Valentine’s Day is a tricky holiday for the eco-conscious consumer. Unless you live in California, the chances are those beautiful red roses have come a long, long way to your flower shop or supermarket.

Although many of the roses sold by U.S. retailers come from Ecuador or Colombia, locally-grown flowers are becoming more popular.

Domestic growers supply less than 10 percent of all the roses sold in the United States, according to Amy Stewart, author of the best-selling “Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers.”

California produces about three-quarters of that 10 percent.

Almost all the rest of the 4 billion stems Americans spend $6.2 billion on annually come from Latin America. In fact, 12 percent of Colombia’s annual flower output, and one-third of Ecuador’s, is shipped to the U.S. in the beginning of February, when we will purchase about 200 million stems.

Bouquet designed by Berkeley, California florist, Max Gill, who arranges whatever he can clip in his garden to create centerpieces for Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Restaurant, also in Berkeley.

That doesn’t leave a lot of market share for growers in the other 49 states, not to mention the carbon footprint of all that transportation. But the demand for local flowers is, well, growing.  Since Stewart’s book was published in 2007, more consumers and florists are asking about the origins of their bouquets. Stewart says 6 percent of the flowers sold in the U.S. are now certified eco-friendly and socially responsible.

Spring flowers from Local Color Flowers (locoflo.com) a Baltimore, Maryland-based floral design business which creates arrangements and bouquets from sustainable and seasonal flowers cultivated by local specialty growers.

One of the biggest challenges for domestic producers is that their product is seasonal. Farmgirl Flowers in San Francisco delivers locally sourced arrangements that sometimes feature ornamental kale, and you won’t find locally grown Valentine’s roses in Denver that match the picture-perfect — and chemical-laden — imported varieties.

Arrangement from Farmgirl Flowers (farmgirlflowers.com) in San Francisco, California, which uses only fresh, local flowers delivered by bicycle couriers.

But what’s wrong with a lovely bunch of carnations? Colorado was the number one producer of carnations worldwide until 1974, when the U.S. government’s war on drugs encouraged Colombia to use its mild climate and cheap labor to grow legal crops.

You can find a responsible flower retailer through third-party certification organization Veriflora, and local flower farms through the Association of Specialty Flower Growers or Local Harvest. Seattle author Debra Prinzing blogs about sustainable flowers at www.the50milebouquet.com, and will soon publish a book of the same name.

I first became conscious of altered books 12 years ago when a graphic artist friend, Sue, told me she was creating them. She pointed out it is O.K. to reuse old, unwanted books, which are, unfortunately, in ample supply.

Books become obsolete — unreadable through wear and tear, or simply outdated. Sue took only the ones that “spoke to her” in the pile her library threw out each year.

I cringe to think of my contributions to the orphan-book pile: the tech manuals for WordPerfect and other extinct technologies, last year’s phonebooks, and old one-volume encyclopedias that I must re-home or send to ruin periodically as I make room in my library for new titles. It’s tough for readers, but great for artists — free supplies.

Since then, I have been looking for exhibits of altered books in galleries and museums.

Turns out the term is very broad. It refers to any artwork that changes the appearance of a book and/or its function or meaning. The change can be minute — the artist can change just one page — or transformational (for instance, combining several books to form a sculpture).

Anything goes in altering books. Techniques include cutting, gluing, painting, rubber stamping, changing the shape, among others. Here are a few artists using books as their medium — the tip of the iceberg, or a blurb for the back cover, if you will.

Chen Long-Bin prefers to work with out-of-date books, magazines and phonebooks. He uses a buzz saw to transform these information-saturated materials into detailed sculptures that are exhibited internationally.

“One Buddha, Two Systems (New York)” by Chen Long-Bin. Mixed media sculpture with Chinese and English New York Yellow Pages. 43 x 28 x 28 cm. 2008.

