Warehouse Fabric Sale Sunday March 27

Come to the The Scrap Exchange on Sunday March 27 for our semi-annual Warehouse Fabric Sale! This is one of our biggest (and most popular) sales of the year, where we open up our warehouse and invite you to shop from our overstock of amazing fabric.

What can you find in this spring's fabric sale? Take a look at this!

* Over 150 end rolls of upholstery and decorator fabric for $5 and $10 per roll
* Dozens of cases and barrels stuffed with decorator fabric samples (fill a big bag for $10)
* Hundreds of yards of flat fold fabric (fill a big bag for $10)
* Huge bags of glittery polyfil stuffing for $5 each
* Fabric sample books for $1 each, regardless of size
* 2 lb bags (approx) of cotton quilt fabric remnants, fat quarters and scraps, $8 per bag
* Hundreds of boxes of scrap ribbons and trims for $1 per box.
* Hundreds of vintage and modern sewing patterns (fill a small bag for $1 per bag, approx 15-20 patterns per bag)

Sales specials will be available in our retail store and upstairs in our warehouse space, so be sure to visit both places! Our next warehouse fabric sale won't happen until the fall, so this is your best chance to stock up for all your spring and summer sewing projects. (Special note: the warehouse opens at 12:30 for a one-hour preview for our Friends Club members. The general public can begin shopping in the warehouse at 1:30. Not a Friends Club member yet? Memberships will be sold at the door.)


Sale hours on Sunday March 27

12:00 Retail store opens to the public at 548 Foster St
12:30 Warehouse doors open to Friends Club members
(entrances to warehouse available from Foster St and Rigsbee St)
1:30 Warehouse doors open to the general public
4:30 Warehouse doors close
5:00 Retail store closes

See you Sunday!

Green Gallery Opening Friday: "A Durty Room"

Green Gallery Exhibit: "A Durty Room"
Art installation by the DURTY Durham Art Collective
March 18 - April 9
Opening Reception: March 18 from 6-9 pm

Come and play in our room! For this exhibit, the DURTY Durham Art Collective will build a one-of-a-kind creative reuse installation. The Green Gallery will be transformed into a living space that will encourage participation and play. A team of artists will be designing furniture and art made completely out of Scrap Exchange materials.

For more information on the DURTY Durham Art Collective, go to www.durtydurham.com.

“A Durty Room” opens with a free reception Friday, March 18, from 6 to 9 p.m., during Third Friday festivities in Durham. This exhibit runs through Saturday, April 9. The Green Gallery is located in the rear of The Scrap Exchange at 548 Foster Street. The exhibit is open during store hours: Mon., Tues., Wed. and Fri., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thurs. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun. noon-5 p.m. For information, call 688-6960 or go to www.scrapexchange.org.

Special Note: During the opening of this exhibit, the Make and Take Room will be available for free art making to prepare for the Marry Durham community wedding ceremony which will be celebrated on Saturday, March 19. Live music will be provided by the Bulltown Strutters.

Spring Class Schedule Now Available

The spring list of classes at The Scrap Exchange is now available! All class schedules and descriptions are listed below. To register for any class, contact our event coordinator Rowan Martell at 919-682-2751.

Build A Dollhouse Dream House
Instructor: Cusita Martinez
DATE: Sunday, April 3rd
TIME: 2-5pm
COST: $40
Children accompanied by an adult or individuals 18 and up

A hands-on 3 hour class that invites an elder & child or an 18+ to participate in making a doll house made of re-usable materials.
Cusita Martinez was born in N.Y.C. to a Cuban-Spanish family. She has traveled the U.S. & some of Europe making art both privately and publicly for over twenty-five years.

Learn to Crochet in a Day!
Instructor: Andrea Stephens
DATE: Tuesday, April 5th and Thursday, April 7th
TIME: 6:30pm – 8:30pm
COST: $15
Ages 12 and up

Beginners will learn single and double chain crochet methods to make their own hat, scarf, or start a memory quilt. Fringe styles and pom-pom making will be covered as well.

Andrea Stephens started her own handmade gifts business in February 2010 and enjoys using supplies from The Scrap Exchange to give new life to fiber and fabric and to up-cycle yarn from old sweaters into fabulous new items.

Basic Book Structures
Instructor: Emily Dings
DATE: Wednesday, April 6th
TIME: 6:30-9:30 pm
COST: $15
Age Limit: 16 and up

In this class, you will learn basic bookmaking skills that can be applied to both simple and complex book structures. Using minimal supplies, you will see how easy it is to make books using everyday items around your house (or from the Scrap Exchange!) Participants will make four books using adhesive and thread bindings and will come away with a better understanding of gluing, folding, and assembly techniques that lend a polished appearance to any book project.

