Final post part 4: last one, other projects i could not try

This project was a lot of fun and different. The reason I felt this qualified under improving our world was because of our trash issues. Like stated in my introduction, many people believe that recycling as a whole is not worth it. However, they bring no solutions to the table. By looking into making new items out of trash it provides a fun new option for our trash. They all are practical also. For example, I wanted Christmas decorations in my dorm room. To go buy a tree however would be a lot of money. Instead of buying a new plastic tree, I made one out of the boxes I had accumulated over the semester. Not only did I save money but I also didn’t buy something else that would become trash really soon. I hope that my project will spark others into looking into homemade items as well. There are so many ideas out there and I know I have not even hit the tip of the iceberg.

As I searched for ideas for myself, I came across many others. Here are some examples that I have found along with the website they are on.

This one is about cereal boxes and on the wordpress website http://repurposeful.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/7-ways-to-repurpose-a-cereal-box/

Another site with cereal boxes ideas http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/reuses-cereal-boxes.html

Other ideas from the same website http://planetgreen.discovery.com/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/dmazone7/managed-mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&tag=Five%20Reuses%20For&limit=20&MaxResults=25

Tin can ideas http://www.chasinggreen.org/article/re-using-tin-cans/

Aluminum can ideas http://www.aluminouspublishing.com/

aluminum can roses

what a tab purse can look like there are also dresses like this.

Milk jug ideas http://www.plantea.com/milk-jug.htm

Here are some sites with soda can jewlry. They are pretty cool and inventive http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/soda-can-jewelry

http://www.jewelsbyjazzy.com/popcanjewelry.html

star buck earings

lastly, here are some plastic bag ideas that i just found to be really cool. i found them by typing in plastic bag projects.

polar bear made from plastic bags plastic jewelry

boots made from plastic bags

I hope people enjoy this type of creativity as much as I do.

Final post part three: the Christmas tree

The next part was to make a christmas tree out of cardboard boxes. This is of my own design and is proudly displayed in my dorm room.

view from the top of the tree

To get started I opened all the boxes were it was connected with glue. I then pressed them flat for a while while I washed out three cans and a Snapple jug.

what i mean by opening the boxes

As those dried, I took two boxes of the same size and glued them together to make a cross shape. I made six layers of boxes that were different sizes (except the two levels of Ritz cracker boxes). I then attached each level. Level one (Honey Nut Cheerios boxes) I cut a hole around the middle an put it around the top of the Snapple jug. Level two (Special K boxes) I supper glued the boxes to the cover to the Snapple jug.

attachment

I then attached one of the cans in the middle of the second level. The third level was then attached to the top of that. This is conntinued until we get to the second to last level (Whales Cracker boxes). On top of that layer I attached a tape roll center and then added the sixth layer. The last part was adding a small top to give the tree a point. for this I used one box and cut it into a christmas tree shape. It is then connected together to make it have four sides. All parts are connected by super glue to keep the tree stable.

top of the tree

This part of the project was fun and it did not take that much time at all. The longest part was waiting for the cans and jug to dry after I washed them. It also was fun to bring the  Christmas spirit into my project.

Final Post part two: Jewelry made from cans

The next part of my project was to make jewelry out of cans. I made necklaces, bracelts, and earings. To make all of these, I washed out the can to start. I then cut the can open so it would lay flat, this sometimes required me to hammer the can with a malet or a regular hammer.

Using a sharp scissors, I cut out the shapes I wanted and I would then sand them to make sure they were not overly sharp.Holes were poked into each piece.

Different jewelry ideas

Each piece was then connected to a small metal circle to make it easier to attach to the chain or earing part.

Tools used to make jewelry

bracelets or necklesses

 

Earings

I also made some bracelets from a coca cola top and some tabs

Bracelets from cola top and tabs

For things like this batman neckless, I used super glue to stick the two different colors together.

Batman Neckless and a Question mark neckless

The process in making these items was very simple. I also have to say this was my favorite part because it allowed me to make what ever I wanted and it let my imagination flow.

