Friday, April 29, 2011

Starting my day with a great find!...

This morning, this is what I saw when I was going to work:


My day could not start better than that! I could only take 2 big ones and one little one. Now I'm thinking what will be my next project(s) after the pallet chair. Maybe a fancier chair with crazy lines? or maybe a bench?
I'm still thinking... but I'll post my next project very soon.


Also I saw benches made of salvaged wood or recycled pallet and I love the work. I wanted to do something with hairpin legs for a while, that might inspire me. It's from KOFFdesigns, and this is my favorites:







Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Fun cardboards

This reminds me of the fishbone chair I made on my first post. The difference is that it's cardboard, and computer-cut... so no problem to adjust all the pieces together. It's made and conceived by David Graas. The "cardboard lounge" is sold for 250 euros and the chair for 69 euros.

  


Monday, April 25, 2011

The art of reuse contest

I submitted my pallet chair, but unfortunately I was not choosen in the 10 finalists.
This is the winner: Ruff house art on etsy :

A bathtub couch made of cast iron claw


This is a lot of work:


I'll try again with a new project next year...

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Solar soda lights

I found artwork on line from Jeff Zischke who upcycles 32 oz. plastic cups into solar lights.
Jeff Zische provides the pdf template for the yucca light if you click here.
This is some of my favorite creations:





Tuesday, April 19, 2011

A bowl made of melted plastic soldiers


I found this funny bowl. I don't know if it's really functional, but beyond the practical point of view, it can also be seen as an allegorical creation...
Bowls like this are also made with melted Legos.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Reusing clothes hangers

I found this creation from a dutch company called Stallinga very creative, it's simple and clever, and anybody can try to make one.

 

Friday, April 8, 2011

Upcycling a frisbee

Like I said at the end of my previous post, I wanted to take part in the Readymade magazine's challenge again. The next one will be to upcycle a frisbee. There are obvious upcycle projects such as, a clock or bird feeders that use the circular shape of the frisbee. I didn't want to use the full circular shape in the challenge and came up with the cell phone/charger holder.


The tools:

A cutting tool such as Dremel and a flame to bend the frisbee.





 


How to make it:

Very simple, the frisbee is folded where you feel like there's enough space for you cell phone to fit, by heating the plastic and a hole is made for the plug:


Update: I have decided to post the frisbee-upcycling project on readymade in the the next few days. I wanted to post the figure about how to make it, first on my blog, and then I will do it on readymade website.

This is the figure about how to make it:


1- Using the Dremel or anything good enough to cut the plastic, remove a 90 degres triangle on each side of the folding line.
2- Fold the frisbee at 90 degres by heating all along the "hinge" area without heating too much, you don't want to melt the plastic.
3- Cut a hole that will fit your plug (you might use the transparency of the plastic to draw the hole from your plug)

Conclusion
That's minimalist modifications to upcycle something, but that's the way I like upcycling.

I'm conscious that improvement could be made to the design, such as cord management, adding one more plug or make slots on the horizontal part to accomodate an Ipad. I'm still debatting with myself if I should submit it to the challenge, feel free to let me know what you think and how I should improve it!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Transforming beer cans into art



Before posting the :"what to do with soda cans (part1)" with wall decorations butterflies made from soda cans, I had never seen what artist Paul Villinski could do with painted beer cans.

Even if this is more than upcycling, I thought I could share some of his great work it on my blog anyway.




I also started thinking on the next Readymade magazine challenge, upcycling a frisbee... I have one idea that should involve cell phones, ipod and maybe ipad again... I'll keep you updated very soon.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

3 original ways to recycle plastic bottles

This is 3 interesting upcycling projects found on a german website (in german...), I'll have to try the coin bank for my little one ASAP !



Monday, April 4, 2011

Another use for an old Mac G4

This is not my creation but a mailbox I found on Flickr. This is an other way (after the clock I made) of recycling an old Mac G4.
I went in a couple of furniture stores this week end, and in both of them I saw shipping pallet recycled in either a table or a bench. Next time I'll go, I'll try to get some pictures to post them, also I think that I'm gonna try to build a bench from shipping pallet. I don't have specific project to post yet, the week end was busy.

Friday, April 1, 2011

The Readymade Magazine Chopsticks Challenge





You might remember a previous post where I showed my Ipad chopsticks holder "project", or the bowl made with chopsticks. This is the project that won the challenge.
If you want to make it, you will find instructions on readymade website.
I must admit, it's beautiful. Congratulations to Tina Baine!