Upcycle Us

The cocktail umbrella lamps

2012-02-22T07:06:00.000-08:00

You can buy this exotic lamp from this site here but you'll have to spend $85... If you enjoy craft, you better do it yourself!

You'll have to cut the stick of the umbrella and use a ball to arrange the umbrellas. you'll glue only the overlapping pieces together. When the glue is dry for the first three rows, remove the ball and finish the last row.

When the hemisphere is completely dry, add the cord. Ideally the cord should be just where there's an umbrella, so you remove the tip of the umbrella and cut the 10 little sticks to fit the hole.

If you want to make a full lantern, making it perfectly round might be more difficult.

So I recommend to do this Ikea hack, using the Ikea regolit shade, you just have to stick the umbrella and add a little bit of glue and that's it!

Upcycling bath tub into a chair

2012-02-21T10:31:00.000-08:00

Bath tub are usually pretty comfy, so what about using them as a chair?
These designers from Reddish studios gave it a try, and it looks comfortable to me, with minor changes to the tub, just few cuts, they did a great job. They even kept the drain hole!
If you like it, you can look at other bath tub upcycled into sofa, I posted previously.

Upcycling a plastic bottle to seal a bag

2012-02-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

I saw this upcycling, but I never tried it.
Last morning, I couldn't find any clip to seal my bag, that was the perfect excuse to try this!

No need to give a full tutorial on this one...

I also tried different ways of cutting the bottle, keeping the handle was also useful, but the most minimalist design worked best.

Upcycling a dresser into a Barbie Doll House

2012-02-17T04:56:00.000-08:00

I found this great tutorial on just-in.com, if you want to make this, you'll get al the details, I'll have to make my own.... if I get a daughter.

A bowl made of buttons

2012-02-16T07:24:00.000-08:00

I really like to make bowl with upcycled items like chopsticks, in this old post.

Iñigo Cañedo who's designer in Mexico created this amazing Knoop Button Bowl. He used a hemispheric shape to arrange the button together. I suspect that he used epoxy glue to get the strongest bonding as possible. The buttons he chose have perfect translucent colors to create light projections. Wonderful job!

upcycling lego into key holder...

2012-02-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make this upcycling for many days now, but couldn't find the time to do it. this week end I finally found the time... The idea was to use legos from my son, make a keychain and being able to hang it somewhere in order to stop losing my keys... I used transparent legos that I stuck on a switch plate.

How to make it

I used an old keychain to reuse the ring, a brick for the keychain and transparent bricks to stick to the switch plate.

Using a drill, I made two little holes in the blue brick allowing me to fit the keychain using pliers (that opened the attachment ring).

Using epoxy glue, it's easy to stick the brick to the switch plate. That's all you need to do! It takes 30 min to make. Now there's no way I'm gonna lose my keys.... I hope.

Stairs made from reclaimed wood

2012-02-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

These stairs look gorgeous! They are made from a huge variety of wood, from antique hardwood floor to construction wood or even crates. It looks like add-on boxes supporting itself as a constructed, empty beam. It is made by a designing company from Germany.

before

After

Probably not the safest stairs you can built, specifically if you have kids, but I like the idea.

Upcycling....shuttlecock into a lamp!

2012-02-07T07:51:00.000-08:00

A good looking pendant light made by designer Kiel Mead, you'll have to use a "cold" light to avoid any unwanted fire....

Brush Hooks

2012-02-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

Created by artist Dominic Wilcox, it's a funny way to use paint brush.

Eco-art from Sarah Turner: The twitter ball

2012-01-31T03:50:00.000-08:00

Once in a while, I like to show more artistic project, that are part of exhibitions. This project is an other one made by Sarah Turner, after the great lamps made from plastic bottles that you can see here. Sarah made an other kind of "lamp"s that look awesome. She used 562 plastic bottles and 100's LED light, the final result is fantastic!!

Upcycling table soccer parts

2012-01-30T15:36:00.000-08:00

An other fun way of hanging clothes, specially if you are a soccer fan. You can buy this from Spain on rs-barcelona.com and choose the team you want, or individual players. But if you happen to have an old table soccer... you know what to do now!

Upcycling a ladder into a corner bookshelf

2012-01-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

An old ladder can always be useful...

Upcycling soda can tabs into lamps.

2012-01-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

I fell in love with this lamp made by Allison Patrick on Etsy, it took her 10 hours to make it and it's for sale for $295. If you want to make your own, get ready to collect 1500 tabs.

This one was seen on Inhabitat.com

Upcycling an old book..... to protect a notebook.

2012-01-19T10:31:00.000-08:00

An other great use of an old book. The leather one are really made for such upcycling. You can buy it here or try to make it yourself. I will try as soon as I find the right book.
Previously I posted that books could also be used to make a cool-looking docking station, click here if you want to see the old post.

