Tag Archives: reuse

Recycling Sweats From The Already Recycled

The other day I was sorting out clothes for the Canadian Diabetes Association’s clothing pickup, when I came across recycled, and then again recycled, sweat shirts. Some people save egg cartons, bottles, margarine containers, and old tins, (the list is endless) for recycling. These items could be saved for themselves; curbside recycling pickup; or for friends’ projects. I save old and used arms and legs cut from sweat shirts.

Vintage Penn University Fruit Of The Loom Super Cotton Sweatshirt Size Large  - Picture 1 of 17 This material is soft, and easy to sew together in new combinations- injecting creativity into a new favorite sweatshirt .

I keep a box in the basement of sweat shirts arms, a second box for legs and the third box is for cuffs, buttons, necks, waist ties and emblems. While watching T. V., I would cut off arms at the shoulders, and legs from the belt line. I would ask friends and family for their used sweat shirt tops and bottoms. “Don’t throw them away,” I would plead. “I will come over and pick them up!” For myself, I find the cuffs on my sweat shirts become frayed quickly. I would replace them with cuffs from the third box. I would cut off the cuff and then reattach the “new” cuff I had taken from the third box by stretching the material, pinning and inserting it back into the cuff.

How to Cut a Sweatshirt for an '80s Style | LEAFtv

This whole process could also be done for replacing thinning areas on the arms. I now have created a “new/used” sweatshirt. Mixing up the colours of the cuffs and arms allows me to change the colours, and replace worn areas. Try putting white arms into a red sweat shirt. Red and white—you are truly Canadian!

You have probably had many a spill on the front of your favorite sweat shirt.

I find that these stains never come out. (Forget it. I’ve tried and tried). From the third box, I would retrieve an emblem cut from another sweat shirt like a sporting team, golfing logo, or a bit of prose. This emblem can be sewn on a front of a sweat shirt to cover up those impossible stains that never wash out. Bravo! You now have a “new/used” sweatshirt.

When you get tired of your creations, repeat the process. This recycling can go on forever.

When you think you have had it with these extra “cut parts,” drop them off at a thrift store. They can be used again by other people for their creative projects. Try giving them as gifts, or at a garage sale under “Unique Clothing.”
Now that the arms, cuffs, fronts, and emblems have been taken care of, let me address the legs. Take one old sweat pant, and cut off the legs, one inch below the crotch.

Sew them up by hand, or on a sewing machine across the bottom of both legs. From the leftover leg material, cut strips the length you need, and sew attaching them to the waist, (criss-crossing is the best way) to make straps shoulder or hand lengths. Fantastic! You now have a purse or recyclable bag for purchases depending on the size of the sweat pants used. Try sewing a change purse using a saved drawstring from a collected waist tie.

Here is a kitschy purse made from recycled denim. 

It costs nothing but your time and creative effort. Any left over leg material is now scrap material. This scrap material can be used for kitchen wash cloths, furniture dusters, or something I love to do, wrapping scrap pieces around a sponge mop. It’s a great way to get all those cob webs lurking at the top of the ceiling. It is certainly safer than standing on a chair.

It has been pointed out to me that I have been recycling from the recycled. That is true, and something I enjoy, and will continue to do. For the Silo, Blair Yager. 

A world first: The City of Lahti pilots a deposit system to encourage recycling of textile waste

Residents of the City of Lahti in Southern Finland live close to nature. More than one in two live less than 300 metres from a quiet area. In Lahti, an area is defined as quiet when there are mainly natural sounds and no traffic noise, for example. Quiet places in Lahti include the extensive outdoor areas of Salpausselkä ridge system, many parks, and protected natural areas. www.lahti.fi

Inspired by the country’s highly effective deposit system for beverage containers, the Finnish city is piloting an incentive-based system for recycling textiles. Finns recycle up to 97% of aluminum cans, will a small reward inspire them to sort and recycle their old fabrics?

The average European throws away 11kg of textiles every year*. Around the world, a truckload of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every single second. Separate collection of textile waste is set to be rolled out across the EU by 2025, but to change our bad textile habits, a lot of work is needed. Lahti’s textile deposit hopes to inspire a change in consumer behavior.

“As a pioneer in urban environmentalism, Lahti has set a goal of being a waste free city by 2050. The textile deposit is a great example of an everyday innovation that directly aims to minimize the amount of waste and showcases the potential of discarded textiles as a raw material for industries and design,” says Communications Director Veera Hämäläinen from the City of Lahti.

New Waste Act promotes circularity

Finland took a step towards a circular economy for textiles at the beginning of the year, as a new law requiring cities and municipalities to make separate collection bins for textile waste available to all Finns came into effect. The separate collection of textile waste makes it possible for discarded clothes and household textiles to be reused as recycled fiber.

