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Terr says...

Talk about having extra seating when you need it.

The FlexibleLove Folding Chair was designed by Chishen Chiu. He stumbled upon a small factory producing ‘honeycombed’ sheets of recycled paper in suburban Taipei one day, and was intrigued. Taking the idea of the honeycomb structure and creating cardboard palettes to replace traditional wooden palettes, he believed the material could be applied to create any rigid structure. Within days, the idea for FlexibleLove had been sketched out and turned into a working model.

Compacted, it’s a sturdy seat for one. But all you need to do is stretch out the accordian-like structure into any appropriate seating shape and blammo! instant party.

This durable furniture is produced from widely-available recycled materials like paper and wood waste, and is made using pre-existing manufacturing processes in order to reduce its overall impact on the environment.

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

Filed under: recycled

Melissa says...

Paper Christmas Wreath Tutorial

After creating my advent calendar I had some left over paper and I was inspired to make a paper wreath. I am entering it in the Birdie Know-It-All Tutorial Contest.

If you'd like to give it a go you'll need the following materials:
• 1 to 2 sheets of wrapping paper - I used the same paper in 2 different colour ways.
Think outside the square with your paper choice - you needn't use wrapping paper, it could be magazine pages, all white paper, old comic books, anything! Patterned scrapbooking paper would also look fab. You needn't limit it to 2 patterns, if you kept to a consistent colour palette you could use any number of patterns.
• 1 large and one smaller plate, salad bowls or similar to trace around (unless you have a really big compass??)
• lightweight cardboard
I used ivory card, but it could just be the side of a box because it will be hidden. The size you'll need will depend on the size of your bowls.
• scissors
• stapler
• sticky tape
• ribbon - roughly 65cm

Start by finding your plates or bowls to trace around. The diameter of my large salad bowl is 34cm, and the smaller one is 21cm. If your circles are much larger or smaller you will have to adjust the size of your leaves accordingly. The diameter of my finished wreath is 42cm, which is the perfect size to hang on a door.

1. Place the large bowl upside down on the cardboard and trace around it.
2. Place the small bowl upside down in the centre of the circle you've just drawn and trace around it.
3. Cut around the outside of the largest circle. Then cut across your circle, through the centre until you reach the far edge of the small circle. Next cut across the line you just cut so you now have a + in the centre of your circle. This just makes it easier to cut the small circle out. Cut out the small circle so you end up with a donut shape. Join the open ends of the donut back together with sticky tape.
4. Draw a leaf shape about 12.5 cm long on a piece of paper, and cut it out to use as a template. I cut the point off one end of the leaf so I knew which end was the bottom. I used 64 leaves in total, of which 16 were white. The number of leaves you need may vary slightly depending on how much you overlap your leaves.

5. Roll the bottom edges of the leaf together so they overlap and the sides curl up.
6. Staple the rolled leaf to the bottom, just off centre, of the wreath base so the open end of the leaf is pointing out and down.
7 & 8. Continue rolling each leaf as you go, stapling them in position so they overlap the previous leaf. They need to overlap and be placed close to each other so the cardboard base and the staples aren't visible. The leaves should be positioned so that they follow the curve of the wreath base. The placing is fairly random, the leaves aren't in rows. If you are using an accent paper (like my white one) place one for every 4 -6 of the main colour leaves. Make the colour placement random too.

Looking at the back of the wreath you can see that the staples
attach the leaves to the centre of the cardboard ring,
and the leaves fan outwards.

9. & 10. Continue stapling the leaves in place. I found it useful to stop often and hold the wreath at arms length so I could see the overall shape that was being formed. Make sure the tips of your leaves follow the curve of the wreath base.
When you have reached half way stop and go back to your original starting point. Now start again from this point, facing your leaves the other way and going in the opposite direction around the wreath. Make sure that you overlap the leaves at the starting point, so there are no gaps. If this seems a bit too tricky you can always just continue on as you were all the way around the circle so all your leaves will be facing the same way. Complete the circle of leaves.
11. & 12. Tie a half bow in your ribbon so there is a small loop and one short and one long end. Thread the long end behind in the leaves in the top centre of the wreath. Staple the ribbon to the wreath.

The wreath is so light that it can easily be hung with Blu-Tac. I just put a blob each at the top and the bottom of the wreath and one on the top of the ribbon.


And that's it. Using a stapler makes it pretty quick and easy. If you're going to give this a go and any of the directions are unclear I'm happy to answer any questions.

I hope you have as much fun making this as I did.

Important Note: This tutorial is supplied for personal use only.

Update 16 December:
Click
here to see the wreaths Joelle made from this tutorial.

