As the world becomes more eco-conscious, it’s no surprise that some Lawrence artists and designers have turned to the old adage “reduce, reuse, recycle.” It’s not a new concept, but it is growing in popularity. At Ecoboutiquo, a boutique that features garments and accessories made out of mostly recycled materials, reopening March 6 at 13 E. Eighth St., local artists have another outlet in which to sell their creations.

“Renewable resources are the way to go,” says Andrea Moreau, an Ecoboutiquo shopper. “It’s not just the way of the future, it’s the way of now.” As for the creations of Ecoboutiquo owner and designer Loni Hosking, “It’s rock n’ roll couture as far as I’m concerned,” Moreau says.

Loni Hosking

She’s been a thrift-store shopper ever since she was allowed to make her own decisions about what to wear, Hosking says. Since then, she’s been re-thinking clothing.

Now, under the designer name Lonibobonny, she creates one-of-a-kind skirts, dresses, shirts and handbags, ranging in price from $15 to $100. She makes her skirts, dresses and shirts out of clothing she finds while shopping at thrift stores and yard sales. Friends also supply her with new materials when they clean out their closets. Hosking reconstructs three or four old garments to make one new garment. She especially loves to use fabrics that stretch and hug curves, as well as cool prints, she says.

A line of formal gowns Hosking created for Planet Fashion, a fashion show sponsored by Ecoboutiquo last November at Liberty Hall, 642 Massachusetts St., exemplifies her style. She made a dress entirely out of old slips ($150) that nobody had thought of wearing since the early ‘90s. She can’t wait for a hip high-schooler to scoop up one of her Eco-couture dresses to wear to prom, Hosking says.

Hosking’s mother, also a clothing designer, taught her how to sew. However, unlike her mother, a patient seamstress, Hosking prefers to “bunch it together and cram it through the machine.”

Hosking also created a line of handbags made out of restructured tube rubber from recycled tires. The handbags come in all shapes and sizes with embellishments such as studs, fringe and oversized clothespins.

Hosking isn’t the only one breathing new life into the obsolete. She sells work from about 30 other local artists in her boutique.

Lindsey Owen

Lindsey Owen, Wichita senior, worked with Hosking at Waxman Candles, 609 Massachusetts St. When Hosking saw Owen’s first bag, made entirely out of discarded neckties sewn together, it was love at first sight. So Owen made more.

She now makes and sells bags made from ties in all shapes and sizes, from clutches to knitting bags that range in price from $15 to $75. For extra flair, Owen adds stitching and decorative handles to the bags. She also makes belts, bracelets that snap and headbands out of ties.

Owen says she usually buys her ties at the Disabled American Veterans thrift store in Wichita (they cheap there), or gets them from people she knows, like her brother, who just gave her a whole trash bag full of ties from an estate sale in Dallas. She likes to add lace and other feminine touches to her pieces to contradict the notion that ties come from old men.

Owen also has friends collecting pop tabs, because she has been designing a line of “pop tab jewelry.” So far, she’s only made one big necklace for the Planet Fashion show, but because of all the buzz she got about it, she’s started collecting. Reusing pop tabs is not changing the world, but it is taking up less space in a landfill somewhere, she says.

Owen likes to take things and look at them from a different perspective. “My eye’s just attracted to things you don’t really use and they end up being reused,” she says. “It’s something I don’t really think about, but I’m happy it ends up that way.”

Cory O’Conner

Cory O’Conner, Lawrence resident, wanted something to carry his things in, so he made a bag for himself, he says.

It was the first thing he ever made on a sewing machine. “I do it mostly so I don’t have to get a real job,” he says.

He makes his bags, which cost anywhere from $10 to $40, out of discarded fabric he finds in dumpsters and thrift stores. O’Conner applies shapes to his bags, including skull-and-crossbones (probably the most popular), animals such as octopuses, unicorns and elephants and ice cream, rockets and stars, made out of other fabrics for added zing. Unlike traditional appliqué, O’Conner doesn’t do the zigzag stitch to hide the fray because it looks cool, he says.

He also recently began making a line of traditional stocking caps that cost between $7 to $20. “I lose hats a lot and I hate buying them,” he says. So he made a few for himself and decided to make a bunch to sell. He creates the hats from “out-of-style sweaters that nobody would wear anymore.” Like the shapes on his handbags, he leaves the ends unfinished, creating a worn look. O’Conner also made a bunch of scarves out of similar materials, mixing and matching the colors and patterns for drama. The scarves cost between $7 to $15 at Ecoboutiquo. He also plans to add skirts made out of recycled T-shirts, as well as modified T-shirts and sweatshirts to his collection by spring.

If you’re wary about wearing clothing found in a dumpster, O’Conner is reassuring: He washes everything he makes, and if it’s really gross, he doesn’t mess with it. “All it is is recycling,” he says. “If you see something in a dumpster that you want, you should grab it. It’s our duty as human beings.”

Suzanne Perry

Self-described eco-artist Suzanne Perry doesn’t go dumpster diving to find the materials she uses to make her glass block lamps — she goes to the University of Kansas library, where she used to work. Perry uses recycled plastic book jackets for the surface design on her lampshades. “Instead of being thrown away, I use them,” she says.

She draws and transfers her original sketches to the glass blocks themselves (exactly how she does it is her secret). The base is made up of recycled steel wire made from crushed cars, which is a way to get steel without mining ore, she says. Designs on the lamps range from martinis to the Eiffel tower and prices range from $40 to $60, depending on where you buy it. She’s even licensed to create Jayhawk lamps, because she attended KU more than 30 years ago to get a master’s in French and never left Lawrence.

She got the idea for the lamps after she figured out how to separate the plastic from discarded book jackets when making paper bead earrings and necklaces out of them. Now her idea is trademarked and she sells them to national catalogs, including Femail Creations, a catalog of artwork by women, and After 5 Catalog, a barware catalog.

Although the lamps used to be more educational before recycling became more common, she says, she’s just really happy that people like what she makes. Even the former governor of Missouri’s wife liked her lamps so much she custom-ordered one for the governor’s mansion.

Try this on for size

On Tuesday head to Ecoboutiquo’s new location, 13 E. Eighth St., to see the eco-friendly items these artists have crafted. “Who says recycling can’t be fashionable and sexy,” Loni Hosking says.

Not Just Local

Found objects are one of the things that inspired artist Larry Krone, whose art has been shown at the Whitney Museum at Philip Morris in New York, to make art.

He made “More Love Hours (No Charge)” from old clothes that were damaged or torn. “I took out the good parts and put it back together,” he says. He also creates art out of booze bottles left from him drinking (especially Jack Daniels) or found in recycling bins, by etching words inside the glass. He’s happy his art doesn’t contribute to the unnecessary waste in this country, he says.