“Our future depends on a circular economy, but it can’t just be the consumers’ responsibility to take care of recycling. With this pilot we want to ask what countries, cities and companies can do to help make recycling easier and more attractive to people. Deposits have worked well before, maybe there could be one for textiles in the future”, says Kimmo Rinne, Development Manager at Salpakierto, a municipal company that handles waste management in the Lahti Region.

The textile Deposit asks if an incentive can inspire locals to recycle

The pilot on a textile deposit aims to investigate if a citywide reward system can incentivise locals to recycle their textiles. At the pilot stage, Lahti residents can exchange a bagful of textiles for vouchers for local services, such as cafes or passes to a local pool. Initially, the pilot will run during the first weeks of June. Cities have a major role in making recycling easy for people. As a leading environmental city, Lahti wants to be in the forefront of leading the conversation on how cities can lead the change into a more sustainable lifestyle.

The City of Lahti is also launching a national design competition that aims to find new and creative uses for discarded textiles. The competition runs from now to 13 August 2023. With the design competition Lahti wants to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the field of circular economy. The competition is organized in collaboration with the Sustainable Lahti Foundation, LAB University of Applied Sciences and Salpakierto.

The textiles collected in Lahti will be processed into recycled fiber at Finland’s largest textile processing facility in Paimio. In the spirit of circular economy, the recovered fiber can be used in the production of new products, such as thread, insulation materials and acoustic panels. For the Silo, Veera Hämäläinen.

*EU Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/QANDA_22_2015

Lahti 
Lahti tackles future challenges together with residents, companies and the educational sector. A sustainable future calls for action, which is why Lahti will achieve carbon neutrality by 2025. As the leading environmental city in Finland, we offer our citizens everyday life that is both smooth and sustainable.

Your Electronic Goods Recycling Donations Become Bank Deposits

Used and broken electronics such as computers, cellphones, dvd players, washers and dryers still hold intrinsic value because if you were to peer inside these things you’d notice a lot of wire and circuitry. There is a surprisingly substantial amount of copper, silver and gold waiting for “the recycling”.

Consumerism- the acquisition of goods, is largely based today on electronic devices- large screen televisions or smartphones for example. Many of us feel the need to upgrade regularly: bigger screens for our living rooms and faster and more powerful phones.  But in broad terms, our discarded electronic goods contain about the same amount of silver, copper, gold and platinum as the new items we are replacing them with.

How much value are we talking about?

It is difficult to determine an exact value of gold and other precious materials in an average cellphone. This is because no two models are exactly alike, no two batteries are exactly alike.

Lux Bringer from reddit.com:

All of a sudden these, “bring your old cellphones to us so we can recycle them for you” campaigns are making a lot more sense. Sneaky bastards.

 PtrN from reddit.com:PtrN                                                                                                         

I’m not sure. I’m seeing that the average cell phone has 1/8 a gram of gold in it from other comments. At the time of this writing, CNN currently has gold going at $1650USD per troy ounce. I crunched the numbers and am seeing that there is about $6.60USD worth of gold in a cellphone. Not too bad, but I don’t know how profitable it will be after you take into account the costs of transportation and the extraction process itself.

Thoust from reddit.com:

There are other materials in a phone they can salvage besides gold

professor_fatass from reddit.com:

According to the article you also get platinum, palladium, and copper. As well as the glass and plastic which may not be worth much but it can still be recycled.

Interesting isn’t it?

Let’s consider the price of copper. Right now in Canada it is just under 4$CDN per pound. If you’re keen and want to sell your own scrap copper you will need a lot of it. An average washing machine motor has about 8$CDN worth of copper wiring up for grabs. http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-get-tons-of-free-enameled-copper-wire/http://priceofscrapmetal.com/how-to-sell-scrap-copper-wire/

Gold!

There is gold and platinum inside computer circuit boards and hard drives. Most of the gold is an alloy or plated over another metal but at highs predicted to reach near $1,8000USD per ounce- a high volume recycling effort will pay off.

Bleepin’ Animinion from bleepingcomputer.com:

Any, true recycling effort that would be of a profitable nature needs to be EPA approved. Due to the multiple hazardous materials mixed in with the minute amounts of precious metals. As well as the highly toxic removal and heavy metals separations processes. Also as an example it would take an average of one ton of random circuit-board waste to generate one pound of gold. Add to that electronic grade precious metals are not the expensive jewelry grade high dollar metals. Therefore looking at the gold market is not the price you would get. So the profit you would make on the precious metals would be eaten up by the fees and expense of waste disposal of the one ton of hazardous useless waste product left behind after you reclaimed the precious and hazardous heavy metals. This is definitely not a a project to undertake on a small scale in your garage.

