GreenCraft Magazine -- I wanted it to be more useful

Last week was my birthday week, so I indulged myself at a local bookstore by buying a few new-to-me magazines. One was GreenCraft, designed "to honor and inspire those who find artistic applications for normally discarded resources."


The spring issue boasts of having 80+ "stylish and sustainable projects." That's a lot. And there may be 80, but I'm not sure I'd call them "projects" -- maybe "artist profiles" or "recycling ideas."

Each article features beautiful photos of the finished creations. Most of the text is devoted to the artist's story. Small sidebars describe "technique" and "tools & materials." For someone who wants to reproduce the projects, this format is unhelpful. I'd much prefer photos of the project in process, and detailed, step-by-step instructions.

I visited the magazine's website, hoping for video tutorials -- but no luck. It's a sparse site, useful only if you want to subscribe or submit an article. In fact, it appears that most of the magazine content is supplied by crafty readers, so the writing is a little uneven.

Still, some of the ideas are very cool. I plan to try the paper weaving projects and the vinyl record journals. But the pistachio shell necklace is just plain scary!