A chandelier made with ... paper clips

2012-01-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

Amazing the shape you can give to the chandelier by just changing the number of paper clips on each row. Some are available on Etsy, but it so much fun to try to make one! You'll have to find metal rings with different diameter and you'll be set to start!

This is the making process in 2 pictures:

If you feel like it's too complicated, this is an other kind of chandelier, much easier to make, also with paper clips:

You can watch the video if you want to try :

Upcycling an old Ikea gorm (shelf) into a shoe rack

2012-01-13T02:00:00.000-08:00

Last week, my neighbor trashed an old broken shelf like the one here, it is a "gorm" shelf from Ikea. I could not resist, I had to take the good parts still in good shape to make this little rack I was thinking of...

This is what I could rescue :

It could have been a shoe rack right away, but I needed to give a slightly better look by giving a nice shape to the legs, so I made a quick template like this one :

And I cut using my favorite jigsaw :

Using a sander or just sand paper, it looks much better if the edges are smooth.
I also decided to stain the wood to match the bench color:

And I let it dry over night :

Now I can store more shoes under my bench!!! In style and for really cheap.

Optional step: After staining and drying, you can apply polyurethane to give your rack a shiny protected look of varnish.

Upcycling drink packets into lamps

2012-01-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

This upcycling is made by designer Ed Chew who unfolds drink packets and refold them into hexagonal and pentagonal sections. When put together, these sections can create spheres and plenty of other shapes, with wonderful light effects. This upcycling is more art than regular craft project but I hope it will inspire you like it did to me.

The light created through the lamps is amazing

Organizing power adapters in a shoebox...

2012-01-09T01:58:00.000-08:00

A clever upcycling again. My only concern was : Where can I find grommets? apparently you can find some online easily, the curtain grommets would work well:

Upcycling a cement bag?....

2012-01-06T03:00:00.000-08:00

Are you wondering what to make with a cement bag, specifically when there's a nice design on it?

This is the original material:

This is a great upcycling you can find on Etsy.com for $95 + shipping and it's made in South Africa. The outside paper is protected with a Scotchguard treatment an the inside looks comfy for any laptop, I love it!

A lamp made with paper

2012-01-05T06:20:00.000-08:00

This lamp made with paper looks great. Sold out on Etsy...

Upcycling baby food jar into cool-looking lego storage

2012-01-04T06:44:00.000-08:00

I found this great idea on obseussed.com, this jar are really helpful to store all these legos lost under your kid's bed. The tutorial is fairly simple and you can draw any face you want using your favorite black Sharpie.

Making flowers with napkins, paper towel or gift tissue paper.

2011-12-31T12:05:00.000-08:00

My little one wanted to give his mummy a little rose last night, we improvised with a piece of left over tissue paper from christmas, and and a green pipe cleaner (optional) for the stem.
It's probably the easiest upcycling I published in his blog so far, even my 4-year old could do it!

Starting material

By starting in one corner, you just have to roll the paper to create the rose, starting tight to create the heart and then get loosen.

If you have a pipe cleaner to make the stem, it looks great, if not, you can just play with the paper and roll it to make the stem, like with this napkin or (unused) tissue paper:

probably not a great picture, but you got the idea.

You can also create leaves from the paper by tearing a piece. When I was a kid I used to make these flowers at the end of diner... I guess now it's my son's turn.

Wishing you a merry christmas!

2011-12-23T07:11:00.000-08:00

What a cute upcycling, isn't it?

Pendant light for the kitchen

2011-12-21T07:11:00.000-08:00

I thought you might like this upcycling... Making holes in the containers is necessary to get more light in the room. The base is a pizza pan.

A table made with shipping pallet

2011-12-12T05:17:00.000-08:00

This week end I was amazed when I saw this table. It was in a shop that sells all kind of furniture in Baltimore: Su Casa. I couldn't resist and took few pictures. The table was not sanded but the maker added some extra wood at the edge of the table to give a clean finish. In spite of all the great furnitures sold by the shop, this is to me the best one!

Upcycling door knobs

2011-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

found here

A good way not to trash door knobs.

A kitchen cabinet made from shipping pallet

2011-12-05T04:40:00.000-08:00

This cabinet was made and found on Shabby Love blog. Probably one of the best good looking upcycling I found with shipping pallet.

On her blog, you'll find a full tutorial. This furniture is not so difficult to make, you'll just need drywall screws, a screwdriver and a circular saw (or jig saw), also, 4 hinges and 2 cabinet knobs.

The main frame

That's a lot of extra storage for almost free and it's really good looking, go check her blog, here.

Ribbons dispenser

2011-11-30T05:42:00.000-08:00

A great way to store, organize and upcycle!

Upcycling wine barrels into bottle holder

2011-11-18T06:39:00.000-08:00

Clever...