This last quote is an important thing to consider.

If you are considering dropping off your scrap electronics and appliances ask the receiving party if they are environmentally approved and a member of an Electronic Stewardship.  After all, your discarded electronics will earn a tidy sum of money for a large scale salvager. The least they can do is operate within the law and operate with an environmental conscience. But there is some worry.

The salvagers are looking for an uninformed public- they set up their marketing and advertising in a way that makes no mention of the economic benefits they stand to make.

They seldom if ever offer you a small stipend for your ‘donated scrap’ and perhaps even worse, many pose as “good deed” companies ridding us of our “broken goods” destined for the landfill. The Ontario Electronic Stewardship  is a non-profit group that overseas responsible recycling of electronics.  This Stewardship works with existing legal frameworks put in place by Waste Diversion Ontario and the 2002 Waste Diversion Act.  www.wdo.ca

Social impact in the developing world.

In Southern China over 100,000 people including children spend their lives dismantling discarded electronic devices for scrap metal and an unknown number are doing the same thing in Nigeria.  http://www.economist.com/news/international/21570678-growing-mounds-electronic-scrap-can-mean-profits-or-scandals-cadmium-lining

In this file photo from 2001, a migrant child sits atop a pile of unrecyclable computer waste imported to Guiya, China, from other countries.

Basal Action Network

Some players are keeping it real.

Not every electronic device recycling campaign is shady.  Increasingly, not-for-profit groups and volunteer fire departments are setting up large recycling bins with signage such as “your donated scrap metal and electronics helps fund X”. 

If you are considering dropping off discarded electronics to your local “recycling and scrap drive” ask a few questions. Where are the profits from the salvaged materials going? Is the company operating the drive aware of the Ontario Electronic Stewardship guidelines? What happens to your donated goods at the end of the cycle- are they destined for a landfill or for China?

Nature’s Power Is Unleashed: Bold New Season At Boca Raton Museum Of Art

The artist Maren Hassinger with children from Pearl City, the historic African American neighborhood where the majestic 100-year-old banyan tree, the “Tree of Knowledge,” still stands today. The children joined hundreds of community members to create together thousands of aerial branches from recycled newspapers for Hassinger’s new monumental installation.
Clifford Ross in the ocean surf, photographing hurricane waves.
The power of nature is unleashed with two timely, powerful exhibitions at the Boca Raton Museum of Art for the new season. Both of these original shows  Maren Hassinger: Tree of Knowledge and Clifford Ross: Waves ─ will kick off the museum’s 70th anniversary season (on view November 5th – March 1st). 

The museum is presenting both exhibitions together because the two shows sound a clarion call for environmental awareness. These shows also remind viewers that the beauty of nature can still inspire us, despite the over-saturation of society by hand-held devices and screens.
The two exhibitions are presented side-by-side in adjoining galleries.

The artist Maren Hassinger with children from Pearl City, the historic African American neighborhood where the majestic 100-year-old banyan tree, the “Tree of Knowledge,” still stands today. The children joined hundreds of community members to create together thousands of aerial branches from recycled newspapers for Hassinger’s new monumental installation.Clifford Ross in the ocean surf, photographing hurricane waves.The Clifford Ross exhibition features a new approach to his monumental depictions of ocean waves that the artist captures during extreme weather. The result is the most comprehensive survey of his process ever shown in a museum.

Ross dramatically presents the monstrous power of the seas in his new exhibition at a crucial moment in time for our planet: the United Nations recently issued a major new report warning that the dangerous effects of climate change on our oceans is much worse than previously thought.
The new findings warn about warming oceans and damaged ecosystems.

Sea levels are rising faster than previously predicted, glaciers and ice sheets melting more rapidly than expected, shrinking the fisheries that feed millions.  Watch the spectacular video of Clifford Ross in the ocean surf at vimeo.com/168830477 The new report warns that many cities around the world will experience annual flooding events by 2050 that previously occurred only once per century.

The world’s oceans have been warming since 1970 and have absorbed 90 percent of the planet’s excess heat, killing off vast stretches of coral reefs. Absorbing massive amounts of carbon has made the ocean more acidic and inhospitable to corals that millions of species depend on for survival.



“When I first began photographing these hurricane waves 30 years ago, most of us were unaware that global warming was seriously damaging our oceans,” said Clifford Ross. “Now, as I look back on my work, it takes on a whole new meaning.

Above – the two artists headlining the new season: Clifford Ross and Maren Hassinger. MAREN HASSINGER: TREE OF KNOWLEDGERenowned sculptor and performance artist Maren Hassinger was commissioned by the museum for a residency that explored the staying power of nearby Pearl City, Boca Raton’s historic African-American neighborhood.

