Badger Crafters provides a creative outlet for students

Using supplies ranging from paper towel tubes to glossy magazines, a group of University of Wisconsin–Madison students are taking what many would throw out to create art projects ranging from dream catchers to cardboard owls.

Badger Crafters, a student-run organization, aims to provide an outlet for students to relieve stress and a creative forum dedicated to pushing them to see what they might toss away in a different light.

“Our big thing is that we’re trying to be less costly so we want to reuse things,” says Catherine Abitz, a UW senior majoring in economics and the organization’s president. “That’s what I like. It’s cheap first of all. And it’s environmentally friendly, just using toilet paper rolls, cardboard and paper.”

Crafts range from creating cardboard owls to building a dream catcher out of magazine clippings. The organization’s first meeting involved an origami workshop where participants made cranes that club members handed out during the Homecoming parade.

The organization features twice monthly meetings. One focuses on developing possible craft ideas for members to build and social events, while the other consists of a crafting workshop.

The idea behind the recently-formed club originated last summer. Abitz, an avid crafter interested with a lifelong interest in scrapbooking, says she was looking through Pinterest for more crafting ideas, when her roommate suggested that they start an organization.

Badger Crafters also has an active social media presence. Emily Dahm, a marketing and communications senior, runs the organization’s Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest accounts, which offer students craft ideas and information on upcoming meetings.

Among the posts are instructions on how to build Halloween costumes from cardboard boxes to a range of other Thanksgiving and other holiday crafts.

Rachel Baldwin, a first-year student with an undeclared major, came across Badger Crafters at the student organization fair. She says she has had an interest in crafting and wanted to meet others who also loved to craft.

“I think it’s fun to make things and really see where it takes you,” Baldwin says. “I try not to have many specific ideas in mind when I start.”

Before joining the organization, she build crafts that included a set of bookends made from wood that she glued plastic animals to and spray-painted.

Alice D’Orlando, a freshman studying environmental studies and Spanish, joined because she was interested in art but was not taking any art classes. She says she enjoyed crafting the cardboard owls.

“It was nice to relax and have fun with friends and let your creativity flow,” D’Orlando says.

Abitz adds that the organization is looking to focus more on volunteer activities in the future, such as visiting schools and crafting with children.

Most of the supplies the crafters work with come from what members can save on their own. A $10 dollar participant fee for the semester or $15 for the whole year goes toward buying supplies such as tape and scissors to work on the projects.

Interested in joining Badger Crafters? Connect with them on Facebook , Twitter or Pinterest or send them an email at badgercrafters@gmail.com.