Update 19 December:
Click
here to see Amy's paper wreath made from this tute.

Update 22 December:
Click
here for Katie's paper wreath made from the tutorial.

One of the rules of the Birdie Know-It-All contest was that I include a photo of me or someone close to me with the finished project. I did comply, but have since deleted the photos.

Further update: I won the competition! Yay!


-------------------------------------------------

Filed under: recycled

I have entered a brave new world...that's right:  Etsy!!  I figured a poorly attended craft fair at a church on a Wednesday night in early November was a prime market research opportunity, so that's where I made my creative debut.  I've sold my jewelry in retail stores before, but it was just my jewelry in the stores -- not my pride.  The craft fair went fairly well.  I thought it would -- until 5 minutes before the doors opened and I wondered what I'd do with 300 unsold refrigerator magnets.  But here I am on Etsy -- "A Marketplace for Handmade Goods." 
 
Happy Browsing -- I'll build the store in increments.  But in the meantime, doesn't your eco-obsessed cousin need magnets made from recycled security envelopes?
http://worthingtoncreative.etsy.com
 
 

Filed under: recycled

0c70m100y0k says...

8,320 creases
2,080
folds
520 slivers of pop culture
Countless hours of Reno 911!
Many thanks to MTW (for supplying the raw material, and a pair of helping hands)
2 years of GQ
1 piece of art

             

Filed under: recycled

thegeekpea says...

 

Filed under: recycled

thegeekpea says...

Here is a fun accessory for your geeky apartment, the Recycled Turntable Clock, which was made using an old Fischer turntable, it features a quartz clock movement and would look great on anyone’s wall.

Recycled Turntable Clock

Recycled Turntable Clock

The Recycled Turntable Clock measures 17 inches wide by 14 inches tall, and it can be hung all the wall with 2 wall hangers on the back.

If you want one of these funky Recycled Turntable Clock’s they are available for $89 from PixelThis over at Etsy, and each one comes with a different album on the turntable, you can also order ones with your favourite album.

Filed under: recycled

Kara says...

Before my son was born, I imagined that my child would have only a few toys (kids always seem to prefer playing with cardboard boxes and sand anyway, right? and who wants a spoiled child?) and most would be natural products i.e. wood and organic cotton, and FEW would be plastic. R-i--i-i-gggght. That was before I discovered how much everyone wants to spoil my child. And now I understand it. But, I still freak out at the number of toys the kid has and he's not even two yet. I'm also amazed at how much plastic has arrived at our home. There are some great alternatives out there though. My friend Christa reminded me of a great site called Real Goods that sells a number of sustainably-themed kids toys, as well as solar powered products, composters, organic and recycled household items. They have some wicked looking solar powered race cars, as well as these recycled construction vehicles.

These rough and tumble recycled toy trucks are made from a child-safe recycled plastic and reclaimed sawdust composite material. Flip-open cabs, easy-grab handles, and functional moving parts make them loads of fun for little hands.

At only $12 on sale ($15 reg) each, they're a great purchase. Many local stores also carry toys that are wooden, non-toxic, recycled and/or organic, so eco-toys are a much easier option, even if you don't like shopping online.

Filed under: recycled

frostyland says...

from http://www.artgrange.com/michellesculpture.html, via Make Magazine.

"Michelle Stitzlein creates found object art / sculpture from recycled materials, including piano keys, broken china, license plates, rusty tin cans, electrical wire, bottlecaps, and other miscellaneous items."

Filed under: recycled

littlejack says...

Love this set of DIY speakers – made from recycled cardboard, they fold flat and you can colour them yourself! Available from Urban Outfitters ::

       
Click here to download:
Cardboard_Speakers_D.I.Y.zip (125 KB)

Filed under: recycled

ludvig says...

In the trailer to The Limits of Control, there's a shot of Isaach de Bankolé sitting in an art gallery, in front of a painting of a white veil covering the white canvas (the veil might be an actual sheet, whether it's painted or not is next to impossible to tell; it's slightly reminiscent of the 17th century painter Domenico Fetti's early trompe-l'œil "Veil of Veronica", or rather like a minimalist, conceptual – secular? – version of it.)

Thanks to a friendly contact in Spain, who's also a Jim Jarmusch scholar, I've found out that the painting in question is called "Gran sábana" (roughly Grand Sheet, or Great Veil), and was made in 1968 by the Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies. The gallery holding the painting (and many others by Tàpies) is the Museo Nacional Centro de arte Reina, Sofìa in Madrid, Spain, where, of course, some of the film was shot.

More on Tàpies (in Spanish):
http://www.artelista.com/biografia/9055383618353783-Antoni-Tapies.html

     

Filed under: recycled