This is the largest installation that Hassinger has ever created in her long and celebrated career. Her new site-specific installation is based on Pearl City’s landmark, the “Tree of Knowledge.” This majestic, 100-year-old banyan tree still stands today and is protected by the Historic Preservation laws. The tree has served the people of Pearl City since the dawn of the 20th century, as a gathering place for sharing stories and communal spirit. The majestic 100-year-old banyan tree at Pearl City is the inspiration for Maren Hassinger’s Tree of Knowledge.(photo by Aylin Tito)
Hassinger vigorously engaged the public to recreate the tree’s aerial roots by gathering many groups over several months.

People from the community and visitors to the museum spent hundreds of hours twisting by hand thousands of recycled newspapers. Thousands of recycled newspapers were twisted to mimic the aerial roots of the banyan tree for Maren Hassinger’snew installation Tree of KnowledgeThese banyan “branches” will be suspended from the ceiling of the main gallery, representing the community-based “Creation-Stations.” The participants’ names will be incorporated into the monumental new work.

“I want visitors to the museum to think about the endurance of the tree and the endurance of the people who live beside it,” said Maren Hassinger. “I hope they realize it’s possible to build a world in which, like this installation, people work together side by side. Both the tree and the residents have inspired me with their mutual endurance.

In new reports, the United Nations warns that fires such as those causing de-forestation in the Amazon elevate concerns for the planet’s natural life support systems. This global call to action urges countries, companies and consumers to build a new relationship with nature.

The destruction of the world’s largest rainforest calls attention to the need to prevent ecosystems from declining to a point of no return, with dire consequences for humanity.

This year, the leading scientists of the world warned that civilization was in jeopardy due to forest clearance, over-usage of land, climate change, and pollution, putting a million species at risk of extinction.

Hassinger’s new installation is about nature as knowledge and about education. The twisted ropes of newspaper are made of words and stories.

“I hope the community and all of the visitors to the museum take a moment to think about the materials used in the project, which are not traditional art materials, and realize that this giant project was made not by artists, but by the public, working together,” adds Maren Hassinger. 

“Both adults and children from the community welcomed my project with enthusiasm and proceeded to twist and twist to create the aerial branches. Their enthusiasm and spirit of camaraderie is uplifting and contagious,” says Hassinger.

Paper is a natural material, made from trees, and throughout the installation there will be fans that evoke the wind blowing gently through nature, as opposed to the hurricane winds of Ross’s work.Wind, the video by Maren Hassinger, will also be part of the exhibition. Watch the video trailer here vimeo.com/368811486

“Following the theme of nature for our new season at the Museum, how appropriate that Maren Hassinger would choose this legendary tree, known as the Tree of Knowledge, as the subject for her site-specific installation,” said Irvin Lippman, the executive director of the Boca Raton Museum of Art.
“From its inception to its installation, this has involved audiences of all ages from every corner of our community to participate in the making of the aerial roots from streams of recycled newspapers. Much in the manner of the Banyan tree, we are all connected to one another,” adds Irvin Lippman.  

Hassinger’s new exhibition will also feature the installation Love – an experiential portal for visitors to walk through. As the entranceway into the museum’s main galleries, it will surround visitors with hundreds of recycled pink plastic bags that will completely cover all of the surfaces around them. The shopping bags are filled with the air of human breath, and contain human love notes inside. Love, by Maren Hassinger. This installation will serve as the entryway featuring hundreds of recycled pink plastic bags, surrounding visitors.The bags are filled with human breath and contain human love notes.Maren Hassinger (still from her video Pink Trash). 

CLIFFORD ROSS: WAVES On the subject of Clifford Ross: Waves, Irvin Lippman adds: “It would seem obvious that a museum with a coastal address such as ours would naturally be ever fascinated by the subject of waves. The subject of Clifford’s photographs in this new exhibition, however, goes deeper into the unpredictable shapes of waves, as much about abstraction as realism.” 
The effect of being engulfed in a room full of his work is profound, causing some viewers to claim they can actually hear the sound of the ocean waves although there is no sound component.
Ross is celebrated worldwide for his Hurricane Waves series, monumental images that were photographed by the artist during storms and while hurricanes were off-shore, while he was attached by a tether to his assistant who remained on land as Ross braved the ocean surf.

