I've gone viral! | From Tomate Purée Tube to Golden Hare

I have a bit of a thing about things that other people might throw away.  Sometimes I see something completely ordinary and think - no, surely there's something more we can do with this.  That was exactly what happened with an old tomato purée tube.

I'd kept it because it wasn't a throwaway item to me. It was raw material. Once you start looking at things this way, you see possibilities everywhere.

I cut the tube open and flattened it out.  Inside, the tube is a beautiful, golden colour - turns out not many people know this!  I worked into the back of the tube using a ball tipped stick and a design I had created.  Slowly, the shape appeared beneath my hands. I embossed the details and then cut out the final design.

Suddenly, the old tomato purée tube had become something completely different - an embossed gold hare, made into a card.  It gives me a thrill - an actual thrill - when something that was heading for the bin turns into something you want to keep.

I shared the process on Instagram recently and, completely honestly, I wasn't expecting the response it got. The post went viral, and I've been so touched by how many people stopped to watch, comment and share it.

I think people love seeing the transformation because there's something very satisfying about it. We all have things around us that we've stopped really seeing - packaging, scraps, old materials, things that seem to have reached the end of their useful life.

But sometimes they're only at the end of one story.

The tomato purée tube became the beginning of another.

That's what I love about making things from rescued materials. I'm not trying to disguise what they used to be. I love the fact that the hare started life as something completely ordinary. It's part of the story.  That little bit of tomato purée packaging has now been given a second life as a golden hare card.

From my hands to yours.

And perhaps next time you're about to throw something away, have another look at it first. You never know what it might become.

Take a peek at my viral reel by clicking here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Db9gmdEhLVw/