Oct
31
Halloween Lantern
October 31, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Here’s a truly sustainable jack-o-lantern: one that’s made from recycled materials, PLUS one that can be used year after year. You’ll find this silly pumpkin face, which is made from an antique sap bucket and holds a tealight candle, on sale at Uncommon Goods, a prime place to find — um — uncommonly good gifts.
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Oct
30
Junk to Funk Fashion Show
October 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The submission deadline has passed for the second annual Junk to Funk fashion show in Portland, but you can still observe the recycled fashion action by attending the event. It’s set for Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Wonder Ballroom. All ticket sales will benefit Orlo, a nonprofit organization using the creative arts to explore environmental [...]
Oct
29
Recycled Journals
October 29, 2007 | 1 Comment
The Etsy shop subu offers a multitude of pocket-sized personalized notebooks and journals, all made from discarded printer paper. Each handcrafted book is held together with hemp twine, and a number of books are embellished with vintage button closures. You can even custom-order a book by specifying cover color, stamp embellishments and closure type. Some [...]
Oct
28
Crushed Can Art
October 28, 2007 | 1 Comment
Artist Charles Kaufman’s work can be found on the pages of underground comic books and on gallery walls around the world. His colorful cartoonish paintings can also be found on used aluminum soda and beer cans.
“Using acrylic paints I create a painting on one side of the crushed can,” he writes. “My Crushed Can artwork [...]
Oct
26
Garden Hose Vase
October 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
If you find yourself “fixing” your leaky garden hose with duct tape, then maybe it’s time to consider making it into something pretty. I learned about this industrial chic multi-pronged bud vase by Dan Pearlman (of Objects of Desire) from the Recycled Crafts Yahoo group. Just bend several pieces of hose as shown and attach [...]
Oct
24
Connect Four Photo Framer
October 24, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Steven James, owner of macaroni and glitter, created a charming Connect Four Photo Frame and Calendar for Craftster’s monthly challenge of transforming an old board game into something new. (Alas, this wasn’t the winning entry, but it is in my book!) He writes:
“When my dog turned the checkers of a Connect Four game into several [...]
Oct
22
Leg Warmers — for Your Arms
October 22, 2007 | 1 Comment
I’m in love with these handcrafted arm warmers, “Armies,” by Gaye Abandon. Made from recycled sweaters, the entire line of Armies gives wearers the mobility they need in their hands without the more-often-than-not ragged look found in fingerless gloves. Plus, they’re just so darn cute.
Technorati Tags: arm warmer, recycled sweater, wool, Armies
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Oct
21
A New Kind of Bottle Cap Craft
October 21, 2007 | 2 Comments
Burned out on bottle cap crafts? Then maybe you haven’t seen this: Kawaii Crafter of zakka life presents a unique take on bottle cap functional art in her understated but artsy bottle cap bowl, made from the colorless plastic disks found inside soda bottle caps. She shows us how she laid out the disks in [...]
Oct
20
MacGyver Runners-Up
October 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment
I hope ReadyMade magazine continues to show the MacGyver contest runners-up on its website, because there are lots of great ideas that unfortunately didn’t quite make the cut to be used in publication. For example, runner-up Brie Neel of Sophia, West Virgina, fashioned this creative, colorful lanyard for her glasses in the previous issue’s dead [...]
Oct
19
Mash-Up Contest
October 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The Instructables / ReadyMade magazine Mash-Up Contest is a recycled artist’s dream. The idea is to take two unseemingly related objects and “mash” them into one “I never thought of doing that!” end result. The Instructables site even lists a few ideas to get you thinking, including such archived projects as Remote Control Drawer Pulls, [...]

Alissa Cyphers is your CraftGossip Recycled Crafts Editor. 