2011-11-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

Giving a new life to an old chair is also upcycling, No?
I found this chair in the street few month ago, and for years, I wanted to give a try to reupholstering. I thought that this chair was the perfect occasion to start.

Before

I found some fabric I like at a local store for $50, but I also had to understand how this chair was made, including the buttons on the backseat and all the tacks surrounding the fabric, and also few tricks I didn't know about but you learn them while you remove the old fabric.
I bought an upholstering hammer (thinner than regular hammer) and a tack remover, I also bought a cheap piece of fabric to mess with it before using the expensive and final fabric.

Done....

It's a pretty fast description I must admit, if you have question, I'll be happy to answer. Reupholstering was fun, I'll try again if I find the right chair.

An upcycled chair

2011-11-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

This chair, that could also be a bench, is made of recycled wood blinds that have been wrapped around a reconstituted wood frame. Using a jigsaw, it's pretty easy to give the shape you would like. You'll have to keep at least 3 identical shapes for a bench and 2 for a chair. It's made by an argentinian design company: Gruba Design Studio.

Based on the same technique: The coffee Table

Buzz lightyear costume for halloween made of UPS and Fedex envelopes

2011-11-01T04:54:00.000-07:00

These enveloppes are both really flexible and indestructible, like buzz... So I thought it might give me good results. This is few pictures showing some critical steps in the making of the chest and the wings, I used cardboard and foam for the wings, to give some volume
. The tips of the wings are insulation foam that I painted, same thing around the neck.

The neck, just cardboard I gave a round shape to.

Attaching the enveloppe around the neck using staples.

At this stage, you have to make sure that your child can fit his head through... it's essential!

Almost-done chest before spray painting

Legs, arms and chest.

You might see that I tapes a flat key chain light on one arm, so buzz can still use his laser!

The wings

Wrapping the wings with the envelopes

The other side (each side has a different sponsor....)

To give a great touch to your design, you will have to draw all the space ranger logo on your computer and stick it to the costume with a glue gun.

One of the logo I made....

If you need some of these drawing, drop me a comment and I'll be happy to send you a JPG copy a my drawings.

After doing this project, you'll never look at these envelopes the same way.... Oh and by the way, daddy had fun making it, but his son had a blast wearing it.

PVC pipe spider for Halloween

2011-10-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

PVC spider with pumpkin

PVC spider with trash bags, having lunch...

A fun project to work on, you just need to get 90 degres pvc pipes, the pipes and the pumpkins. If you have to buy everything, it's a $30 project, but you might have some of these pipes in your basement....

An other recyclable bed

2011-10-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

found on littlefashiongallery.com

I would not recommend making a crib from a cardboard, just for safety reason.
But the bed looks doable, buying it would be silly, can you believe they are selling the bed for $250?!

Making a wallet out of juice carton

2011-10-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

The cap keeps the wallet closed. That's clever.

Full tutorial and video on familyfun.go.com website.

Playing cards upcycled into a lampshade

2011-10-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

Nick Sayers made this out of 270 cards... Apparently he loves making spheres.

Train tickets

No tutorial is available but it inspired me, and I'll post a tutorial on something less complicated but similar as soon as I can give it a try.

Iphone/Ipod stand

2011-10-18T05:08:00.000-07:00

After I made an Ipad holder with chopsticks or with a coffee cup sleeve , this is probably the easiest way to upcycle something into a stand: using your old tape cases. The most difficult maybe, is to find one...

For your ipad, you can also use a business card holder as shown below, cheap and efficient!

As a reminder of my old projects :

For as tutorial you can click here

For a tutorial click here

Upcycling milk jugs for halloween

2011-10-14T04:47:00.000-07:00

A good way to entertain your kids on a rainy day...

Found here

Skeleton

Lanterns found on Pinterest.com

I'm working on an other Halloween-related project that I'll try to post soon....A buzz lightyear costume made with.............. FedEx Enveloppes and boxes!!! But it's not finished yet, I'm just starting.

Upcycling furniture into kids toys

2011-10-13T04:38:00.000-07:00

It's really amazing what you can do with a night stand or an old TV furniture! I'll think twice before trashing my own furniture now.

Bed made from upcycled pallets!

2011-10-12T04:27:00.000-07:00

I'm torn between buying a fancy bed for my son or trying this cute upcycling! My only problem is that it's time consuming, but so much fun to make. Also, don;t forget that the pallet needs to be sanded properly to avoid your little one from getting splinters.

For a tutorial, click here

Upcycling crates

2011-10-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

From Thea's Mania

I posted few months ago some wine crates upcycling, this is one colorful way of upcycling crates. I like the picture and the idea.