The size of these images is humbling. The angle of vision, from as low as possible, is calculated to inspire awe. The waves dominate us, framed or cropped; we feel their full force.
These waves invoke the power of wind as well as the power of water, the great cyclical forces of nature that generate energy.  
This major survey includes his monumental hurricane wave images. The exhibition also features a site-specific installation of extremely large-scale prints on wood, as well as the artist’s Digital Waves – A computer generated video displayed on an LED wall that has been acquired by the museum for its collection.
Other sections include: the Horizons series (photographs that explore movement with the added power of obstruction); his Hurricane Scrolls; and the Grains series of bold abstract works exploring the purity of color.Clifford Ross, Hurricane LXIII, 2009. Archival pigment print.“The pure abstraction of the Grains series is an antidote to the hurricane, a space to calm down. A quiet end to this stormy story where we can recompose our thoughts,” said Clifford Ross. 
While it explores the limits of photography and abstraction, this exhibition is also a dramatic declaration about climate change.
“This exhibition is a thorough survey of my working methods,” said Ross. “an effort to show all the ways I have approached the subject of ocean waves. But there’s also a deeper theme of addressing climate change – unavoidable in this day and age.”A work from Clifford Ross’s Digital Waves series (computer generated videos displayed on an LED wall) has been acquired by the museum for its collection. “Somehow the apocalyptic quality of the show does not erase the basic lyricism and beauty that I see in nature. When I started out, wanting to celebrate nature by creating bodies of work that were an homage to the sublime, I didn’t understand that the images were also capturing evidence – evidence of our negative impact on nature.”

The ferocity, the forms of these waves were partially due to global warming. This project has come full circle, as much a meditation on the medium of photography as it is a photographic reflection of our world,” said Clifford Ross. 
Photo of artwork
Clifford Ross, Wood Wave LIV, 2017. Triptych UV cured ink on maple veneer. 
Caption for first photo at top: Clifford Ross, Hurricane LI, 2009. Archival pigment print.
MORE ABOUT THE TWO ARTISTS: Above – the two artists headlining the new season: Maren Hassinger and Clifford Ross. Maren Hassinger has work held in the permanent collections of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture in Baltimore; the California African American Museum in Los Angeles; Portland Museum of Art; The Studio Museum in Harlem; Williams College Art Museum in Williamstown; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others.
Her many awards include: the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art, Maryland Institute College of Art; Joan Mitchell Foundation Grants; Anonymous Was a Woman; and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, among others.
More about Maren Hassinger here.
The works of Clifford Ross are held in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, among others. He is the editor of the book Abstract Expressionism: Creators and Critics, and is Chairman of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. His work has been widely exhibited in the United States, Europe, Brazil and China.
He has lectured in numerous university and museum settings, including Princeton, Yale, and New York University. Ross is a member of the Yale School of Art Dean’s Advisory Board.
More about Clifford Ross here. 
Photo of artwork
The majestic 100-year-old banyan tree at Pearl City is the inspiration for Maren Hassinger’s Tree of Knowledge.
(photo by Aylin Tito)
Love, by Maren Hassinger. This installation will serve as the entryway featuring hundreds of recycled pink plastic bags, surrounding visitors.The bags are filled with human breath and contain human love notes.
Photo of artwork
Thousands of recycled newspapers were twisted to mimic the aerial roots of the banyan tree for Maren Hassinger’s
new installation Tree of Knowledge
A work from Clifford Ross’s Digital Waves series (computer generated videos displayed on an LED wall) has been acquired by the museum for its collection. 

Ultimate Recycling And Ultimate Decorating From Curbside Shopping

Decorating with a mix of new and found/retrieved objects image: shelterpop.com

Forty-three years ago, a couple of kids with no money stood in front of a minister and said, “I do.” We needed household furnishings to set up for our first apartment together. We only had one part-time job, no credit card, no line of credit, and no Mommy and Daddy bank. This forced us to be very resourceful. Think…..curbside shopping for example.

My wife and I came from accounting backgrounds.

The mind and the ways of the accountants are very different from that of our friends’ parents. Going to the store to purchase a Popsicle at the age of seven was different than other families. When I got home from the store, my Dad would ask “Where’s the receipt?” This was my conditioning; my way of life. Money was not to be wasted. When added to our poor economic conditions, we had to become very resourceful. Being in debt when we got married was not an option. Luckily the woman I married was also schooled in the same mantra of no debt.

As a city dweller, I had advantages.

Every garbage day homeowners could put out furniture, boxes of used dishes, and other unwanted items they didn’t use or need. I thought it was wasteful and unnecessary that these items went to the dump; a nicer term for landfill site. Our engagement turned out to be a year and a half long, so this gave us plenty of time to collect items for our first apartment. I called this CURBSIDE SHOPPING. My fiancée and I at the time did not have a car so we walked, rode our bicycles or took the bus. As we walked up and down the streets, my fiancée and I discussed our future together, buying house wares, and setting up a home together. On the occasion that we were lucky to have a ride, I always had my eyes peeled for “free bargains.”