Georgia Russell is a Scottish artist who dissects printed matter, music scores, maps, newspapers and photographs into what she calls “membranes of memories.” Her work is seen internationally and included in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s permanent collection.

“Cut Book in a Bell Jar” by Georgia Russell. 17.5" high. 2007.

“Cut Book Jacket in an Acrylic Case” by Georgia Russell 13.75" x 11.75" x 4".

Brian Dettmer started out as a painter. When he worked in a sign shop, he began to explore the relationship between text and images and eventually started working with old books in 2000. Today he works with older dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, wallpaper sample books, comic books and other printed materials. “The book’s intended function has decreased and the form remains linear in a non-linear world,” he said. “By altering physical forms of information and shifting preconceived functions, new and unexpected roles emerge….”

“New International Dictionary, 2003” by Brian Dettmer 12" x 9" x 7".

Alex Queral creates mostly celebrity 3-D portraits from bound phone books, using only an X-acto knife and acrylic paint. The faces are often painted with a monochromatic wash to separate the image from the printed background page, which remains untouched. Queral said that he is “celebrating the individual lost in the anonymous list of thousands of names.” The sculpture is then sealed with acrylic to preserve the work.

“Albert Einstein” and “Barack Obama” by Alex Queral.

And, on the practical side, Kara Witham is one of several people who offer hollowed-out book safes for sale on the web, at her Etsy store.

“Hollow Book Safe & Flask - The Odyssey” by Kara Witham.

For further information about these artists, check these websites.

• Chen Long-Bin
• Alex Queral
• Karra Whitham
• Georgia Russell

The way we receive information is changing. Some friends have completely abandoned hardcover books for e-books; others have never read a book in electronic form, and yet others have collections of both. Our public libraries increasingly offer patrons a choice of formats.

With the rapid development of technology, I think this was bound to happen. Books have been around for millennia — in essentially the same form for six centuries — and as a painting teacher once told our class, “The only constant in design is change.”

The relationship of artists to written communication has also changed. In the past, the destruction of a book meant the destruction of the information it contained. But when anyone can carry a library in his or her luggage, designers and artists are beginning to view bound, printed pages as art supplies. Several artists are exploring ways to keep books from landfills and preserve their shelf life.

Jim Rosenau takes that challenge literally. The son and grandson of book publishers, Rosenau was raised in a house with 5,000 books.  He is now a carpenter, comedy writer and software developer living in California, but he is perhaps best known for creating furniture — including bookshelves — from discarded hardbacks and salvaged lumber.

Shelf made from a set of three dictionaries by Jim Rosenau.

“Who Done It?” Shelf made from three carefully selected abandoned books by Jim Rosenau.

Bookcase made from rescued books by Jim Rosenau.

While majoring in 3D Design in college, British artist Laura Cahill kept track of the number of objects discarded within a mile radius of her school. In response to her findings, she began a collection, “Readable Furniture,” made from recycled books.  “I am fascinated in reusing objects in a way that gives them a new life,” she said.

Vase made from old books by Laura Cahill. The spines are wrapped around test tubes so that the vases don't get damaged when they are filled with water.

Table and lamp from old books by Laura Cahill.

The Dutch firm Bomdesign offers several sculptural reading lamps made from reclaimed books, and creates boxes from other recycled materials to ship them to clients throughout the world. Lamp sizes vary, depending on the size of the original books.

Reading lamps made from old books by Bomdesign.

Furniture made by stacking books has been around for a long time — almost any dorm-dweller can do it without special training. In college I made bookshelves by stacking out-of-date textbooks between custom-cut boards.

Here are some other designs that take this technique to the next level.

Stacked Book Tables.

When the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands needed a new reference desk, the staff created one from old intact library books.

The reference desk in the Technical University of Delft library.

Closeup view of the library reference desk in Delft.

Learn more about the artists at their websites:  Jim Rosenau, Laura Cahill and Atelier Bomdesign.

