I’ve long been a fan of artist Jean Shin; she’s turned discarded objects into really cool artwork. (We’ve featured some of her work on the Unconsumption Tumblr.) Here, I’m standing in front of one of her broken umbrella sculptures, in a private collection in Houston. (Taken with Instagram at Houston, Texas)
Now this is an innovative way to soften hardscapes. Interesting, from both repurposing and urban intervention standpoints.
More creative new uses for old books:
Make table runners from the pages of unwanted books, e.g., books damaged beyond repair.
(via BHG)
How-to: Make a “paper tree” in five easy steps
This project was inspired by two things: 1.) A neat “printed paper pine” item from Anthropologie, and 2.) my discovery, in the attic of my parents’ house, of an assortment of vintage sheet music — mainly trumpet and saxophone parts from the 1950s-1970s (that hadn’t been touched since the 1970s) when my father played in a band.
Materials needed:
- One chopstick
- Something into which the chopstick can be anchored, like a scrap piece of wood, so the stick stands vertically (I upcycled an old plastic reel-to-reel tape spool as a base)
- Several pages of printed sheet music, pages from a discarded book (or book you’ll no longer read), old holiday cards, or pages from magazines or catalogs
- A piece of cardboard, roughly 1.5’x2’ in size
Tools:
- Pinking shears, or something else that provides a decorative edge
- Scissors
- An ice pick, or other hole-punching device
- Optional: Glue, small nail, hammer
Estimated time for completion:
- A couple of hours, though you probably can multi-task (read blogs, like I did, or watch TV) while working.
Steps:
- Using pinking shears, or another cutting tool, cut the music (or other paper pieces) into squares. I cut my largest square approximately 5” x 5”, and smallest 1” x 1”. As I went along, I didn’t measure the pieces, but estimated the size based on that of the squares I’d just cut. For one tree, I used 40 paper squares.
- Next, use scissors to cut the cardboard into small squares to add as spacers between the paper squares. The cardboard squares should be considerably smaller than the paper squares — that’ll help make the cardboard less visible. (I used a piece of recycled cardboard that held a case of cat food — it’s thinner and less rigid than some cardboard which made it easier to cut, I think.) Cut out the same number of cardboard squares as you have paper squares.
- Poke holes in the center of the paper and cardboard squares. With an ice pick, I was able to punch holes through several squares at the same time. (Your mileage may vary.)
- Next, place your chopstick in whatever object you have handy to use as a base. You may want to nail or glue the chopstick into/onto your object. (I didn’t need to — my chopstick fits pretty snugly into my base.)
- Now place the cardboard and paper squares onto the chopstick, pushing them down from the chopstick’s tapered end. Start with your largest square of cardboard, then add your largest piece of music on top of it. Continue stacking the cardboard and paper squares, keeping an eye on how your “tree” is shaping up. Hopefully, it’s a nice cone shape.
As your layering of squares nears the top of the chopstick, stop at whatever point you want to. You could put a dot of glue on the topmost cardboard piece and paper square, to hold them in place. (I’d like to take the tree apart after the holidays — to store everything flat in a box — so I didn’t add glue.) Also, I left my chopstick top bare because I like the minimal look of it. You may want to “top” your tree with something.
That’s it. Place your tree on a table, and enjoy!
Note: This project carries a stamp of approval from Veto, my feline quality control officer.
![Via unconsumption:
In the hands of Italian artist Margherita Marchioni, old eyeglass and sunglass parts are transformed into butterflies.
[Confession: I kind of love this.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lna48e4b9w1qzv12bo1_500.jpg)
Via unconsumption:
In the hands of Italian artist Margherita Marchioni, old eyeglass and sunglass parts are transformed into butterflies.
[Confession: I kind of love this.]
Via unconsumption:
Speaking of *trashy* performances:
What do you get when you cross a recycling company with a classical composer? A symphony, written at the San Francisco dump, that’s played on musical instruments made from garbage.
During an artist residency in 2007 at waste management company Recology San Francisco, composer Nathaniel Stookey (pictured above) composed Junkestra, a symphony in three movements, for 30 or so “instruments” created from trash — pipes, pans, mixing bowls, bottles, serving trays, dresser drawers, oil drums, bike wheels, saws, garbage cans, and shopping carts, among other items — he found in San Francisco’s dump.
San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra musicians premiered the 12-minute-long Junkestra in a performance, conducted by Benjamin Shwartz, held at the dump’s warehouse. (Watch the third movement in this video.)
Junkestra has since been performed in San Francisco at the Herbst Theater, the new California Academy of Sciences, and, by San Francisco Symphony musicians, at Davies Symphony Hall. A CD was released earlier this year.