I recall on one occasion when we would be traveling around town with our friends that had a car, I suddenly yelled out, “STOP!” There at the curbside was a solid side chair with a bag of garbage on the seat. “Back up,” I demanded. “What for?” said the driver. “I saw a chair,” I quickly replied.

“I’m not stopping for a dirty old chair.” was the reply.

“Then let me out,” I demanded. The driver backed up about three or four houses away. I got out and examined my new find. The chair looked much neglected and had a small slanted back with right and left arms that curved around to the front. The horizontal spindle of the right arm had broken off. The upholstery on the seat was ripped and of the dark brown type of material that feels like a hairbrush if you sit on it. I saw potential. I loaded it into our friend’s car and we sped off. My future in-laws basement had became our storage area #1 for our new found treasures.

Another time my fiancée and I were out on garbage night browsing, when I spotted a large wooden spool. This was the kind of spool that the hydro company had left behind when they were replacing overhead wiring. It was made of rough, hardwood, loaded with knots, but very solid. After using some of my father’s left over stain, and then a liquid varathane, the spool was transformed into a spectacular coffee table. Soon, the curbside treasures brought back to our #1 storage area, was starting to fill up. This prompted us to expand to storage area #2 in my parent’s basement.

Curbside finds bring many unlikely but useful items into your household.

I found a box of material that had upholstery weight and light textile weight fabrics as well as sewing notions. I had acquired an old bundle buggy for a carrier to transport my finds.

(You guessed it; it was free at the curb) When I got home and went through the box of materials, on the bottom were several women’s long evening gowns from many years gone by. In our first apartment, my wife and I used this flowing gown material as drapes. We had stylish and elegant green taffeta window coverings for one set of windows. Another long gown, we used the material to reupholster four dining room chairs in gold velvet. The last gown material of blue velvet was used for the chair which I had taken both arms off and reconditioned as a beautiful, armless side chair. The cost was zero.

If you can wrap a gift, then you can upholster a chair!

You get all kinds of “great stuff” at the curbside. I found out that what people throw out can be very unique and sometimes bizarre. On one of my free shopping trips, I found a box of new, sealed, unopened jars of poultry seasoning. 144 jars to exact. I scooped these jars up so that they could be used as “traders” in the future. My traders brought me a new blender.
As the storage areas #1 and #2 filled up, my fiancées parents wanted us to start our new life with a “new couch” for our first apartment. They gave us $200 cash which at the time was a lot of money and could purchase a very plush stylish piece of furniture.

We walked downtown with money in hand to pick up our first piece of new furniture together. We thought we were rich! Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for the parents, we passed a second-hand shop at the first intersection. I spied two blocks before we went in the store an old chair that had been put outside the store on the curb. Inside the store window was a very old loveseat (Queen Anne style I was told) with all 35 of the springs almost touching the floor. The store wanted $25.00 for the item. It was a real hardship for me to part with the money that we had in our hands, but we knew the loveseat could be transformed. We bought the loveseat, and also took the old chair at the curb. From the $200.00 cash, we had $175.00 left which we used to buy a new bed and box spring. The rest of the items in our apartment including lamps, tables, carpets, pots and pans, kitchen accessories, pictures, bedroom furniture, kitchen table and chairs, were all found free at the curbside.

Hats off to my wonderful father-in-law who many a time was called to bring his car to transport a second-hand loveseat and chair, or other curbside shopping items to our storage areas in our parent’s homes. This “father” never asked me for a receipt. For the Silo, Blair R. Yager

Supplemental- Garbagefinds.com

Unique Finds To Reduce, Reuse And Recycle For Earth Day

Reuse. That’s the name of the game.  Project Repat is a great and fun alternative to trashing clothes. Create unique and memorable quilts with t-shirts – like souvenir shirts from travels, concerts, sports, marathons! Plus, the back of each quilt is also made of fleece from recycled plastic bottles.

A unique way to recycle old electronics responsibly, Gazelle.com buys and sells refurbished devices. Plus, Gazelle.com ensures they sell only certified pre-owned items, meaning great quality at a great price!

Gazelle ecoATM kiosks offer another way to get instant cash for old, unwanted, electronics. It’s easy to find one at many stores and malls nationwide. It’s also a great way to safely dispose of broken phones so they don’t end up in a landfill.

Violet Love is an eco-friendly line of headbands and casual wear founded by L.A. fashion designer Rebecca Michaels. Rebecca, who has a degree in environmental engineering, implements energy efficient printing processes and environmentally friendly inks and practices in the production of the line.

