Traveling for Trash

I talk a lot about my upcycling - for instance while I am getting my trashy roots dyed at the salon I ease drop on conversations and insert myself not because I'm nosey but rather because I'm bored (this looking beautiful thing is long hard work lol) and of course I somehow get to talking about how I make things out of trash. well on this particular occasion the lady I was talking to had a trunk full of games that she had tried to donate to salvation army but they wouldn't take them because they didn't have the time to make sure all the pieces where there, really? yep really! So guess who has them now? Yep me! So I have taken what I can use and recycled what I can't.

Now I also meet someone who is quality control for a company that makes tractor kind of seats so they get rolls of vinyl in then test it and if it's bad well they don't have anything to do with it because the recycling company only takes small pieces and the company they buy the vinyl from doesn't want the defective vinyl back so I was more than happy to volunteer to take it off of their hands! Heres my first roll! Now what to make?






And so it goes on.....I got an email last week from someone who works at Dow Corning and seems they orders these shiny silver bags from 3m but they were the wrong size and didn't meet their standards for some reason so to the trash they were headed but this wonderful lady got the go ahead to give them to me! Now what to make with them? Oh I think there's at least 250 in each box!








Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trashy Friends

I found someone that was more than happy to join my cause and now sends me all the used gift cards she collects at work (Trader Joes). She found me Now that i think about - lucky me! Here's a picture of the last batch. I love to get mail and when it turns out to be trashy mail it's that much more exciting.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trashy finds

So when I went to the dumpster at work to throw out the trashy I found some goodies that missed the dumpster and were just waiting for me to find! Not sure what I'm going to make with my finds but they made me happy nonetheless!

What is it you wonder? Well baby metal washers & frankly I have no idea what it is that we sell that uses them (that will be my mission this week to find out). The sparkly nuggets are from a broken glass backboard (basketball hoop).




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Craptastic

So I am an avid drinker of WoodChuck which is a cider draft ~ it's apple cider liquored up! anyway the green glass bottle it comes in are not returnable~ Michigan has .10cents  returnables but for some reason these ones aren't so I recycle them but we can't recycle glass in our curbside recycling bin and the big recycling dumpster at work only takes clear glass. So i have to drive a ways to the recycling center that will take them. So now you can image this gets to be a pain in the rear on some occasions so I thought I should just make something out of this glass! So I bought an industrial rock polishing thing and thought I could break the glass then tumble it to look like sea glass~ It did just that but then it sat there I just didn't have the drive to do anything else with it. So then I got the idea that I must have a kiln to melt it then I would use it in some jewelry pieces. Great idea but I really didn't want to plunk down $500 bucks on a kiln then for it to sit there because it didn't really do what I wanted. I talked about this kiln must have for a long time then a friend saw this Microwave kiln and it was cheap (well cheap enough I could justify it!) it worked right off the bat but now it's not doing what it was before but still melting the glass! I have to figure out the bugs.

Now that I had my melted glass piece I was finally inspired to make something with it! I made this necklace it's main piece is the woodchuck glass then the rest of the charms are recycled pieces like a used gift card, metal bottle cap, button, star charm that was in the junk drawer! I want to call these necklaces "CrapTastic Necklaces " but I am not thinking that will fly with the customer that might want to purchase it! Any suggestions would be welcome!

Find more at www.RadicalRecycks.etsy.com

Upcycled Bracelets!

So I can't get the Used Gift card medium out of my head so here's what else is on my 2011 to make list!
Bracelet's I of course first thought I should make them how I make my plastic bottle charm bracelets like the Elephant one below........................

but after some pondering thought you really couldn't see the gift cards and that wouldn't be much fun so this is what I dreamed up!

Gift Cards

So I found another use for used gift cards~ as this is my idea out of the gate but for me it's a nice addition to my used gift card line! Guitar picks! my son plays a little and he thinks they are cool!
You can get a set over at my easy shop www.RadicalRecycks.etsy.com  If you have a custom request let me know!

Mail Trash

So yesterday the gifts I purchased online start to pour in and I am thinking what am I going to wrap them in? I am not sure if I have enough packing paper saved up from the year to wrap everything so I had seen that there was a tutorial on how to turn a tyvek (those postal envelopes that you can't tear) envelope into something not sure didn't read the tutorial but I am sure this is how it turned out! so I went down stairs (hobbled because I pulled my lower back garbage picking on Monday!) and whip up this cute bag from a priority envelope! it could so be used for a Thank You gift and you could just circle the word Thank you that is printed all over the inside of the bag! but for Christmas it to will work since it's red right? So now I am looking at the mail in a whole new light!

