I hung my first rainbow string in 2017 or 2018, which was just a collection of old playdoh lids. I had read some troubling things about how most of our "recycled" plastic ultimately ends up in a landfill, and I wanted to keep the playdoh lids from that same fate. In March 2020, at the beginning of "quarantine," I looked at my large collection of colorful caps and lids, and thought to myself it was
time to do something with them. At first I asked my husband to drill holes in the lids for me, as I've always said I'm averse to using power tools. But soon, I started drilling them myself and stringing them together. I wanted to see how many rainbows I could complete. I quickly ran out of lids, and started asking friends, family, and even strangers on social media, if they would be willing to save their plastic lids for me. I loved the idea of keeping all those lids out of the landfill and creating something colorful and fun with them. Soon we were receiving lots of compliments from passers-by. They seemed to make not just us, but lots of others, happy to see. Many people asked if I was selling them, or told me I should if I wasn't already. I started thinking about what good I could do with them. I decided I would ask people to donate $10 per string, to be given directly to local groups, charitable organizations, even local businesses and restaurants to help them pay for the free meals they have so generously shared with those who need help in our community. The idea of colorful rainbow strings popping up around town, each one a visual representation of $10 that has gone to help others in our community, feels so good to me. I settled on calling the project Rainbow Strings for the Lawrence Community. At the time I had several goals in mind: I wanted to brighten neighborhoods and raise people's spirits with colorful hanging artwork, I wanted to raise money for local groups and organizations who help people and animals in crisis, and I wanted to raise awareness of the problems with single use plastic and the plastic recycling process in general. I still have those goals today. So far I have put in a few thousand hours of work on this project. I've raised roughly $19,000 for our community, hosted two food drives, made over 1500 rainbow strings (and lots of other repurposed plastic artwork, including a few hundred starbursts, a mural, and a tree for Festival of Trees), and kept well over 750 pounds of plastic out of the landfill. Along the way I have also picked up another goal, which is to find a way to continue to do lots of good in a way that feels meaningful to me, while also helping to support my family financially. I offer a few options for people who would like to buy my artwork: One, they may donate directly to a cause (I have a list of places to choose from - send me an email and I’ll send you the list) and I will give them my artwork as a way to say thanks. Two, they may purchase my artwork from me directly. Some people have preferred to split a donation/payment to me, and I am fine with that! Third, I have some items listed in my Etsy shop and they may be purchased from there. All sales in my Etsy shop (etsy.com/shop/RainbowStringsLK) do benefit me directly. The prices on Etsy are higher to cover shop fees and shipping/local delivery costs. At this time I do not have a way to ship the large starbursts, so I will deliver them in Lawrence city limits only. My Etsy shop can be found under the name “Rainbow Strings LK.”
If you would like to collect materials for me, I would first ask that you try to limit your consumption of single use plastic as much as possible. For what you can't avoid, I can use solid color plastics like milk and juice bottle lids, marker caps, playdoh lids, shampoo and conditioner bottle caps, laundry detergent lids, baby food and applesauce pouch caps, vitamin and supplement lids, etc. The colors I tend to run low on most frequently are purple, yellow, orange, lime green and light blue. **I am currently unable to accept all materials, but I can take the colors listed. If you notice that you tend to generate a lot of the same types of lids, I can take those as well, in any color (other than neutrals/black/white/clear). I do most of this work on my own, and often flying by the seat of my pants. I dedicate a lot of hours to this project, but I do have other obligations and interests beyond this, so I thank you in advance for your patience. I hope that we can continue to do "triple good" - spread some cheer, reduce waste, and raise money for our local community. Thank you, Lawrence!