Upcycling bottle cap to make art

2011-10-04T05:29:00.000-07:00

Once in a while, I post upcycling that is art-related. This self portrait is from artist Mary Ellen Croteau made with plastic bottle caps. By nesting the caps she achieved a much deeper color palette. Start saving caps if you want to try!!!

Upcycling a dryer duct into a pumpkin

2011-10-03T04:25:00.000-07:00

An easy project if you have left over dryer duct somewhere in your basement, a tutorial is available here, but I'm sure you could figure it out without a tutorial.

Upcycling a seat belt

2011-09-30T04:14:00.000-07:00

From uncommongoods

Another fun idea to make yourself for cheap or you can pay $24 if you are lazy. You can also use buckle from old child seat.

Making a rocket launcher with PVC pipes

2011-09-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

The final Rocket Launcher

Kids love it

I must admit, this project is a bit more than just upcycling PVC pipes like you saw in a previous post, but it makes something really entertaining... A Rocket Launcher !
This kind of rocket launcher already exists on the market and I wanted to share with you a "toy" that my son really enjoyed making and playing with. We made it for it's B-day party and kids loved it.

Why kids love it?
First they have to learn how to make the rocket out of paper, and then they can launch them by pressing a button, like the real stuff!! The tutorial show that you can also use a manual valve, but it's to hard for a 4 year old to activate.

Making the rocket launcher looks complicated but don't be fooled, it's not tricky as long as you get the right stuff!

What you need:
The Material: PVC pipes, pvc cement, electric valve, a switch and a 9v battery to activate the valve, a tire valve.

The valve described here is a manual one (ball valve)

And an electric sprinkler valve to make the launching more dramatic.

Sprinkler valve

The switch (made with PVC pipe)

By connecting the 2 wires of the sprinkler valve to a 9v battery, you activate the valve that will release the pressure from your pipes

The tools: A drill, a PVC pipes saw, a bike pump to put pressure in the launcher.

PVC pipe saw

How to make it:

It's just like a lego game, nothing difficult when you have all the right pipes to fit. You just have to glue them together, the valve is just screwed not glued.

The length of the pipes don't have to be exactly the same.

The tricky part is to insert the tire valve (from where you will inject air with the bike pump), you'll have to use a drill to make a hole big enough for the valve to fit, so you'll have to be careful to make the right size hole.

How to use the Rocket Launcher?
To fully enjoy it, you'll have to make the rockets. They are safe, since they are made of paper, but I recommend parents to supervise the kids anyway.

How to make the rocket:
To make the rocket you need a piece of regular paper for the body, 3 fins made of cardboard, and a piece of foam or paper tissus to make the tip of the rocket. Nothing fancy, but this rocket can go very high (100-200 feet high). Don't go too high with pressure (20-30 psi), you can control the pressure by looking at your pump manometer.

The pvc pipe is used to give the perfect shape to the rocket

The Launcher in action:

Upcycling old magazines

2011-09-23T04:51:00.000-07:00

Vases From greenyourdecor.com

We have so many magazines in our house, you probably have a lot too... instead of trashing them in the recycling bin, this is what I found to inspire me.... and maybe you.

Clock Find on Etsy.

An Umbrella Stand from Craftster.org

or this trash from Crafster.org

Nice looking bowls.

Upcycling..... toilet paper rolls

2011-09-22T04:59:00.000-07:00

Found here

The tutorial is pretty simple and you can figure out by ourself that you need to glue the paper roll slices together. You'll have to use laundry pins to maintain everything together. It makes very nice wreath that cost nothing. A great upcycling project.

Upcycling Bic Pen

2011-09-21T04:42:00.000-07:00

You might remember the Bic Daisy Vase I posted few weeks ago. This is an other use of the Bic pen. My only concern is that it's not exactly recycling since all these pens are new, but if you like to keep your old Bic pens, this is another interesting project.
If you kept around 300 of these pens, this is an even bigger project:

The Volivik chandelier

This projects are made by a studio in Madrid named enPieza.

Upcycling electrical spool

2011-09-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy these last few weeks, but I'll try to post some of my own projects as soon as possible. I'll continu to post some inspiring creations.

Heather from "The Lovely Cupboard" gives a great tutorial on how to get fancy tools from the electrical spools she found.

Awesome pet beds

2011-09-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

I found these cat beds made with Apple computers and vintage suitcases on Etsy from Atomic Vintage. Very stylish! If you are a crafty-kind of person, you can do it yourself!

Art and upcycling

2011-09-15T06:01:00.000-07:00

The household Physicians (2008)

Once in a while, I like to associate upcycling and art in my post.
Upcycling could be considered as an art by itself, but some people can bring upcycling even higher.
Brian Dettmer is one of them, he can "sculpt" books a way I've never seen before, I also like the way he reuses cassette tapes. What do you think?

Tab (2005) Altered set of Encyclopedia

Made with melted cassette tapes... and talent.

