Billions of Beads

One of my favorite city's is New Orleans. After going on three separate occasions in one year not once for Mardi Gras! and collecting my fair share of beads, no, I didn't "earn" them, I didn't know what to do with the beads once I got home. With the estimated amount of beads thrown each year in the millions, I'm sure I'm not the only one at a loss for what to do with little metallic, plastic strings. Wearing them out in Virginia didn't exactly carry the same charm or status as it did in NOLA. And me, Trash Queen Extraordinaire was definitely not going to ditch them. They hung on my lamp post for a year or two until they finally ended up in a bag in my closet. I was fooling around on Pintrest one day when I saw this incredible DIY art project with the beads glued in patterns and pictures. Genius!

New Orleans has these old, beautiful, iconic, oak trees lining the streets. While I was there, our bus driver told us that on St. Charles Ave, one of the main Mardi Gras parade routes, the floats can only be as high as the lowest tree limbs. The city will not cut the trees to accommodate the floats. If the float doesn't fit, it has to exit the parade. How AMAZING is that? A city so invested in it's trees and character that it refuses to budge for their biggest tourist attraction! But, I digress...the other cool thing about a post-Mardi Gras visit is that there is still a sweet mist of Carnival in the air. All of the trees have beads hanging from them as if they really do grow the beads. Combining the iconic trees, the image of beads hanging from them like tinsel and my newly inspired DIY, I came up with my own New Orleans bead art. Not only did it come out pretty great, but it also prevented me from throwing away my 10+ pounds of beads. 

Ta-da! 

While it looks pretty swanky, it's not as good as this guys...

Check out more of Stephen Wagner's work here. He collects and individually glues each bead in place. 

And if art isn't your thing. There's this incredible non-profit called the Arc of Greater New Orleans that teaches vocational skills and provides jobs for mentally disabled folks by collecting, sorting and re-selling Mardi Gras beads wholesale. Last year they reported recycling over 120,000 pounds of beads! The plastic beads are covered in a metallic paint that prevent normal recycling from being an option. Arc resells the old beads at $1/pound.

An innovative, socially conscious, community building organization that lessens trash entering a landfill and creates jobs? Nothing could be better! One more reason to love my Big Easy....now I want a beinget!