 

Final posts part one: Knitting a bag out of Plastic bags

The first part of my project was to knit or crochet a bag. I ended up knitting a bag. Inorder to do this,I first had to make the yarn to knit with and then I looked up a simple knitting patteren from http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/free-purse-knitting-patterns4.htm. I had to modify it for what I had.

To make the yarn, I got the technique from my grandma’s friend. You cut the bag into strips (keeping both sides of the bag connected) and then you connect the strips by tying them togetherk. It is then easiest to roll the “yarn” into a ball but you have to twist the plastic to make it stronger.

strip for bag and a yarn ball

I casted on twenty stitches on to regular knitting needles. I then knitted 5 rows and then every three rows I switched between pearling and knitting. When I got to a nice length, I knitted the last 5 rows and then binded off. The handles were maded by casting on four stitches and just knitting them to a reasonable length and then binding off. I made sure they both wer about the same length. I then folded what I had  knitted for the main part of the bag and sewed the sides up with the plastic yarn and a safty pin for the needle. I then sewed on the handles in the same fashion.

the other option of crocheting would have looked like this.

for those who do not know the difference between knitting and crocheting, it is basically the tools and the technique that make it different.

This was most time consuming part of my project, but it is worth it. I ended up using about 20 bags or more and I made them into something else that is cute and usable.

 

Reuse and Remake: Introduction

Maddi Spletter

Lab 4

Introduction

Reuse and Remake

            “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” is an idiom that most people know. However, many people are not aware of how true this statement is.  A person’s trash can really be turned into treasure just by reusing different items, such as cans and glass bottles. Although the amount of time turns people away from the idea; it is just one solution to deal with the trash we accumulate. This project will deal with making new homemade items out of things that normally are thrown away or found in a landfill.

America is a big consumer society. As a result, we generate a lot of trash. In the year of 2010, “Americans generated about 250 million tons of trash.” (http://www.epa.gov 2011) Most Americans produce 4.43 pounds of waste per day. This is a lot of trash just for one country. However, imagine the world at this level of discarding trash. There is no place to put it, especially given the current world population. To reduce this, more people must start to recycle or reuse items. For example, a college student could reuse a Snapple bottle to store other liquids. They could buy a gallon of milk and split it with other people, putting their portion in a Snapple bottle. Another everyday item people could reuse could be old t-shirts by cutting them and turning them into rags. They are great for working in the garage and having a few extra rags to help with cleaning.

The reason this is so important is trash and recycling is an everyday thing people deal with. They have to decide whether to recycle or to throw used items in the trash. Most likely, people chose to throw things in the trash. One of the main explanations for this is that recycling seems incontinent for people unless the recycling bin is right in front of them. More people recycle when it is more convenient. (Ludwig, Gray, and Rowel 1998) There are also other inconveniences in dealing with recycling. “The inconvenience involved in storing and transporting recyclables, as well as lack of knowledge about how to recycle, also inhibit recycling.” (Derksen, and Gartrel 1993) However recycling is not only throwing things into a bin. It also can involve making trash into entirely new things. Put a new spin on trash can help find new ideas in what to do with all the items we throw away, as stated earlier. Others are thought only to belong in the recycling bin. This project will hopefully bring interest into a different world of reuse.

There are many ideas to try, however; the main concentration in this project is plastic bags. Plastic bags are seen as a menace, and people feel different about what to do with them. Most are just thrown into the trash after they are used. Other people do reuse them for trash containers. “In our everyday life with plastic bags their movement through different categories, from container to rubbish, generates different attitudes and modes of relating” (Hawkins 2001) There are also the new efforts in recycling plastic bags. People also feel different about that too. The article, “Doing away with plastic shopping bags: international patterns of norm emergence and policy implementation” by Jennifer Clappa and Linda Swanston, points out that recycling plastic bags actually is a loss because it takes more to recycle the bag than to make more. With these thoughts in mind, there is another outlet that these two theories do not have. That is the idea of making the bags into new things. These two articles seem to address only two sides of the issue. However, they never bring up any ideas in how to reuse the items in new ways other than melting the items to mold them into new things.