The growing popularity of keeping bees in the city is good for the bees, good for the local food supply, and good for the environment. But it brings up an interesting question: What the heck to do with all that honey?

Obviously, you can eat it. The chefs at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC, where they harvest 100 pounds of honey from their rooftop hives each year, provided some scrumptious ideas, not all for sweets.

An Artisan Cheese Plate with a honeycomb served at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC.

For an appetizer or dessert, combine a honeycomb with a plate of artisan cheeses, along with small baguette. For example, the chef has used a combination of Bijou, a semi-soft, ripened goat cheese from Vermont; Oregonzola, a semi-soft, blue-vein cow’s milk cheese from Oregon; and Talbot Reserve, a semi-hard, raw cow’s milk cheese from Maryland. Drizzle a little honey on the bread and on the cheese, for a more mellow taste.

City bees have a more varied diet than their sisters down on the farm because commercial hives tend to be dedicated to pollinating a single crop at a time. As a result, honey from urban hives has its own distinct flavor, based on what is in bloom when the bees forage in parks and gardens and balcony windowboxes. In San Francisco, locally produced honey is labeled with the neighborhood it comes from, and fans can tell the difference between a spring Golden Gate Park and an autumn Cow Hollow.

One note of caution: Babies under a year old should not eat honey to avoid the possibility of botulism.

Honey also has a number of properties that make it a natural for natural cosmetics. It has an astringent and antiseptic effect and acts as a humectant, drawing moisture into the skin. Lindsay Kujawa, a licensed esthetician, who worked in a medical spa for four years before opening her own, believes in a holistic approach for skin treatments. She develops remedial skin treatments from natural products and often shares her tips in a weekly blog, Delighted Momma. Here is her recipe for a pumpkin mask with honey that both hydrates and removes dead skin cells from our skin.

Lindsay Kujawa's pumpkin mask, which she applies with a brush.

Honey’s antiseptic quality has been used to heal wounds for millenia. Other medicinal uses include drinking honey and lemon in hot tea to soothe a sore throat and reduce the symptoms of the common cold, and the famed honey-and-apple-cider-vinegar cure-all. Honey has also been used as a diuretic, a laxative and a sleep aid throughout history.

A home hive will also yield honeycomb and beeswax, which can be made into soaps, candles or other useful household items. Susan Brackney’s book, Plan Bee explains how to prepare the wax once the honey is harvested.

Rag rugs were the first American-made rugs. Between mending clothes, sewing patchwork quilts, and making rugs, the colonials found a new use for every scrap of precious fabric.

Today, some fiber artists continue to work with these utilitarian techniques to preserve American traditional arts. Others are creating rag rugs to divert fabric from the landfill as well. It’s estimated that each U.S. family sheds 68 pounds of unwanted clothing and upholstery into the landfill each year.

Weaver Chris Gustin started making potholders when she was a child. To hone her weaving skills, she took workshops in college and craft schools before developing her own techniques.

Her commitment to weaving with waste fabric began in 1974 when she saw a patchwork “crazy quilt” called “Recycle and Re-use” at Expo, the World’s Fair in Spokane, Washington.

Chris Gustin's rugs woven from waste selvages produced during the weaving of fabric for upholstery and clothing.

“It made me think about what I could do to help the environment,” Gustin said, and she said began exploring new ways to weave with waste materials. She used supplies from thrift shops, sock factories, bedding manufacturers, weaving mills and scrap dealers.

Her work now diverts about a ton of industrial waste fabrics a year from the landfill into rugs, clothing, and home accessories. Gustin also teaches others how to work with unconventional supplies and find scrap materials for weaving in her studio in Brown County, Indiana.

Crispina ffrench has been reworking used clothing into one-of-a-kind new clothing, rugs, pillows and other useful things since 1987, when she sold her work from a backpack at music festivals. She bought supplies — old sweaters and t-shirts — from Goodwill stores throughout the Northeast.