The Nixi line from Bumkins offers families eco-friendly items, including waterproof travel bags and bibs made from recycled water bottles and fashionable jewelry teethers made of food-grade silicone. All Nixi products are BPA-free as well!

Parkmobile provides a green solution to the emissions caused by millions of cars looking for parking. The easy-to-use app helps people find and reserve parking. This limits the amount of time wasted in idle and driving around, cutting down on CO and NO2 emissions. For the Silo, Tayler Ladman.

New ‘Duct Tape DIY Book’ is Taking Crafting and Fashion World by Storm

From the author of the #1 best-sellers, Tape It & Make It, Tape It & Make More and Tape It & Wear It comes the fourth book in this revolutionary “duct tape craft series:” Duct Tape Bags: 40 Projects for Totes, Clutches, Messenger Bags, and Bowlers (Clarkson Potter, July 2016). With the upcoming release of her new book, Richela Fabian Morgan is continuing to take the crafting and fashion world by storm, turning the humble roll of duct tape into the trendiest craft item since glitter glue.

Rachela Fabian Morgan AuthorEveryone from trendy teens to famous fashionistas can begin exploring the infinite uses this easy-to-follow guide provides to making handbags so fashionable, you won’t actually believe they’re made of duct-tape. Part art-piece, part usable accessory, Fabian Morgan shows how each of these gorgeous handbags can be recreated one manageable section at a time.

“About eight years ago, my kids and I were in our local hardware store when we spotted duct tape with patterns and colors,” says Fabian Morgan. “Since then, duct tape has been an obsession of mine. My daughter and her friends were my excuse to break out my vast collection of tape and try out different ideas for craft projects. Out of all the projects, the bags were the biggest hit! I started making bags for myself. So, it was only natural that I turned my attention to writing a book on duct tape bags. I wrote other books on duct tape crafts with a total of 242 projects spread out over three books, everything from housewares to costumes. Duct tape bags were on my radar. I had to write this book!”

Duct Tape Bags provides DIYers with 40 fun projects using duct tape, including:

  • Clutches and wristlets
  • Hobo and Shoulder Bags
  • Satchels
  • Messenger and Flap Bags
  • Tote Bags
  • And tons of other one-of-a-kind bags!

One of Rachel's Duct Tape Bags.
One of Rachel’s Duct Tape Bags.


Read more about Richela Fabian Morgan by using the links at the bottom of this article and:

  • Reveal what inspired her to begin crafting with duct tape.
  • See finished samples of the many bags included in her book.
  • Do print or video demos and step by step how-tos not only on her bags but any of the 240+ projects found in her duct tape books.
  • Provide the perfect summer duct tape projects for girls, boys and teens.
  • Look ahead to back to school: duct tape wallets, folders, book bags, pencil cases,  lunch boxes and more!
  • Find tips to incorporate recycled items in your duct tape projects.
  • And so much more!

With detailed step-by-step instructions and primers on duct tape “fabric,” different types of closures from magnet snaps to jeans buttons, and bag accessories like bows and luggage tags, Fabian Morgan catapults this trend from the streets into the stratosphere. A mix of pop art and urban style photos of each project and a cool vibe throughout will make you want to immediately roll up your sleeves and rolling out the duct tape for a bag of your own! For the Silo, Erin MacDonald-Birnbaum

Duct Tape DIY Designs2

About Richela Fabian Morgan: Richela Fabian Morgan began her duct tape odyssey 8 years ago with a simple bi-fold wallet, before writing the best-selling crafting books Tape It & Make It, Tape It & Make More, and Tape It & Wear It. She is an indie crafter specializing in paper, adhesives, and found materials, and has taught craft projects at elementary schools, public libraries, and charitable organizations around the U.S. Her next duct tape crafting book, Duct Tape Bags, will be published by Clarkson Potter in July 2016.

Connect with Richela on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/CraftyRichela
Twitter: www.twitter.com/CraftyRichela
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/craftyrichela
Instagram: @richelafm

Duct Tape Bags will be released July 12, 2016 and can be pre-ordered from Amazon.com and all major booksellers. Contact marketingdirector@thesilo.ca for more details.

 

Mecha Artist Simon Kotsch Predated Steampunk

In 1968 Simon Kotsch got into the army surplus business. It was good to him, but in ways you might not expect. Something began to happen to Simon as he sorted through his bounty of obsolete engine parts and electrical fittings: he noticed that he found the pieces beautiful. An excitement took hold of him. And then he went to work, drilling and cutting and fitting metal components together to make new things. Beautiful things. He felt “caught up,” he says simply. So began a love affair with military-industrial cast-offs that continues to this day. This was the birth of a sculptor and of a mecha artist.Let us throw aside, officially and forever, the artifice of journalistic objectivity.