This new idea for plastic bags is making a bag out of plastic bags. The bags are made into a purse that is a lot sturdier than just one plastic bag.one simple idea to start off with, however, was to reuse them as garbage bags. However, making a bag out of plastic bags seemed more interesting. The original pattern is from friend’s grandma. With knowing how to knit the idea to knit a bag also became an option. Both are started and will be finished by the end. This project requires the person making the bag to not only crochet or knit the purse but also make the “string or yarn.” Making the string is the most difficult part because it involves cutting up bags, tying the strips together, twisting them, and rolling the string into a ball. It also requires a lot of bags to manage a decent sized bag. Nevertheless, this is a good aspect of using up a lot of the plastic bags that would end up being thrown out.

The second part of the project is making some jewelry from cans and some bottle caps. This would include one pair of earrings and a necklace. If time allows, there will be more made. The types of cans that will be used include Mountain Dew, Peace Tea, and Pepsi. There also will be some earrings made out of Snapple bottle caps and coke bottle caps. Bottle cap jewelry has become a popular trend. One of my teachers actually wears Starbuck earrings made from the Frappuccino bottle caps.

Next, to make will be a cardboard Christmas tree. With a huge pile of cracker boxes, there had to be some craft to make out of them. Thanks to Andrea Kraemer in my lab, they now will be made into a cardboard Christmas tree. In trying to find designs, they all seemed very simple. (http://www.decodir.com/wp-content/uploads//2009/11/cardboard-christmas-tree-decorating-ideas.jpg ) However, for the project they needed to be more original. The idea then came to layer the boxes instead of having to cut out the design. The base of the tree will be a Snapple jug. For ornaments, they will be made from plastic bottles and extra cardboard. It will be a fun project and also be just in time for the holidays.

The last part of the project is to share other ideas. With the time restrains and lack of other types of material, many projects that have been proposed cannot be made. There also many sights with different ideas that can be done. For example, there is http://www.etsy.com, a place where people can buy and sell homemade items. This site is also a great place to get ideas and to see what other people have thought of. Even just searching things that are reused on the internet brings up many different things that are made out of trash or other recyclable items. For instance, people have made boots out of plastic bags. (http://www.treehugger.com/style/seriously-cool-boots-from-recycled-plastic-bags.html ) They actually look cute and useable. There are so many different ideas that people can see that this project has not even hit the tip of the iceberg.

When starting this project, it was never intended to be this creative. Also I never knew that so many items could be reused in all these different ways. Some are very creative. Others are very simple. However the main point of this project is to inspire other people to find other ways to reuse items that are different and fun. Hopefully, my items will spark someone’s curiosity.

Resources:

“Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2010.” US EPA. United State Environmental Protection Agency, Nov 2011. Web. 19 Nov 2011. <http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw_2010_factsheet.pdf&gt;.

Ludwig, Timothy D., Timothy W. Gray, and Allison Rowel. “Increasing Recycling in Academic Buildings: A Systematic Replication .” Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 4 (1998): 683-86. Ncbi. Web. 21 Nov 2011. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1284165/pdf/jaba003100400683.pdf&gt;.

Derksen, Linda, and John Gartrel. “The Social Context of Recycling .” American Sociological Review 58.3 (1993): 434-42. JSTOR. Web. 21 Nov 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2095910&gt;.

Hawkins, Gay. “Plastic bags: Living with rubbish.” International Journal of Cultural Studies 4.1 (2001): 5-23. Sage Journals Online. Web. 20 Nov 2011. <http://ics.sagepub.com/content/4/1/5.full.pdf html>

Clappa, Jennifer, and Linda Swanston. “Doing away with plastic shopping bags: international patterns of norm emergence and policy implementation.” Environmental Politics 18.3 (2009): 315-32. Taylor & Francis Online. Web. 20 Nov 2011. <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09644010902823717&gt;

Other links:

http://www.etsy.com, http://www.treehugger.com/style/seriously-cool-boots-from-recycled-plastic-bags.html, http://www.decodir.com/wp-content/uploads//2009/11/cardboard-christmas-tree-decorating-ideas.jpg

Purpose of my Project

As our project is to try to make the world better place, I notice how  many things people throw away. So I decided to see how many things I can reuse or make into different items. Somethings I hope to make are a bag out of plastic bags and some jewelry from a soda can.