Upcycling old tennis racquets

2011-09-14T05:05:00.000-07:00

I think it's a great idea but I'm still wondering where or how you could cut the mirror?....

Upcycled Coat Racks

2011-09-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

These projects are easy to make and very creative, you'll just need a piece of wood such as wood pallets and the upcycled hooks (except for the pipes one), you also have to get the screws and a drill and you are all set.

Branches

Plastic cups (seen on Pinterest)

Plumbing supply

Forks

Toys

This last one is my favorite, my kid loves it! Just use old toys that are filled with plastic and screw from the back.

Upcycling PVC pipes

2011-09-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

I happen to have a lot of PVC pipes at home in my basement, I used some of them to make something fun for my kid's birthday party that I will show you very soon.
But, there are a lot of simple stuff we could make and most of them look good!

PVC-pipe mirror

A wreath.

A desk organizer

A bird feeder

An other way of upcycling plastic bottles

2011-08-31T04:26:00.000-07:00

You live in the city and do not have space for gardening... Why don't you save plastic bottles!

Recycle your old audio tape

2011-08-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Try to do this !

A clock made with bottle caps

2011-08-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

The clock mechanism is easy to salvage from on an old clock, but you can also buy the mechanism on this website.

The results is not so far from the famous Nelson clock and you can choose as much colors as you want.

Nelson clock

Upcycling old towels into a bath mat

2011-08-17T05:54:00.000-07:00

You'll just need a gridded matting and clean old towels and good scissors. Here is a video posted by Michelle Kauffman that gives a great tutorial.

Upcycling a Light bulb

2011-08-16T05:23:00.000-07:00

from this blog

This upcycling ideas will be less and less possible since ordinary light bulbs are being replaced with fluorescent light bulbs. So give it a try before it's impossible!

Upcycling soda tabs

2011-08-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

A bowl

Tabs are versatile piece of aluminium ...

To hang a picture

To Fish (it works apparently)

To make a belt

A purse

A lamp

Jewelery (on etsy)

An other way of recycling a gallon

2011-08-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

Found here

The cut of the bottle is not so difficult and aesthetically, the result is not so bad.

A lunch box made from a gallon.

2011-08-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

A self adhesive velcro dot is used to close the lid. Idea found on this hispanic blog.

An easy pallet upcycling

2011-08-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Almost nothing to do on the pallet, beside using some of your painting left over and few hooks. It looks beautiful.

Creating sculpture with thrift store plastics

2011-08-09T04:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, I like to introduce upcycling as an art form. Sayaka Kajita Ganz creates organic forms with kitchen ustensils or toys and metal objects. The creations seem to be alive and in motion. what she does is amazing!

Make a drip catcher for drink spouts

2011-08-08T04:14:00.000-07:00

Easy to make using a 2 liter bottle, no more mess on the floor...
Now I'm back from vacations, so get ready for more posts!

Organizing cables with upcycled items

2011-08-01T01:44:00.000-07:00

Paper clips

Bread bag clips

Toilet paper rolls for storage

CD/DVD case for cable storage

No need to explain, and very useful if you want to organize cable at no cost!

Upcycling drawers

2011-07-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

I love these ideas. I don't think that a tutorial is needed, but keep in mind that you need to install a plastic liner inside the drawer to avoid water leaking....

Upcycling bookends into a floating bookshelf

2011-07-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

As you might have noticed, I love what Umbra is doing, in a previous post, I showed that you could make your own butterflies or wall flowers with soda cans.
Here I'd like to show that you can use a regular easy to find metallic bookend to make the now-famous floating bookshelf from Miron Lior sold by Umbra.

How to make it

You just have to use tin snip pliers to make 2 little notches and fold them with regular pliers. These little pieces of metal will be used to hold the back cover of the first book. The first book in this configuration will have to be thick enough to cover the piece of metal otherwise you can cut almost flush the whole piece of metal and make the same cutting and bending, in this case, any book will fit to start.

To attach on the wall, 2 hole using a drill and anchors on the dry walls will be needed.

I think it's funny that a bookend could also make a great floating bookshelf!

Upcycling vinyl records

2011-07-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Seen on pinterest.com

Sometimes it's hard to say if it's upcycling or destruction... But it makes beautiful butterflies too!...
I'm on vacation in France with family until August 5th but I will try to see if I can find upcycling ideas or projects there.

Upcycling a three ring binder

2011-07-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

I needed hooks next to my BBQ to hang a towel or some tools for grilling.
This project could also fit in a kitchen or an office.

The tools needed:
Pliers and scissors

The material:
A 3 ring binder and 2 screws.

How to make it:
There's no really need for a tutorial on this one. The tricky part might be to remove the rings from the hard cover using the pliers.

These hooks are great outside since you can close them and secure from the wind the stuff hanging.