Demand grew and she expanded by hiring homemakers and caretakers in her western Massachusetts town to create new stock.

Stone Soup Potholder Rug, made from 100% post consumer used wool sweaters by Crispina ffrench.

In 2008, when 40 people were creating new pieces for her, she closed her business to take care of her two younger children, now pre-teens. She taught workshops, wrote a book, and today sells some products which she makes in her spare time, on Etsy. Ffrench is also working on a commission from the Eileen Fisher Co. to create useful products from worn, unusable clothing returned to corporate headquarters in Irvington, New York.

Ffrench's Dino Ragamuffin doll hand sewn from recycled wool sweaters and stuffed with natural raw mohair.

“It is my hope to inspire and bring to light the value and vastness of discarded material in our culture,” ffrench said.

She also offered a unique tip for cleaning her rag rugs: On a fresh layer of snow.

“Spread the dirty rug out and walk all over it (don’t wear muddy boots!) then flip the rug over a new spot in the fresh snow and do the same,” she said. “This technique pulls all the animal hair, dust bunnies and lint balls off the surface. Spills can be cleaned with a gentle scrubbing brush and soapy water.”

Learn more about these artists at their websites: Chris Gustin and Crispina ffrench.

Men who have a way with fabric have traditionally become tailors, dress designers and upholsterers. But several male artists are expanding their skills with the sewing needle to include machine quilting. They are creating oh-so-21st century bed covers, art clothing and wall hangings following the tradition of using recycled materials.

Luke Haynes is a prolific Seattle-based artist who creates distinctive realistic and faux-3D art quilts. Working with old clothing and fabric scraps, he develops designs from photographs — many with himself as a subject. Haynes creates one painterly, quilted self-portrait a year and uses each one on his bed.

Here are some of Haynes’ quilted self portraits (in no particular chronological order)

It’s not just all about him, however. Haynes’ many commissions include:

Haynes' abstract donation to the Alliance for American Quilts.

Ben Venom (aka Ben Baumgartner) studied drawing, painting and printmaking at Georgia State University in Atlanta before putting his own spin on traditional quilting in San Francisco.

In 2006, he was amazed by a show of abstract quilts made from old clothes and fabric scraps at hand by the famous Gee’s Bend Quilting Collective in rural Alabama. Venom said he was “blown away by the architecture….” and was inspired to make his own quilt from threadbare heavy-metal concert t-shirts in his closet. He eventually exhibited his first art quilt in 2008.

Ben Venom working with a sewing machine. A self-taught quilter, he said he “made a couple of phone calls to my mother and bought a couple of beginner guides to quilting” to learn how to do it.

Slayer Player Jean Jacket with applique and added metal by Ben Venom.

Am I Demon? quilt by Ben Venom.

Don't Wake Me Lucifer! handmade quilt by Ben Venom.

Currently, Venom makes heavy-metal quilts and heavy-metal art clothing when not teaching printmaking at a university, working in a frame shop and doing odd jobs at a local church. In early 2011, he was awarded a $1,5000 Masterminds Grant by the SF Weekly newspaper. Currently his work is part of the Bay Area Now 6 exhibit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and an exhibit on the visual language of heavy metal at the Woverhampton Art Gallery in Great Britain. 

Visit Luke Haynes’ site and Ben Venom’s site to see more of the artists’ quilt work.

Way back when we first started eco-artware.com, the field of “green art” was wide open. Artists working with recycled or reclaimed materials were relegated to the category of “found art.”  Many were considered to be hippie throwbacks, producing kitchy-crafty work.

Now, Google the term – something else you couldn’t do in 1999 —and you will find sites ranging from those of individual artists to online museums devoted entirely to the Art Eco movement. Even artists working in traditional media are incorporating eco-conscious themes into their work, and mainstream galleries no longer relegate works made from natural materials to the back of the shop.

