can still take it off fairly easily, and if they were to catch the neck on something they could still wriggle out. Of course they have never managed to do that, and I can't actually imagine how they would, but sometimes I go into a worse case scenario dream state and think up all sorts of calamities, and the elastic meant that that particular worse case scenario didn't end up so bad after all. Am I the only one who imagines these things?

The cloak should be online tomorrow or the next day.

Happy poggling!