Hemp pendant lamps Inspired by West Elm’s gorgeous Abaca pendant lamps Super talented Heika DeHart strikes again. These pendant lamps she made of hemp string are genius. Plus, don’t you love how they look with her wallpaper? Heika writes: “I fell in love with West Elm’s Abaca pendent lamp a few years ago but, as usual, my taste was more expensive than my wallet could support. However, I was sure that I could copy them at a fraction of the cost.” How to make hemp string pendant lamps Supplies and tools bouncy balls of various sizesclear drying craft glue (about 1 bottle per ball) such as Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Gluehemp string 20lb. weight estimated amounts needed: 16 inch diameter ball—400 yards 14 inch diameter ball—300 yards 9 inch diameter ball—100 yardsplastic gloves (optional)trash bag or small drop clothpermanent markerball inflating needle (available at sporting goods stores or bike shops)light fixture and hardware (Lowe’s doesn’t carry the fixture that Heika used anymore. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
App Updates « Trash Backwards 7 May, 2013 — Our New “Fix It” Button The Green “Fix It” Button at Trash Backwards Need a quick tool to show you how to fix common things in your home, office, or backyard? Trash Backwards now has a “Fix It” button you can click on, to learn how to fix the many items in your life. Fixing things that have broken extends their life and usually saves you money. Click Through for Alarm Clock Fixes at Trash Backwards We have a lot of great “Fix It” solutions already in place, but if you have your own to suggest, submit your own fixes via our easy-to-use “add solution” button. Enjoy the many “Fix It” hacks in our app and help us spread the word about this amazing tool! 29 April, 2013 — Social Sharing on Each Trash Backwards Solution Social media sharing buttons have been implemented on each solution in our database so you can share great reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink ideas with your social networks. Help us teach others how to leave no trace by sharing the ideas you love at Trash Backwards.
5 Examples of Biodegradable Containers That Are Better For The Environment Image by mackenzienicole There are so many containers we use on a day to day basis that simply aren’t good for the environment. Just ask yourself, every time you get “take-out” food, what happens to the Styrofoam (or polystyrene) containers your food was packaged in? Additionally, even though you may consider yourself good at recycling, there are a number of items that you might not realize can’t be recycled. Of course, you can forgo using any types of containers such as these and switch to more eco-friendly options. 1) Plastic water bottles: Now, it’s always better to opt for a reusable container when looking for a way to take water (or other drinks) with you. Canada’s RedLeaf is one that stands out, as they now have a “bio-bottle”. 2) Paper/Plastic Cup Alternative: Many of us have grown up using disposable paper or plastic cups for parties, picnics and even around the house. Here’s a cute video about the Jelloware glasses: Image by Mr. Well, thankfully there are. Related posts:
Pillow Mattress Tutorial Several friends have sent me some amazing project ideas - they're all in a file and at some point I'll get to them (I swear!). Two days ago, however, my friend Tatiana posted this on my Facebook wall: She found it on pinterest and thought I would like it. Welllll....she was right. Not only do I like it, but I could see an immediate need for one (why is it that you don't know you need something until you see it?). If you'd like to pay $145 for it, you can get it here. First, I went to IKEA - here's my entire haul...one twin size duvet cover and five pillows. The duvet cover was $9.99 and the pillows were $0.99 each (yes, you read that correctly). Step 1: Measure. Here's how I measured: Yep..." Step 2: Cut the duvet cover to the desired width. I ended up cutting the duvet cover exactly in half. Step 3: Cut the top half of the duvet cover lengthwise so that the bottom edge sticks out a few inches further - like so: Step 4: Hem all raw edges. Step 5: Make the pocket. Step 6: Step 7: Insert pillows:
Top 10 « Trash Backwards Most Visible Plastics These are some of the Most Visible Plastics when we’re out collecting pollution from beaches and watersheds. Click through for our posts with reduce, reuse, and rethink solutions for each of these MVPs. Bottle caps, styrofoam and child’s items found at Point No Point, WA Photo © Liesl Clark Plastic Bottle Caps Pens Recovered on Puget Sound Beaches Photo © Liesl Clark Pens Plastic straws recovered from Point No Point and Schel-Chelb Estuary, WA Photo © Liesl Clark Straws Lighters Recovered from Puget Sound Beaches Photo © Liesl Clark Lighters Single-Use Bottled Water Photo © Liesl Clark Plastic Bottles Potato Chip Bag Photo © Liesl Clark Chip Bags Plastic Coffee Stirrers Photo © Liesl Clark Coffee Stirrers Wooden Golf Tees Photo © Liesl Clark Golf Tees Single-Use Toothbrushes Photo © Liesl Clark Toothbrushes Plastic Mesh Produce Basket Photo © Liesl Clark Plastic Mesh Produce Baskets Want to learn more about the common plastics washing up on our beaches? Like this: Like Loading...