The Internet has also extended the awareness and accessibility of Art Eco, both commercially and educationally. Among the hundreds of meta-sites on the subject out there, the non-commercial Green Art Guide provides an informative guide to art and creative artists concerned with ecology, social issues and the environment — a great place to begin exploring the topic.

Detail of a weaving made with recycled materials by Julie Kornblum, whose work is included in the Green Art Guide.

The site provides links to websites of artists and organizations all over the world, organized by categories such as printmaking, fiber arts, sculpture, design, shopping, events — even poetry and food and travel. The sites are selected by the appropriately named architect Cedric Green, with a good representation of the purely educational as well as promotional.

Work by self taught British sculptor, Bob Campbell, is included in the Guide. He creates furniture from recycled materials.

For example, under Architecture and Design there are links not only to Green’s own chronicle of building a solar house in France but also to the Environmental Design Library at the University of Missouri. Green also solicits suggestions for new sites for his review, but warns “Sites that do not have anything to do with ecology, or which only include ecology as minor content, cannot be considered.”

Like any site maintained by an individual with a passion for a topic, Green Art can be quirky, and has the occasional broken or missing link. But you can tell webmaster Green about it with the handy report box at the bottom of each page.

A London physician and plant collector, Dr. Nathaniel Ward, invented the terrarium by accident in the early 19th century. He noticed that plants placed in covered insect jars he used to study moths took root in the jar’s soil while plants in his garden died. He suspected that pollution from local factories inhibited the growth of plants outdoors.

He wrote a book in 1842 on his observations, On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases, and it inspired English homeowners to grow first ferns and then orchids under glass. For a while, the enclosures were called Wardian Cases, then terrariums, but interest in them eventually fell out of style.

But what’s “in” goes around in circles — think corsets (Spanx), canning food, knitting — and terrariums are back, too, with a 21st-century twist, if you prefer a modern approach. And “how to” stores are emerging to help us learn all about it.

Terrain, a home and garden center in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, has a large terrarium section offering both ready-made kits and components.

Terrain’s Hanging Cylinder Tillandsia Kit provides a 7” x 2.75” cylinder with plants, stones and lichen. $38 plus shipping.

Twig in Brooklyn, New York, offers readymade terrariums, DIY kits and classes. Some of their arrangements are populated with tiny figurines to complete the small green landscapes —including cows and horses, punk rockers, and Central Park muggers.

Twig Terrariums include tiny figures in their mossy landscapes. Here they include two teenagers enjoying an embrace.

Artemisia Garden Nursery & Gallery in Portland, Oregon, sees terrariums as miniature worlds capturing different environments — forest, beach, desert or fantasy incorporating various materials: lichen, plants, moss, crystals, stone sand and shells. Some of their designs include no plants while others might feature just one succulent. They offer ready-made terrariums, kits, components and classes.

Artemisia’s Green Sand Kit consists of deep green sand, white sand, cream moss and a succulent (varies with each kit). $30 plus shipping.

For those who would like to see someone create a terrarium from scratch, the Garden Guy has a short video that shows you how to do it.

A new book, “Terrarium Craft” by Amy Bryant Aiello (who owns Artemisia) and Kate Bryant provides 50 well illustrated how-to projects for readers to follow, step-by-step, or to use as a starting point to create a design of their own.

Now that the garden is planted and growing, it’s a place to lounge and enjoy the view. But as you spend more time outside, along with the birds and bees, you might find bare spots or areas that need a little more texture or color.

People have turned to store bought fountains, flamingos, gnomes and mass-produced statuary to add oomph to gardens and lawns for years. But as the shabby-chic/reuse movement grows, both professional and weekend artists have started creating one-of-a-kind art from reused materials and broken furniture to add a touch of whimsy (and sometimes function) to their space.

Sculptor-turned-mosaic artist Cappi Phillips of Moe’s Ache (say it fast) Studio in Bloomington, Indiana, has developed a lively business creating public and private art by combining classic mosaic techniques with an eye for intriguing castoffs — scrap glass she collects from other artists, dishes from yard sales, and surprises neighbors leave on her front porch because they know she will eventually find a transformational use for them.