Emily Dings is an editor, writer, and paper artist who has lived in Durham for six years. After teaching herself some basics of bookbinding and collage, she took a series of books courses at The Printed Page in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and apprenticed with a book artist in Providence. She is passionate about bookmaking because it merges language and visual arts, invites innovative reuse of materials, and is interactive in nature.



Coptic Stitch Journal
Instructor: Emily Dings
DATE: Tuesday, April 26th
TIME: 6:30-8:00 pm
COST: $12 +$ 5.00 Materials Fee
Age Limit: 16 and up

In this class, you will learn how to bind a small book using chain (or Coptic) stitch. These creations are perfect for journals or registry books because they are substantial and lie very flat when open. We will personalize the books by creating beautiful covers as well. If you have some paper ephemera you’d like to use for the cover, feel free to bring it—we’ll have plenty of material on hand for you to choose from too.

Emily Dings is an editor, writer, and paper artist who has lived in Durham for six years. After teaching herself some basics of bookbinding and collage, she took a series of books courses at The Printed Page in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and apprenticed with a book artist in Providence. She is passionate about bookmaking because it merges language and visual arts, invites innovative reuse of materials, and is interactive in nature.


Fabric Mosaics
Instructor: Ruth Warren
DATE: Sunday, April 10th
TIME: 1pm-4pm
COST: $35
Ages 12 and up

Learn how to use scrap fabric and fabric books to create colorful fabric mosaics fused on canvas. Students will learn two techniques for applying bits and pieces of fabrics to canvas with fusible webbing. During the class, students will create two small fabric mosaics, using each of the two methods demonstrated. One fabric mosaic will be a geometric design and the other will be pictorial. All supplies are included.

Ruth Warren is an artist who has worked with repurposed materials since childhood. She experiments with many different items in her artwork, but scrap fabrics and old quilt remnants are a constant favorite. Ruth developed her techniques for fabric mosaics as a way to combine two art mediums that she loves: vintage scrap quilts and mosaics. Ruth also works at The Scrap Exchange as the Marketing and Promotions Coordinator


Save Today's Memories! Make a 4-page "Zine"
Instructor: Dipika Kohli
DATE: Wednesday, April 13th
TIME: 7-9 PM
COST: $25
18 and up

Are your favorite moments locked away in digital archives? Here's your chance to get creative and revive those memories! "Zines" are xeroxed booklets that are fun and easy to make. Bring 3 favorite snaps to class to design a 4-page mini-zine. Easy to mail to friends and family and more fun to get than a Word printout. There are tons of textures and papers available at The Scrap Exchange to work with!

Dipika Kohli is a Durham-based graphic designer. http://www.designkompany.com


Worm Bin Make and Take
Instructor: Muriel Williman
DATE: Wednesday, April 20th
TIME: 7-9:00 PM
COST: $40 per person, includes bin, worms, everything you need to start composting in your house or apartment; $20 extra to make a second worm bin
Children 5 and over are welcome, but must be accompanied by a worm-bin-making adult

Anyone ... anywhere ... can compost at home with a worm bin. In this hands-on workshop, you will make your own tidy and efficient indoor composting bin specifically designed for composting in apartments or tight spaces. The workshop includes supplies to construct your own bin, instruction from seasoned composting expert, Muriel Williman (Orange County Solid Waste Management), and of course, worms! Composting creates rich humus, the organic component of healthy soil and a natural fertilizer from your kitchen vegetable and fruit scraps. Learn all you need to know to recycle your food waste, care for your worms, harvest the compost, and feed your plants. Want pets but can’t afford a puppy? Worms don't bite, bark, or need to be walked, and you can have thousands at a time! And they eat your garbage! What could be better? Worm bins also make great gifts, so each attendee can make and take two worm bins for only $20 more!

Muriel Williman is Education and Outreach specialist for Orange County Solid Waste Management and a long-time indoor composting enthusiast, and a member of the Scrap Exchange Board of Directors.


Natural Cleaners
Instructor: Rebecca Currie
DATE: Wednesday, April 27th
TIME: 6:30-8:00 pm
COST: $18 ( $3 materials fee) per household
All ages welcome!

Learn how a few simple, inexpensive ingredients can be combined to form a wide range of products to meet all of your cleaning needs. Participants will learn the basics of cleaning with homemade products and the properties of various ingredients. Everyone who takes the class will receive a course pack with information and recipes. Participants will also have the option of purchasing a cleaning kit that includes all the ingredients you need to get started in your new life of less-toxic cleaning.

Rebecca Currie has been making her own cleaning products since 1999 and is passionate about promoting simple and healthy alternatives to toxic and/or wildly overpriced commercial cleaners.