This upcycling project is not my idea, I give all the credit to Bettina who's also one of my wonderful and creative followers.

Upcycling the Mason Jar

2011-07-08T05:03:00.000-07:00

Found on Etsy

There are probably tons of upcycling ideas with mason jars, but I really like the lamp concept.

As a chandelier in the kitchen or hanging on the wall, electric or with candles, the uneven glass reflects and diffuses the light in a beautiful way. I haven't started this project yet, but, inspired by these pictures, I really consider making mason jar lamps hanging on my deck with electric lighting, a new tutorial to come then...

From Kara paslay designs

Seen on Anna's blog with tutorial

Here is a tutorial to make the candle one.

The good thing about this project is that it's fairly simple as long as you are very careful when you play with electricity!! if you have any question about how to make one of this project, just drop me a comment or an email.

My blog featured on Remodelaholic !!!!!

2011-07-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

I had the honor of being invited to write a guest post on Remodelaholic.com about the fishbone chair replica that I made from salvaged plywood. Have a look! A big thanks to Cassity for the invite!

Sad News for upcycling....

2011-07-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

This is a variation of the torch made with bottle of wine posted here. A simple project that looks good on picture. You can find the attachments in the plumbing department at your local store.

Also, sad news for magazines. Readymade Magazine won't publish anymore... Decision from the parent company. It was a great magazine that will be missed by all upcyclers... The website is still working though.

Plastic crates are upcyclable too!

2011-07-01T05:03:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I would do this upcycling for myself, but I must admit that these sophisticated and sustainable milk crate furnitures look really stylish.
The ceiling light is also an interesting and colorful piece of art.

Upcycling wine crates

2011-06-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

You can upcycle wine crates at different levels. From a useful shelf to art exhibit. This is few pictures showing how versatile these wood boxes could be. And how easily you can modify them.

You can find wheels at amazon for less than $10 the set of 4! you just have to use wood screws to attach them.
When you hang crates like this, you have to make sure it's well attached to your wall, and that no kids will try to use the structure as a ladder. You better use good wood screws to attach the crate to a stud. Between the studs, use at least three butterfly anchors for each crate, they look like this, it's pretty strong:

Probably my favorite upcycling from ciclismo jewelery

A side table from Nicolas Maison on Etsy

A basket from the garden crate company

I'd like to end this overview with a little bit of art with australian artist Tracey Johnson who uses his jigsaw to open the crates and creates light sculptures.

Iphone/Ipod charging dock

2011-06-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

No new project to post yet, but I found this cool, elegant and decorative docking station that could be a future project. Old good-looking books are easy to find and it's an inexpensive project. If you are lazy or don't have enough time, you can find some on etsy for around $60.

Upcycling an Imac

2011-06-17T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is what I found in the trash this morning at my workplace...The one I found is not working anymore, and I'm looking for ideas to upcycle it. The most obvious is the desk lamp called the iLamp. It's a cool idea I found on the web, I'm still wondering if it's stable... I really want to try my own version with how-to-do-it instructions, unless you have a better idea?? Let me know!

The iLamp

Upcycling shipping pallet into a trunk (2/2)

2011-06-14T05:06:00.000-07:00

This Saturday, I had time to finish the trunk. Keep in mind that this trunk will stay in my son's bedroom, so the blue might be a bit too much to your taste but I wanted to stay away from white or just wood. It's also the only wood staining bottle I had in my workshop...

The tools needed:
Wood screws, a drill/screwdriver, a jigsaw (or table saw), a brush.

The Material:

2 regular Shipping pallets.

The cost:

$1 for the screws.

$3 for the hinges.

The Result:

How to make it:

The main important step is (like the chair made from shipping pallet) to make each side of the trunk.

This is how they should look like (front and back view):

Once this is done, the most difficult is done, you just have to select and cut the length you want the pieces of wood for the front, back and bottom.

The lid is made of 2 pieces attach together with leftover from the legs. This is a flat view of the lid (seen from the bottom):

Conclusion:

The project can be done in 2 week ends. I think I can do some more upcycling on this trunk by using a rope as a handle to open the trunk. I'll post as soon as I find some rope...

Upcycling a coffee cup sleeve

2011-06-10T05:22:00.000-07:00

In the last issue of ReadyMade Magazine, there's the new MacGyver Challenge. It's about upcycling a coffee cup sleeve. Since I have heard about this challenge, there were only one thing I could think about that is easy to make.....An other Ipad holder !!!! Please don't think I am a monomaniac with only one think in mind (beside upcycling) but this holder was the obvious project, made for a coffee cup sleeve.

The tool needed:

Almost nothing beside a razor blade and a pencil/ruler

The material:

Almost nothing beside having an Ipad to test it...