Party time

I am sure you know that I work at a place that sells swing sets and because we have a hugh indoor showroom we had two party rooms built when we built the building so on weekends there are up to 8 parties! well I put recycling bins in the party rooms, a sign on the wall guilting them into recycling for their children and even a sign on the party room door but to my dismay only a few of them actually recycle! I ask the employees to leave the trash from the sunday parties so I can sift thru it on Monday pulling out all the plastic bottles, returnables, plastic silverware, juice pouches and any wrapping paper that hasn't found the food! The saturday parties trash tends to start smelling by sunday so the employees  feel them must toss it so I figure I have to let it go and know that I am doing something by saving those who had parties on Sunday~ damn those Saturday folks!lol!

Well a lot of people out there make all sorts of stuff from juice pouches and I really don't feel I need to travel that road since it's so well traveled (I like to take the road less traveled & bumpy) but everytime I have a show I get the "oh you make stuff like those juice pouch bags" No people I don't! but to stop them from saying that & the fact that I do come across a poop ton of pouches I decided to make these juice pouch Pockets! everyone loves them and at $2 a pop who wouldn't!

Project's in Work

Well I got into a Nov show and waiting on word for the December one but I do have a truck show in December so that should be good for some Christmas Cash!

Today I got all my Wristlets prepped and ready to be assembled! My friend cuts my patterns for me and I pay her so wait that means I have an employee! I'm moving up to being a real business!

Flower Pot

My god son and his siblings had their yearly birthday party so I wanted to make something special for their mom that would represent me and my love for them so I had the idea to make flowers from plastic bottles with stems made from plastic silverware and the pot was a soup can collage pauged then filled with plastic caps for the filler~ oh the best part was a picture of each one of them in the center of the flower~ you can see a picture of it on my Facebook Fan page just search Radical Recycks. So I was so loving how it turned out I decided to just make some with nothing in the middle for decoration~someone had given me these old Avon containers that I had not come up with anything for yet so they  made the perfect pot & instead of plastic caps since they were a bit to big for the pot I used those glass pebbles that I have had floating around my house for years now!! I used a plastic fork for the stem since i couldn't glue the steam to the flower. How cute would these look at a wedding shower for the guest gift!

It's about time Lady!

Well my freind has been on me that I need to make myself a purse to use as it's the best form of advertising! My friend Wendy from http://www.recycledlps.com/ cares around one of her album purses and someone noticed it and did an interview with her for national geographic! If you love it flaut it!

My problem is everytime I made one that I wanted I ended up selling it! the last one I drew up plans and everything just had some finishing touches. Then I did the Maker Faire and sold more than half my bags the first day so I had to finsih it up and put it out there for sale~ It was the first bag to sell the second day! So finally I made one for myself and here it is!

Stick a Fork in it!

A few weeks ago I was at a wedding shower and of course I noticed the bottled water, plastic cups, paper plates, plastic silverware and then all the wrapping paper! well it took everything I had not to be the Recycle Police but I managed to pick the coolest table in the whole world to sit at and seems these ladies (well most of them ) had the same Love for our Mother Earth as I do! So as I was shoving all the plastic bottles I could in my purse I look up to see someone (OK she was only 4!) throw the plastic wrapping bag from a gift in the trash~ see I thought I could just discreetly go up to the head of the room after and snag the bag of trash that held all the wrapping paper~ so this just broke me and I had to weasel out of the corner and dig it out of the trash in the middle of this shower~ lucky for them they were to busy chatting to hopefully even notice but I doubt it! Oh well they can say what they want I am do it for them (and me too). I also asked what they were doing with all the plastic table clothes and now they are in my possession along with all the wrapping paper! But for the best part~ the plastic silverware well I just couldn't throw it away so I shoved it to in my purse and had the ah ha moment that night! and here it is a ring! I love it so and at my day job we have birthday parties were they use tons of plastic silverware!

Plastic House

I taught at ArtFiberFest back in June, sadly it was the last year it will be hosted BUT I also took a class with Charlotte Lyons (here's her blog http://housewrenstudio.typepad.com/ ) we made houses out of felt ~ we had so much fun chatting and sewing~ It was a great day! She inspired me to make a "Plastic House" I think it could use a bottle cap fence but I'm working on it~ not enough time in the day for all my ideas dammit!