Monster Doll Workshop
Instructor: Jessica Greene
DATE: Wednesday, May 4th
TIME: 6:30-8:30 PM
COST: $18
6yrs old and up, children younger than 14 must be accompanied by an adult.

Make cute, funny, ugly, silly, or scary monster dolls out of felt, fabric, and buttons. Learn basic sewing techniques and how to take a project from an idea to a final product. Design your own monsters or use a pattern.

Jessica Greene holds a BA in Art from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Masters of Education from North Carolina State University. She spent six years working as a graphic designer and illustrator in New York City. She has nine years experience teaching art at Brogden Middle School in Durham, Woodward Academy in Atlanta, and Chapel Hill Cooperative Preschool. She recently started an arts and crafts business called Bull City Craft.


Fashion For You!: Basic Alterations
Instructor: Dara McGinn
DATE: Saturday, May 7th
TIME: 2-5 PM
COST: $10
12yrs old and up,

In this class we will cover basic alterations such as sewing on buttons, hemming pants, cuffs, and sewing up minor rips. After demonstration and explanation participants will be able to work on individual projects with guidance from the instructor. Participants are encouraged to bring items to be altered. Turn those flares into skinny jeans! Shorten skirts! Turn those pants into shorts for summer!

Dara McGinn was born and raised in the RTP. She became interested in fashion after going to work for Belks and Ralph Lauren. Currently she runs her own small design label and works professional as a high-end clothing designer for several clients.


Do-It-Yourself Screen-Printing
Instructor: Nicole Hogan
DATE: SUNDAY, May 15th
TIME: 4-7 PM
COST: $45
Age Limit: 16 and up

This class will teach you the basics of screen-printing. You will learn to stretch a silk screen over a frame, apply a light-sensitive emulsion to the screen, block the screen with an image, and print! All materials are included in the class fee.

Nicole Hogan is long-time Durhamite, Scrap Exchange worker, and a graduate of the Durham School of the Arts. She is passionate about sewing, repurposing materials, knitting, screen-printing, comics, and biking.



Fun and Funky Mosaic Basics
Instructor: Jeannette Brossart
DATE: Sunday, May 22nd
TIME: 2-4 PM
COST: $50
12yrs old and up,

Create a fun and funky indoor mosaic using ceramic tile, glass, and whatever else we can rustle up! Learn how to use tile nippers to custom shape your design. We’ll be using tile mastic, no grout needed!

Jeannette Brossart has been a professional mosaic artist since 2003. Her work has been featured in art and sculpture exhibits, print, and public installations. She has taught mosaics at several venues including the John Campbell Folk School and The Scrap Exchange.


Alter Ego Open Studio
Instructor: Ann May Woodward and Allyn Meredith
DATE: Thursday, May 26th
TIME: 6:30-8 PM
COST: $5
All ages welcome!

Do you have an alter ego? Are you interested in creating one? Are you looking to manifest a character that represents another side of you? Is there an internal dialogue that's ready for an external expression? Need a cape, tiara or mask? If you answered YES to any of these questions, then attend this open studio. Instructors Allyn Meredith and Ann Woodward will host the open studio, and provide tools and assistance for projects.

Ann Woodward has been making art and unique one of-a-kind designs for over twenty years. Materials are generally the motivating factor for her in the creative process. Currently she is also the director of The Scrap Exchange and is very motivated to help others “be as creative as they can be”.

Allyn Meredith learned about costuming when she lived in New Orleans, where masquerade expands the meaning of ordinary. Allyn panders to this art form in both traditional and peculiar realms. Most recently, she built and donned the Queen Bee of the Sweet Transformation of Disappointment for the Triangle Soundpainting Orchestra at Manbites Dog Theatre and continued the “performance” at a local brewery. She looks forward to helping others create outer manifestations from inner longings.

Get Ready for Marry Durham!

Open Studio Scheduled at The Scrap Exchange to Prepare for Marry Durham Festivities

Event: Marry Durham Open Studio
Date and Time: Sunday, March 13 from 2pm - 5pm
Location: The Scrap Exchange, 548 Foster St in Durham

Get ready for the Marry Durham wedding extravaganza! Join us at The Scrap Exchange in an open studio session to create wedding regalia and refinement. Brides- and grooms-to-be can make veils, corsages, cummerbunds, rings, outfits, or anything you can imagine to make the wedding ceremony fun and festive. The cost per participant is $5. The Scrap Exchange will provide materials, tools, and glue guns. Fun for all! More infomation on Marry Durham can be found at http://www.marrydurham.com/.