The cost:

The price of 2 cups of coffee :-) I don't drink so much coffee, so yesterday I went to the coffee place and took 4 sleeves to give it a try and left right away. I don't know if somebody saw me but they might have thought I was crazy.

The Result:

How to make it:

You need 2 coffee cup sleeves and follow the schematic:

You have to cut through the 2 layers (front and back)

As you can see, Front and back have different cutting patterns

Conclusion:

- It's posted on readyMade website, please come and say you like it... if you do ;-)

- It's also possible to use only one sleeve, and it's almost as stable and sturdy than 2 sleeves:

Ikea Hacks

2011-06-07T04:41:00.000-07:00

Made by Gisbert Van Ginkel

Something I found few weeks ago that I wanted to share with you. There are people recycling/upcycling Ikea's products! They hack Ikea :-)
What a cool idea to gather all the projects in one website! The best project are gathered in the Ikea hack of the year !

These are my favorites, from stylish ideas to practical use:

I'd like to send my own Ikea Hack, but first, I'll have to convince my wife to let me play with our Lack coffee tables...

Upcycling shipping pallet into a trunk (1/2)

2011-06-06T05:22:00.000-07:00

My son, like most of the lucky kids, has a lot of toys in his room. It's a bit overwhelming. So far, we found easy solutions with Ikea:

But Now, I think it's time to upcycle the shipping pallets I collected recently, see my post.

My project is an old-looking trunk that is using less than 2 shipping pallets, and I will post this project in two parts, because I haven't finished it yet.

I spent 3 hours this week-end, mainly planning where each piece of wood would go because they were a bit damaged and also I had to think about very simple ways to attach everything, nothing fancy so everybody could give it a try, it's like playing Lego!

From wood selection...

...To something that looks like a trunk

I still need to attach the lid and add wood to connect the back

What I have left to do:
I have to buy hinges that will open the trunk, a good sander like this one and some white or blue wood staining to finish the trunk with an old style look.

Trick of the day:

Please don't repeat it, but you might think that using a $180 belt sander to finish an upcycling project is a bit too much. I would agree, and it's really an optional step (you might want to keep the original printing on the wood), BUT I like to test the different tools available at my tool store, and once the project will be done, I'm planning on returning it so that next time I will try a new one. That's what I like about living in the US, it's really easy to do. I have tried a lot of tools this way and sometime I keep one I really like :-)

I will post next week the final result and maybe a schematic like the one I did for the chair here, I will need my next week-end to finish it, now I announced it the pressure is on me!

The Big Picture

2011-06-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

The Fishbone-chair making process can be seen by clicking here

I have a lot of upcycling ideas but posting is much faster than finishing projects.
Also, upcycling is not my only hobby, I like woodwork (than can be associated with upcycling when I use shipping pallets) and also like crafting in area I'm not use to. I guess I'm pretty eclectic.

That's why today I want to post a picture I have done by combining digital picture, printing, drawing and "painting". It's hard for me to use the word "painting" because I know that real talented painters are following my blog and I wouldn't like to offense them...

I needed to hang a fun painted picture of my son in his bedroom and wanted to make it myself. I decided to "upcycle" a simple printed picture into a painted on canvas picture, I'm stretching a little bit the "upcycling" definition so this project can fit into my blog ;-)

This is the original picture and the photoshopped one using the threshold function (Image/Adjustments/Threshold):

How to make it:

I printed the photoshopped picture in full size. Because I don't have a full size printer to accomodate a picture bigger than letter size or A4 format. I divided the picture in many pieces and printed them, then I reconstituted the full picture.

The most difficult step is to reproduce the picture on canvas. To do it, I perforated with a fine pencil the paper and step by step, I linked all the dots to get a pretty faithful picture on canvas. The last step is painting. I had only blue ink and was lazy and too impatient to go to the store. It turned out OK with the blue color choice.

Cost:

The canvas was less than $5 from my art store (http://www.utrechtart.com/) and if you have a computer and a printer, it's a pretty cheap project.

Conclusion:

This is a fairly simple technique with endless possibilities. The original picture itself is the only limit to the technique and using the threshold function in photoshop does not give always a good picture.

Upcycled Bowls, Baskets and Lamps

2011-05-31T05:48:00.000-07:00

"Baskets" made of cable ties and vinyl tubes.

Brian Jewett makes wonderful creations using simple material. It's simple but it's also a lot of work...

Have a look at the anemone-like basket or the cactus with its red flowers made of valve handles!

On my side, I have started to upcycle a shipping pallet to make a little bench/trunk, I'll do my best to post it as soon as I finish it, maybe next week.

Bowls made of Ticket rolls.

35mm film Bowls

Upcycling a Lego brick into a USB key

2011-05-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to try this upcycling project. If you are lazy you can also buy the already-made key from the Lego store, but where is the fun?
I had an old USB key that I salvaged and kept for the day I would find Lego bricks... Now my son is old enough to play with Lego and so am I.

