Archive for the 'Upcycling' Category

Upcycled Wine Bottle Torch

Saturday, September 19th, 2009
Wine Bottle Torch

Wine Bottle Torch

Gerard & Co has a nice write up on how to turn a a used wine bottle into a rather elegant looking outdoor torch. Could be a pretty cheap project for your next party if you’ve got some wine bottles laying around.

Link [via Make:]

Turn a lame ass shopping cart into a bad ass easy chair.

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Shopping Cart Chair
Living in Gainesville, Fl I see literally hundreds of shopping carts abandoned on the side of the road. As far as I know, most of these will end up in landfills since many are generic with no identification for where they’re from or damaged to a point that stores can’t reuse them. So, if you see a shopping cart lying around that seems like it will most likely be disposed of and you’re in need of a pretty sweet chair, this PDF from Make Magazine is for you.

Link (PDF file)

Toy kits require recycled goods

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

Uberstix bottle

I remember as a kid I always wanted all kinds of kits to build, but inevitably parts would break and you’d just have to buy more parts or the whole kit all over again. It sucked. Well the folks at ÜBERSTIX have solved part of the problem. The toys you build don’t only require what comes in the box, but instead you have to find “trash” around your house to finish them off. They basically supply connectors to link the junk together and provide you with project ideas. Great way to jump start your kid into the world of upcycling.

Link

Store extension cords using paper towel tubes

Sunday, March 16th, 2008

Paper towel tube extension cord

Another simple idea using paper towel tubes, use them to store extension cords.

Link-via unclutterer

Paper/Vinyl Wallet

Friday, March 7th, 2008

I bought a wallet made from Tyvek about 2 years ago and it’s held up pretty well but is now starting to fall apart, so maybe I’ll make myself one of these guys.

Vinyl Wallet

Demokr from Instructables has a nice write up of how to make these from either paper or vinyl. I have scrap paper all over the place but I think that will just be a mess, and I don’t think vinyl is that readily available to the average person ( that is without buying it, big no no). Instead you could use some of those plastic bags you have laying around, bind them together and make it out of that.

Link-via Instructables

No cost laptop sleeves

Monday, February 25th, 2008

No Cost Laptop Sleeve

Here’s a link to several ways of making low to no cost laptop sleeves provided by Geek Technique.

Link

Polystyrene (a.k.a. Styrofoam) to glue

Friday, February 8th, 2008

polystyrene

We just added a new article on what to do with all that Styrofoam you usually have lying around. Thanks, Brad.

This procedure involves dissolving Styrofoam in a solvent and using the resultant gloop as a glue.

Let us know if you’ve tried this, we’d love to hear how well it works.

Link

Recycled Chopsticks Folding Baskets

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Chopsticks Basket

Kwytza Kraft has some cool products made from old chopsticks, like the fruit basket pictured above. They also offer some other products, like lamps and a necklace. It would probably be pretty easy to make these on your own, I know I have enough chopsticks laying around at my place to do it…..

Link

Add your chopsticks project to the UpCycleIt archives.

Boost Your Wifi Connection With a Soda Can

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Soda Can

A pretty good idea by these guys, not sure how well it works, but seems promising. Cut open a soda can and use it to direct your wifi signal.

Link, via Metacafe

Click here to add this to the UpCycleIt archives.

Make Your Own Messenger Bag

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Bre Pettis Messenger Bag

Make: magazine has a great write-up on how to make your own hot looking messenger bag (or really any kind of bag) using plastic bags. Here’s the link to the pdf document.

Link

And here’s the link to our article on the same subject (binding plastic).