Monster Stars

Thanks to Danica Duensing, who sent photos of how she used my aluminum beverage can star pattern, which she purchased on Etsy.

Danica wanted to make MONSTER stars for her niece for Christmas. Well, I don't know anyone who drinks that highly charged stuff, and I am NOT going to buy the drink and pour out the liquid to get the cans. After all, this IS about recycling, and that would be just wasteful....So the only way she was going to get them was to make them herself. But she rose to the challenge!


Don't they look amazing????? Danica added her own touch with twisted cool wire hangers , instead of the little gold strings I use on mine.

Danica says: "Here's a picture of the 3 Monster stars I made using your pattern. The
smallest is your medium star, the middle size one is your large star
and we enlarged your pattern to make the biggest one, which we gave to
our niece for Christmas and she loved it!

Thanks again for writing out this tutorial, I really appreciate it!"'

Wow, I really appreciate your sharing your success with me, Danica! The stars look GREAT!

If you want to make your own brand of stars, you can! My pattern is available for purchase here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/86641790/pdf-pattern-aluminum-can-stars-upcycled

If you have made your own stars using my pattern, you can share them here, or on YouCanMakeThis.com , if you purchased your pattern there!

P.S. Thanks very much to Carol Miller, who sent me some Monster cans (already flattened!) So now Monster drink stars are available in my shop. What a friend!

Starry, Starry Christmas

No baskets for me this Christmas! I am busy making stars!

Make your own stars from Coke cans, here is a link to my pattern and easy to follow directions.

Some people are passionate about their chosen beverage, have you noticed? Diet Coke. Coke. Mountain Dew. Budweiser. Heineken. ( and then there are those who just love BeEr! ) For that fanatic, here they are...
Starry, starry ornaments! NOT just for Christmas, tho they do look great on a tree! They also hang from rearview mirrors and anywhere else just for fun...

I do love repurposing projects (commonly called recycling, more recently termed upcycling.) So how can i resist making shiny stars out of aluminum beverage cans?

The technique is easy, and when i could not find a template i liked, i made my own. The resultant project is simple and takes only a few minutes to render - generally two stars per can, depending on how you want the logos placed, etc. No special tools are required. The average person can find everything they need in their kitchen drawer (basketmakers will reach for their tool kit, of course!)


The stars are dimensional and reflect the light; they are lightweight and oh so eye-catching! Especially when that dedicated Mountain Dew drinker realizes what s/he is seeing------OH! They are a great tie-on package decoration...or basket tie on (just can't get away from those baskets!)


After making a buncha ornaments, i started making smaller stars into garlands! What fun.

Love the Earth. Love at Christmas. Deck the Halls! Hey, Coke loved them, my Diet Coke Garland was featured by Diet Coke Instagram on Christmas Eve http://instagr.am/p/bNEiz/

Have a fabulous holiday!

Beautiful Multifiber Basket by Lynn Hoyt

Isn't this a wonderfully textural, unusual basket? I love it! I really enjoy the way all the colors interact with each other...and it makes me want to touch it, it looks so soft!

This basket was made by Lynn Hoyt, of Blount's Creek, NC, using a pottery base i made, and a technique i recently taught the Natural Fibers Group at a guild meeting. It is a very simple technique, and I love the depth and unique look it gives to baskets.

To make a multifiber basket like this, you can use yarn and prepared fibers, but the most fun thing to do is to prepare your own, using old clothes. I really love to use clothes that are beyond wearing, but have significance to me, as i talked about in this previous blogpost, Memories in a Basket. Lynn used this idea to prepare her childhood bedspread (blue and white) for incorporation into her memory basket. I think that goes very well with the theme of sun and starry skies, don't you? What a loving way to save a little scrap of her childhood. I understand she has another one in progress, using her sister's bedspread. aaaawww.

Also added for bulk and texture were yarn and prepared dyed sisal (yellowish.) Other worn clothing was dyed dark colors to add accent (black) to this great multifiber memory bowl! I also love how Lynn shaped her basket, she accentuated little twists I incorporated into the clay, and this helped to make an asymmetrical basket, with dips in the rim, very intriguing.

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful basket with us, Lynn! Anyone else who has a basket made from a base they acquired from me, i would love to show them here! Check my MakeABasket.etsy.com shop for bases to make your own unique memory baskets!

to find more baskets made with these pottery bases, click on the label pottery base below
pamela

Memories in a Basket

Yesterday I blogged about making baskets from the old mini-blinds (which may have looked just fine, by the way, but they were drawn all over by my son!) Here is the promised blog about baskets from upcycled clothes.

This basket was coiled around a pottery base that i made. It includes some yarns and recycled bits of string, but also several of my husband's old shirts, a pair of kids' pjs, some camophlage jeans from my son, and a couple of socks that had holes in them. Yes, i said socks. They are great for bulk and texture. If you click on it and look closer maybe you can see some of them.
I love the way all the fibers come together and make a crazy quilt sort of effect.

This one is also embellished with beads. But sometimes, i embellish with buttons cut from the clothing, as in the bowl at right. This one is upcycled from an old long playing record album. I poked holes in the rim after distorting the album in my oven. After coiling with assorted recycled cloth strips, as well as yarns, i layered the buttons as embellishments. (click on any picture to see a large version.)

For more upcycled/recycled baskets, see my etsy shop. Some of them are coiled 'round recycled bits of plastic, as well! One is also twined using my husband's favorite old shirts, the yarn i showed you yesterday. Another has bits of sisal twine that have been unwound to make fringes. I would love to see what you have made of recycled materials!

What Will My Blinds Be Next?

I really hate to throw things away. But finding ways to recycle or upcycle everything is hard! What to do with old mini-blinds? My friend told me use them for garden markers. I have news for her, i don't have much of a garden.

The first thing I tried was not been greeted with great success. Yes, the dogs are happy i have shaded their kennel, but my husband is not tickled with the way the blinds look strapped to the side of the fence, or even woven randomly through it.

My latest venture into "upcycling" mini-blinds is a little more successful. I am making baskets with them! Housing the aloe vera, you see my first attempt. Now give me a break, i know it is not the greatest...but then, i am not accustomed to weaving with flat materials (I prefer round, wicker style or coiling.) This one is bias-plaited, and i found i pretty much had to double weave it to give it any strength at all...I tried to do a twill with this one, too, but that was not terribly successful. On to something simpler.

Next attempt: success! This is a straight plaited basket, i doubled the materials, and the rim is self-bound..that is, it is lashed with the pullcord from the blind. It is also beaded with the little dangly ends. I am fairly happy with it.

Inside,rest balls of "yarn" made from old discarded clothing. Actually, these are three of my husband's shirts that wore out. Three of his FAVORITE shirts. Maybe tomorrow i will show you something i made from the yarn from these shirts, eh?

Guess what? the ends of blinds i wove are still long enough to use for garden markers...and i am using them for tags for the planted teacher gifts!

What are YOU upcycling?