How to make it

I used a needle heated on a flame to empty the brick and leave just enough space for the USB key to fit, that's the most critical part. In my case, the key sticks inside the brick just by itself, but glue might be needed in some cases.

The only thing I don't have is a thin piece of Lego to close the bottom of the brick, because my son does not have any...yet. I will wait, but for now I use a regular brick.

This is other homemade USB key, I found online:

Made by Andrew

Corks

Teddy Bear

Upcycled PET plastic

2011-05-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not really into jewelry, but I must admit that what Gülnur Özdağlar can do is really creative and needs some obvious skills. Since 2008, she's making necklace, earrings but also brooches and buttons from plastic bottles. She also makes bowls and home decoration accessories. She's using the original color of the bottle to make these beautiful translucent creations.

Ring, necklace and brooch

Some of her work is available on Etsy and it's really affordable

My favorite bowl

How to make it?

If you want to give it a try, there's a tutorial on Instructables (posted by the artist herself) that will give you all the directions to make a bowl. Have fun!

The fused plastic bags

2011-05-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

By Mandolyn on Etsy.com

Bag made by Bekha Worley available on etsy.com

Made by Chezlin.

It's a classic in upcycling material, and people don't stop being creative with these fused plastic bags.
The bags are fused using an iron and parchment paper on the top of the folded bags. That's the kind of project I would like to try but my sewing skills are close to none. I'll pass on this one but I love what people do and I hope to see Ipad and more computer bags made out of this technique.
Supermarket are selling shopping bags with their own fused plastic bags like Target with the help of the upcycling and recycling company Terracycle.

Interesting story:
By recycling the front cover of Newsweek magazine into an enveloppe, you could send plastic bag to Terracycle and receive a coupon to get the $6 upcycled-bag from Target free, they received 35,000 enveloppes! Here is the full story.

This is a link that will show you how to fuse the bags, click Here.

The Bic Daisy Vase

2011-05-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

Would you guess that this cute little vase is made from a Bic pen?
The daisy vases are hand blown and molded by designers Jim termeer and Jess Giffin.
It's probably not easy to make, specially to get a perfectly stable vase, but I'll have to give it a try one day!

Upcycled art

2011-05-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to start posting some of the cool things that could be made with recycled material and that do not have any functional purpose beside being a piece of art.
Doing art using recycled material is also part of the upcycling definition.

You know the definition?
"Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value."

Starting with the most basic set up: a piece of garbage that a clever set-up and a lighting effect turn into art from Tim Noble & Sue webster.

Dirty White Trash (1998)

Sunset over Manhattan (2003)

He/She (2004)

Or Toby Fraley who's making awesome Robots and lamps from vintage object.

They are great source of inspiration to me, I'll try to add more art in my future posts, don't hesitate to send me cool links to upcycleus@gmail.com if you have some.

Transforming an old Mac G4 adapter into a desk clock

2011-05-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

I've found an "old" adapter that is supposed to adapt DVI to ADC. It was still wrapped with the protection film that usually comes with Apple new products.

The Tools

The Material

How to make it

The most difficult part is to empty it because most of old Apple product, and specifically adapter, are not supposed to be fixed or opened. There's no rule to empty the adapter. Just use your imagination and a screw driver without breaking the shell. Then using the drill, just use the drill with tiny bits (and progressively increase the size of the bit until you get the right size), make a hole in the apple logo to fit the clock mechanism.

Conclusion

This is a cheap project, the clock mechanism can be taken from an old clock or does not cost more than $3. You can also buy a $1 clock from Ikea and take the mechanism. I would prefer to use thinner hands, they are a bit too thick and are hiding the apple logo to0 much. That's all I had in stock this week end.

Slot Chair

2011-05-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

In the same spirit of the cardboard chair, few years ago, I designed a chair very similar to that one, but my design had some sturdiness issues, specifically at the base of the back. Rawstudio has reinforced the back using a clever design and for £195 pounds this chair or this bench can be yours!

Starting my day with a great find!...

2011-04-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

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:

Fun cardboards

2011-04-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

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.

The art of reuse contest

2011-04-25T05:16:00.000-07:00

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...

Solar soda lights

2011-04-21T06:03:00.000-07:00

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:

A bowl made of melted plastic soldiers

2011-04-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Reusing clothes hangers

2011-04-12T04:21:00.000-07:00

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

Upcycling a frisbee

2011-04-08T05:14:00.000-07:00

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!

Transforming beer cans into art

2011-04-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

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.

3 original ways to recycle plastic bottles

2011-04-05T05:02:00.000-07:00

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 !

Another use for an old Mac G4

2011-04-04T04:57:00.000-07:00

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.