Recology’s artist-in-residence program aims to inspire and educate people about recycling and resource conservation by providing Bay-area artists with access to materials, a work space, and other resources at the company’s solid waste transfer and recycling center.
Junkestra symphony is pure garbage | Crave - CNET
(hat tip to Chrissy Smith, @marimbamaiden18!)
Via unconsumption:
The New York Philharmonic Searches for Heavy Metal for Magnus Lindberg’s Kraft (NewYorkPhilharmonic YouTube video)
Last week marked the New York premiere of New York Philharmonic composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg’s “Kraft,” composed (in 1985 for the Helsinki Festival) for orchestra and percussion — percussion made from found items.
New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini noted in his review of Thursday’s New York Philharmonic performance of the work:
“Kraft” (German for “power”) is seldom performed, partly because it is so challenging, but also because Mr. Lindberg stipulates that the percussion resources of the orchestra be fortified with stuff collected from junkyards in the city where the piece is being played, to lend the music local flavor. Mr. Lindberg and the Philharmonic’s game percussionists recently made a fruitful scavenger trip to a junkyard on Staten Island.
Besides the usual assortment of gongs and drums, placed onstage and in stations all around the hall, there were helium tanks, table legs, plastic tubes and bowls filled with water (to make gurgling sounds), and a car hood advertising “Rapid Sewer Cleaning,” which, as Mr. Gilbert [Alan Gilbert, NY Phil’s music director] admitted in some helpful spoken comments before the performance, had no function in the piece. “We just liked it,” he said.
But all sorts of other car parts were conscripted for this elaborate performance: suspension coils, ventilator screens, cranks for tire pumps. Only a longtime auto mechanic could identify all these period instruments.
![Reblogging my unconsumption post:
And speaking (on Twitter) of @BoxmanStudios:
This is an apt time to share information about Boxman Studios and its mobile venues: refurbished shipping containers that open, via solar power, in less than 20 minutes into 500 square feet of covered space that seats 26+ people. The company transports by truck the containers to each client’s site, placing them where they’re needed.
I must admit that I am a big fan of the idea of converting shipping containers into functional spaces — cargotecture(!) — that serve uses other than industrial cargo containment.
And as someone who’s planned and managed special (fund-raising) events for various non-profit organizations — including an annual seated dinner for 500 people held in a large, clear-span tent in a city park — I can say that Boxman Studios’ venue solution is much more efficient than the rental of tents, flooring, lighting, generators, tables, chairs, bar ware, etc., and the coordination with multiple vendors of delivery of all those rentals, plus the need to pay for labor to install the various items, all the while hoping wind and/or rain don’t affect … well, you get the picture.]
Boxman’s venues are currently available in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the company is based, with plans to provide services in other markets.
The Boxman Studios’ Web site sums up things tidily: “It’s Crossed Great Oceans and Traversed Massive Continents. It Can Handle Your Next Event.”
(Disclosure: As you probably can tell, I am a fan of Boxman’s; I also am a fan of Jim Mitchem’s, a personal friend who works with Boxman.)
Solar-Powered Party Box Way More Fun Than Regular Shipping Crate — from Gizmodo
For additional information and photos, visit BoxmanStudios.com.
*like* *like* *like*](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l62hbg2X8v1qzv12bo1_500.jpg)
Reblogging my unconsumption post:
And speaking (on Twitter) of @BoxmanStudios:
This is an apt time to share information about Boxman Studios and its mobile venues: refurbished shipping containers that open, via solar power, in less than 20 minutes into 500 square feet of covered space that seats 26+ people. The company transports by truck the containers to each client’s site, placing them where they’re needed.
I must admit that I am a big fan of the idea of converting shipping containers into functional spaces — cargotecture(!) — that serve uses other than industrial cargo containment.
And as someone who’s planned and managed special (fund-raising) events for various non-profit organizations — including an annual seated dinner for 500 people held in a large, clear-span tent in a city park — I can say that Boxman Studios’ venue solution is much more efficient than the rental of tents, flooring, lighting, generators, tables, chairs, bar ware, etc., and the coordination with multiple vendors of delivery of all those rentals, plus the need to pay for labor to install the various items, all the while hoping wind and/or rain don’t affect … well, you get the picture.]
Boxman’s venues are currently available in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the company is based, with plans to provide services in other markets.
The Boxman Studios’ Web site sums up things tidily: “It’s Crossed Great Oceans and Traversed Massive Continents. It Can Handle Your Next Event.”
(Disclosure: As you probably can tell, I am a fan of Boxman’s; I also am a fan of Jim Mitchem’s, a personal friend who works with Boxman.)
Solar-Powered Party Box Way More Fun Than Regular Shipping Crate — from Gizmodo
For additional information and photos, visit BoxmanStudios.com.
*like* *like* *like*