I like this guy’s passion and I like his work. When we visited Kotsch’s Victoria St. Studio in Simcoe, Ontario we were greeted with warm smiles that never went away.  Taking joy from your work is one thing, but when you combine joy with the sensibility of a true artist who respects, even loves his materials, the results can be magical.Some of Kotsch’s sculptures look like they could have come from the mind of Jules Verne—grand, monumental machines whose functions border on the mysterious, infused with Kotsch’s concern for symmetry and his acute sense of balance, proportion, and pattern. Others have a strong vertical momentum, like castles or rockets with many levels. But not everything has a sci-fi feel.

Kotsch uses the heft and gravity of larger pieces to create powerful and interesting earthbound sculpture. His ability to recognize, or create, striking patterns makes some of his metal works quite decorative to my eye—and that in no way infringes on their status as works of art.

Kotsch says he “savours the natural colour” of each item, whether it’s aluminum, copper, brass or porcelain (used as insulation in old electrical systems). You will not find much (any) painting here. You will also not find much welding. This, by his own admission, is because he’s not very good at it, and mediocre welding would make a sculpture look awful. He cuts and drills to make pieces fit. One technique he has developed is to take slices out of solid machine parts with a band saw, revealing patterns of copper wire within, like opening a geode.

An example of influence: years of working with Army surplus ephemera have inspired Simon’s forms

Simon Kotsch takes obsolete machinery—all of his extensive catalogue of parts predate metric—and turns it into stimulating works of art. We spent about an hour with him, and I left both  excited and energized. I, too, had been “caught up.” This is one of the miracles of art for me:  through active engagement with an artist’s work a kind of interface occurs between creator and appreciator, mediated through the work itself. I certainly appreciated the skill and imagination of Simon Kotsch, but I think I caught a bit of his love as well.  For the Silo, Chris Dowber.

A look at some of Simon’s works.

Listen To Simon Kotsch Interview

An oil fluid coolant system split in two reveals a beautiful maze structure

 

Being Green Is Not Impossible

When I took my boyfriend to see a new Muppet movie, he had never seen anything by the Muppets before, and being a dedicated fan since early childhood, I felt it my right and honorable duty to share the mahna-mahna’s with him. Needless to say, it was a fantastic and heart-felt show that we both laughed the whole way through. A few weeks later, we were out shopping and found this “one-of-a-kind” Kermit shirt, and couldn’t resist buying it. Like Miss Piggy, I suddenly noticed myself more attracted to everything green.

photo:H. Richards

I realized being “green” is not impossible even though we are living in such a technologically consumed world. Yet, it is technology that has provided us so many outlets to become more ecologically responsible.  Bills, schedules, licence plate renewals, the yellow pages, and even airline tickets are available paperless. Due to the impact of the Internet, television programs, and advertising we are more connected, and more globally aware of products available to help protect the environment.

In the home, especially if you are privy to daytime television, like City Line, the Mariyln Denis Show or the Nate Berkus Show, I guarantee that at least one segment a week focuses on how and where you can buy, reuse or create products with a green-scheme in mind. They prove that you can choose a range of products that will help sustain the environment, while still providing beautiful, sleek and modern finishes. The Home Depot has a link on their website  to a section called “Eco Options,” where it is easy to locate the product type you are looking for, from flooring to appliances to décor, there is a product to help manage your carbon footprint.

Major grocery stores have become more eco-friendly as well. By providing large reusable bags/bins, made out of recycled materials and typically at a cost of $1, consumers are given a convenient eco-option. Even if you forget your reusable bags at home and buy a plastic bag for 5 cents, the plastic bag has become noticeably larger in order to try and reduce the volume of plastic bags and encourage the purchase of reusable ones. As well, food itself has taken on the green trend; I was always taught to “eat the green stuff, it’s delicious,” and now, eating green, organic food like avocado, broccoli, spinach, and kale is trendy too.

The trend in the fashion world has also become environmentally friendly. For example, H&M has created the “Conscious Collection.” It is H&M’s “action for a more sustainable fashion future.” This collection uses greener materials such as organic cotton and recycled polyester. Originally when the campaign came out in April 2011, and the colour scheme was mainly different shades of white and muted earth tones. However, one year later, they are still producing the collection but have amped up the colour pallet. Walking into the store this season, you will be bombarded—you guessed it—with green. Emerging mainly in pastel and mint, but with occasional pops of emerald, green is popping up all over the fashion world and the colour is going to be very popular this spring.

So maybe it was the resurgence of Kermit the Frog, or maybe it is because being eco-conscious has spanned to every aspect of our lives, but I am happy to say that it’s never been so easy being green. For the Silo, Hannah Richards.