November Challenge- Used Volleyballs

I had a friend ask if I would like old volleyballs that could no longer be used by her high school volleyball team.  Of course I said yes to the challenge of using them for the November Repurposing Challenge.

Volleyball planter

Volleyball wallet front

Volleyball wallet back

Volleyball snowman ornament

 My favorite volleyball project was made by my husband.  A volleyball hat... with mullet and sideburns.

Volleyball hat, front

V

Volleyball hat, side (notice the sideburns and mullet)

Art Week 2012

I was asked to be an artist during Art Week, one of my favorite weeks at my children's school.  This year I decided to focus on weaving with recycled materials since it was so successful during Peace Village last summer.  I taught the students to weave with t-shirts, plastic bags and on CD's.  

Art Week is a week devoted to arts and crafts.  Each student spends 4 half days working with one artist and creating 4 crafts.  This gives the students a chance to learn one art form in depth and create 4 smaller craft projects during the week.  The students get to vote on the type of art they would like to learn.  This year there was print making, ceramics, tai-chi, drumming, painting and weaving.

My group started the week weaving with t-shirts on cardboard looms.  This was the same project we did at Peace Village.

The best part about this project was that all kids (Kindergarten through 5th grade) were successful.   

The next project was weaving with yarn on CD's.  This proved a bit more difficult than t-shirt weaving, but the students worked hard and made beautiful pieces of art.

CD weaving was a way to use up the balls of yarn from previous projects. 

I wanted find a project that could make use of plastic bags.  I cut plastic grocery bags in to 2 inch strips and had the students weave them into plastic fencing I bought from Home Depot.  Some students wove a mat, while others folded and sewed their mats into wallets.

The final day of Art Week was a time to finish up projects.  The students who finished early worked together to create a collaborative piece of art.  The only instruction I gave them was to recreate a painting as a weaving.  I gave them a stack of paintings to choose from and set them free to create.  I provided a sack full of materials to weave with including ribbon, raffia, tshirt scraps, yarn and plastic.  We did not have enough time to complete a group weaving, but I loved what they were able to accomplish together in a short time.  

October Challenge- Used CDs

Creating with used CD's ended up being a little harder than I expected.  I was at a loss for ideas, but here is what I was able to create this month.

CD Coasters

CD Disco Ball

CD Mirror

Autumn Wreath

 

I love the changing of the leaves in the Fall in Oregon.  This (and Pinterest) inspired this class project.  I walked around the school campus I was working at in The Dalles, Oregon gathering Fall leaves.   Each student was asked to look at a leaf noticing the colors and details.  They traced the leaf on a piece of old book page and colored them in with colored pencil trying to copy what they saw.

We put the leaves together and created this Autumn wreath that is displayed in their classroom.  Great job kids!

Plastic Triangle Art

A fellow Master Recycler came to me with a handful of plastic triangles that she found at the transfer station. This is how I find many of the materials to create with.  Someone comes to me with something they have found and ask me if I would like to use it for a project.  I am not sure what these triangles were originally used for, but they are clear and have a hole at the top.  I recently worked in a  4th grade classroom in The Dalles, Oregon and wanted to come up with a project to do using the plastic triangle.  This is what I came up with.

Each of the students was asked to draw a picture of him/herself with a black sharpie.  They used torn pieces of tissue paper to decorate the back of the plastic triangle applied with glue/water.  The beautiful colors were enhanced when we put this in the window and the sunlight shined through.  Some students embellished this pictures with glitter glue and puffy paint.

Recycled Art Class at Columbia Art Center

This summer, I spent 4 days teaching 9 students about how to create with recycled materials at the Columbia Art Center.  We spent 3 hours a day making recycled notebooks, wallets, reusable sandwich wraps, lavender pillows, and sweater monsters.   The students were eager to create with recycled materials and the favorite day ended up being the final day of the class where I brought in supplies and my sewing machine and the kids were free to create anything they wanted.  One girl even brought her sewing machine along and helped out at the sewing station.  I can't wait to teach this class again next summer.

The Bins

I've heard it called "The Bins", "As-is Goodwill", or "Last Chance Goodwill", but whatever you want to call it, it is my favorite thrift store in Portland.    Everything is wheeled out in big blue bins throughout the day and it is up to you to dig through the items to find treasures.  The only sort of organization that exists is that the bins are loosely sorted according to contents such as shoes, books, electronics, textiles, glassware.  

 The warehouse space is huge and it can be a bit overwhelming the first time you go.  There are people who shop there regularly that obviously take it very seriously.  If you are a first timer, it is best to stand back and learn from the regulars.  

The majority of the items are sold by the pound.  The more you get, the less you pay per pound.  If you walk away with 50 pound or more you are going to pay the lowest price per pound.  (Something like $0.89 a pound.)  Some of the larger items like furniture are marked with a price and books and glassware have their own prices.  I believe it is $1 for softbound books and $2 for hardbound.

Your best bet is to go with specific items in mind, but be open to possibilities.  You never know what you are going to find!