Triangle Reuse Alliance Plans Reuse Rodeo in Chapel Hill

Reuse Rodeo Rounds Up Resources for Local Nonprofits

The Triangle Reuse Alliance is hosting the first ever Reuse Rodeo in cooperation with Orange County Solid Waste Management! Residents can bring certain reusable materials to one location for the benefit of multiple local non-profits dedicated to reuse and waste reduction.

The event will be held on Saturday April 2, 2011 at the Solid Waste Management Administrative office, 1207 Eubanks Rd in Chapel Hill from 10 am-2pm. Support for this project has been provided by Triangle Community Foundation’s Community Grantmaking Program.

The Scrap Exchange (www.scrapexchange.org) will be on hand accepting the following items:
-Fabric
-Sewing notions such as thread, needles and buttons
-Yarn
-Craft / Art supplies
-Corks, bottle caps, twist ties
-Picture frames

The reCYCLEry (www.recyclery.org) will collect donations of used bikes in fair to excellent condition. They cannot use severely rusted bikes, so no rust buckets or wrecks, please!

Interfaith Council for Social Services Food Pantry (www.ifcweb.org) will be collecting reusable grocery bags made of cloth, canvas, vinyl, or string, as well as tissue wrapping paper.

Club Nova (www.clubnova.org) will be on hand collecting kitchen items such as pots, pans, and small appliances and tools of all types, both manual and motorized. Tools wanted include garden, wood working, craft tools, hand saws, chain saws and the like.

Please make sure that all items are clean, in working order, and are appropriate for reuse in our community. Volunteers will help with unloading if necessary.

The Orange County Reuse Rodeo is the first in the nation, but it won’t be the last! The Triangle Reuse Alliance is planning two more this spring, one in Raleigh and one in Cary, each with its own group of reusing non-profits and unique list of wanted items. Stay tuned for details. The idea is to raise awareness about the many organizations that focus on reuse while also getting useful items out of storage and out of the house so they can do some good in our community. All of the participating organizations will have staff and information available, and the Reuse Alliance will have a table loaded with local reuse resource information.

Club Nova provides opportunities for individuals with mental illness to lead meaningful and productive lives of their choice in the community. Club Nova operates a thrift store, a club house, and residential program in Carrboro, teaching life and occupational skills. Donations of clothing and housewares can be made at their thrift store location in Carrboro, but for the purposes of this event they want only kitchen, household and garden tools. The InterFaith Council runs shelters, community kitchens and health clinics for the homeless and hungry in Chapel Hill. You may donate food or funds directly to the IFC, but at the Rodeo we will be focusing on getting goods to their clients in a gracious way. The Recyclery is a bicycle cooperative dedicated to getting more people, especially young ones, riding bikes. In exchange for fixing up bikes, youngsters can earn their own recycled bike. The Scrap Exchange is the premier creative reuse center, located in Durham.

The Triangle Reuse Alliance is building a Triangle-wide coalition to increase awareness of reuse by educating the public about the social, environmental and economic benefits of reuse. Follow the Triangle Reuse Alliance on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/trianglereusealliance.

Meet Our Green Gallery Artists: Rob Lineberger and Liz Roetzel

Sunday March 6
2 pm - 4 pm
Green Gallery at The Scrap Exchange

The Scrap Exchange invites you to meet Rob Lineberger and Liz Roetzel, the two artists featured in our current Green Gallery exhibit titled "Remains to be Seen". Rob will share his technique and vision that inspire his rust-infused paintings. Liz will share her inspiration for her collage "portals" that symbolize a woman's nature and life experiences. The artists will be available in our Green Gallery from 2-4 pm to greet the public and answer questions about their art.

"Remains to be Seen" features mixed media collage by Liz Roetzel and rust-infused paintings by Rob Lineberger.

Lineberger collects discarded bits of metal and other refuse from creek beds and roadsides. He uses them to stain his paintings with a tactile rust impression by leaving the canvases outside for weeks at a time. This exhibit features his “Shipwheels” series, which explores wheels as symbols for physical or spiritual navigation in the midst of overstimulating technology.

“Basically, everything from the paints to the supports to the tools I used for this show came from The Scrap Exchange,” says Lineberger, who also got many of his wheel forms there. “Good thing, too! The Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association has done such a good job of cleaning up that it’s more difficult to find trash in the creek bed these days.“

Roetzel’s collage portals offer a surrealistic vision of various aspects of a woman’s nature and life experiences. She calls them portals because they represent a passage between two realms, the outer and inner beings of a woman. Roetzel combines magazine clippings with scraps of fabric and other found materials, transforming them into beautiful and symbolic assemblages.

“Discarded magazines hold secret treasures that I love to unearth,” Roetzel says. “Every time I open the cover of an old issue, I feel like I'm embarking on an expedition.”





















"A Million Days" by Liz Roetzel


















"Dark Passages" by Rob Lineberger