Creating a new market; products of recycled "waste" | Design-4-Sustainability by: Mirjam Visser, 2011-01-19 10:09:43 UTC Sustainability Aspects: Creating new markets and re-using waste. Cradle2Cradle The Story Flex/the Innovationlab helped We Beat the Mountain with their go-to-market strategy and product design. We Beat The Mountain is an organization, a symbol and a worldwide movement. “We Beat the Mountain aims to create, produce and sell functional products of 100% recycled and re-used materials in a global market. “We Beat The Mountain shows compassion with a cool, sustainable and powerful brand. “We Beat The Mountain believes that people will always consume products. Scarcity in money, space, materials and natural resources is a serious problem nowadays. We Beat The Mountain aims to make a profit by creating, producing and selling products made of 100% recycled materials. Product: Covers for laptop/ipad/phoneDesigner: Flex/The InnovationlabManufacturer: We beat the mountainCategory: business development around sustainabilityWebsites: www.webeatthemountain.com
New Life for Old CDs This is a guest post by Becky Haas, who is an amateur crafter/environmentalist who also tries to make a living as a professional musician. You can also find her at the craft blog Sew and So. I have a confession to make…I’m addicted to music. I guess it comes naturally, since that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing. So I always love it when I stumble across a craft project that uses music-related materials, like Kelly Rand’s recent article on things to do with old cassette tapes. By this point, I don’t have too many old tapes lying around, but what I do have is a lot of CDs–most of which I still listen to. My first thought was jewelry, and it turns out that it’s pretty easy to transform an old CD into that. The first step is to cut the CD into the desired shape. Next, you’ll want to file the edges down, especially the corners, so they don’t scratch you up when you wear them. The variations on this are endless. There’s some great pre-crafted CD jewelry out there as well.
Easy Vintage Zipper Flowers - Thanks for coming back for another dose of Coupon Magic! I was off digging at my favorite little resale shop here in Rochester when I pulled out a drawer that was labeled “zippers” and found an awesome treasure. Metal Tooth Zippers are are pretty hard to find already taken out of the garment but today was my lucky day! Who knows how many were there in every color and length. So, I scooped them up, and paid about $2.00 for the entire bundle! I headed home and dug through my sewing supplies to get a few things to create some adorable zipper flowers! Here is how you can make these frugal creations too. Supplies Needed metal toothed zippers (the size of the flower depends on the length of the zipper), felt needle embroidery floss or thread scissors Vintage buttons (optional for center of flower) Zipper Flower Directions Cut out a small circle of felt (about the size of a silver dollar). Unzip the zipper, and cut off the plastic or metal end.
10 of the World’s Most Radical Recycling Projects In our modern throwaway society, many perfectly good materials end up sitting in a landfill while new materials are constantly created and used in their place. Some creative green builders, artists, scientists and other innovators are turning the tables on that trend, gathering up all the discarded odds and ends they can find to create stunning homes, temples, sculpture and even fuel. Here are 10 examples of incredibly creative recycling projects that convert ordinary objects into art and transform trash into something far more useful. Buddhist Temple Made of Beer Bottles (images via: Green Upgrader) The Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew temple in the Sisaket province of Thailand is made from over one million recycled green and brown glass beer bottles. Bridge Made of Recycled Paper Tubes (images via: Shigeru Ban Architects) Japanese architect Shigeru Ban constructed a bridge over the Gardon River in southern France using primarily cardboard tubes. Rich Art’s Recycled Outdoor Gallery Jumbo Jet Hostel
scarfy/necklace thing Hi! i made this after finding this tutorial on instructables- *EDIT* - but...... then they took the instructions down because there is a patent pending for the idea (!?) - you can do this 2 ways. 1. you can use a large t-shirt (i like 100% cotton, but you can probably use a blend) that does not have side seams so you can cut one continuous strip. this will come out looking like the green scarf at the end of this post. -ok, so start at the bottom of the t-shirt and cut off the hem, you dont need this. then begin to cut a long continuous 1 inch wide strip, going around and around the t-shirt until you get to the armpits, then stop. -then take your long strip and tug firmly on it section by section so it folds in on itself now you've made an easy t-shirt scarfy/necklace thing, so wear it. hooray!