“Just Send Love Letters” mailbox by Cappi Phillips.

“Cornholio” by Cappi Phillips. The pig is made from glass, pottery shards, Italian tile and found objects.

Want to try this yourself? Phillips offers this technical tip: Attach glass and ceramic with silicone to hold it to your base. Then use sanded grout to fill in the spaces.

For more how-tos, she also recommends visiting www.Mosaicartists.org, which provides answers and links to artists who offer classes in the mosaic arts.

The web is filled with ideas for repurposing decorative elements into garden art. For example, we found these fun projects online:

An old wagon wheel and various spindles with “anything shiny” attached becomes an eye-catching mobile.

Shutters turn into window boxes.

Feed scoops turned upright and paired with candles in hurricane globes transform into garden lights.

An old drawer attached to a bed footboard is now a windowbox planter.

Tin can flower pots can be attached to a wall. I also put a small succulent in a small tin can as a party favor.

Recycled tires can be turned into plain black planters at home, but they aren't as attractive as some I've found for sale on the web, where you can also find instructions for a D-I-Y version.

See more about Cappi Phillips at her website.

Many ideas for repurposing “junk” at RoboJunker.

Ideas from Better Homes and Gardens, H&G How to decorate a garden.

How to reuse tin cans.

If you have images of repurposed garden furniture you use, please send them our way. We’d love to see them. They might inspire others, too.

Swaps — for everything from soup to nuts, literally — are in again. It’s an idea whose time has come back around, 21st-century style.
 
Neighbors who live in my condo leave tidbits — jewelry, mugs, clothing, food, whatever they don’t need or want — in the laundry room. In addition to finding new homes for your stuff it adds adventure to doing your laundry.

Sonia Rykiel pearl sunglasses.

Email and the internet have greatly enhanced the power of the swap. On Saturday I received an email from a funky book and sort-of-vintage clothing consignment shop downtown announcing a four-hour swap limited to sunglasses, sunhats and eyeglasses. It’s also a party: The clever invite tells thousands of us on the mailing list that we just need to bring our old to get our new; they’ll provide complimentary mimosas and churros.
 
Swap.com says it has helped facilitate nearly four million swaps in their community of more than a million members. Recently it launched an iPhone app allowing users to scan barcodes of any book, movie, CD or video game to see what it is worth on the site or see how many members have it to swap. The app, launched in early May, attracts more members every day.
 
The app is new, but using the web for arranging swaps has been around almost as long as there’s been a web. Freecycle and Throwplace have been helping people get rid of what they don’t want and find what they need for years. I discovered a sophisticated postal scale on Throwplace. In perfect condition, it came from an Aveda Salon that was upgrading its system — and they elected to pay for shipping too.

 
We’re now seeing more specialty swaps. A mother and daughter team, Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson, has created National Costume Swap Day to help organize Halloween costume swaps as part of their overall mission to create eco-friendly and healthier holidays (see their book Celebrate Green.

Swapaholics facilitates clothing swaps for 250-300 people per month in auditoriums, gyms and warehouse spaces throughout the Boston area. Other large-scale fashion swap events are now held throughout the country. Check out their website’s virtual bulletin board to discover one near you.
 
Can’t get to a real time swap?  Check the web because there are more opportunities to swap everything from gently used kids’ clothing to books — hardcovers, paperbacks, audio books or textbooks to seed exchanges where gardeners can trade seeds for vegetables, flowers and herbs.  On January 22, 2011, the fifth National Soup Swap was celebrated throughout the country, and organized online.
 
The soup swap was part of National Swap Day, which helps people organize their own swaps or participate in online events announced on the site.

I welcome all of this. It is eco-friendly and also provides a diplomatic way to find a new home for the ruffly sweater a well-meaning friend gave me for Christmas.