Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Day 321:  I made an ornament out of a juice pouch.  I found this project on terracycle.com.  I like it, but I know there's got to be even more potential for these juice pouches. They are such an interesting material.  I think it would be fun to make bags out of them, but the one time I tried this was a somewhat sorry attempt because I sewed it by hand rather than on a sewing machine. 
Days 322-326:  I made a bunch of magnets out of bottle caps.  I basically went nuts over this project.  I had so much fun searching for interesting backgrounds and teeny tiny pictures.  I made about a hundred a day for three days and then spent two days pouring the resin and gluing on the magnets.  Unfortunately several of them didn't turn out because the resin didn't harden.  The ones that did work out are super cute though!



Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Day 310:  I made another paper chain out of magazine pages.  I had so many strips left over from the last time I made a paper chain.  I also wanted to have one to put up at my house.  I made this really long and still have strips left over. 
Day 311:  I made more pop tab bracelets. 
Day 312:  I cut a bunch of stars out of a National Geographic.  I was thinking I might string them all together for a holiday decoration. 
Day 313:  I cut a flower out of a magazine page.  This is another one of those projects that is so simple it feels like I'm cheating.  I know at this point though, having super simple days keeps me going with the whole project and that more complicated projects will continue to surface as long as I stick with it.
Day 314: Using the folding technique I used on the last two projects, I created a bunch of snowflakes.  I have always loved making snowflakes.  I have been feeling a lot of satisfaction in making things from magazine paper that would usually be made from new paper.  Instead of buying colored paper for paper chains, or white paper for snowflakes, or plastic gift bows, I have been making all these things out of magazine paper.  There is so much that we make out of new materials that could be made out of recycled materials.  I am very aware lately of how this past year of recycled projects has changed me.  I think about how much packaging the things I purchase have and whether it is worth it.  Ultimately, everything has a life span and will end up being disposed of eventually.  I want to buy things that will last a long time and that will bring me a lot of satisfaction.  There is so much I used to buy that I just wouldn't think of buying anymore.

Day 315:  I made some gift boxes for the store out of magazine pages.  I have already given several away.  People seem more delighted with them than the regular gift boxes, which makes me very happy.
Day 316: I drew a robot on a book page.  This is not an original drawing by me.  I googled "robots" and this one was so adorable to me I wanted to draw it.  It is an image from shutterstock.com.
Day 317: Another robot, this one contains elements of  the robot pictures I was looking at, but is not a copy of any of them.
Day 318: One more robot, this one completely from my head.  It turned out kind of buggy.
Day 319:  I revisited this magazine/tissue paper/journal paper collage.  I added to it with oil pastel.   The black circles and blue lines are the new elements in this art piece.

Day 320:  I added to another of my collages.  All the blue tissue paper is newly added and I added  black circles again.  Adding to yesterday's collage was definitely worth it, I loved the results.  This time however, I'm not so sure I like how it turned out.  Another layer, perhaps?  (or should I feed it to a bonfire?)





Saturday, December 10, 2011

Day 306:  I made more pop tab bracelets.  Surprise. Suprise.
Day 307: I drew a pair of scissors on a piece of cardboard.  I do adore scissors so very much.  I use them every single day.
Day 308:  I drew another picture on a piece of cardboard, this time a cassette tape.  Images of cassette tapes are appealing to me because of the nostalgia they invoke.  Annoying as it was with all the stopping, starting and rewinding, I have fond memories of making mixed tapes.  I used to paint them in bright colors with acrylic paint. 
Day 309:  I made this with a used piece of Christmas ribbon.  It was fun to make something unusual and useless, because I was just experimenting and playing without any expectations or idea of what it would become.



Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Day 298:  I made a mustache out of magazine paper.
Day 299:  I learned from an origami book how to make a pentagon shape by folding and cutting a square of paper, then I turned my pentagon into a snowflake. 
Day 300!!!!  So glad I made it this far!!! It seems as though there are hardly any days left of this yearly endeavor.  I think it is going to zoom right by me, and I'll be done before I know it.  Then what?  Everyone keeps asking me if I'll keep going.  I might keep making at least a project a week for a while.  It seems as though recycled art is now a part of who I am.  For day 300, I made another modular origami sphere, this time out of magazine paper.  Each little flower piece that becomes part of the sphere starts out as a pentagon, which is why I taught myself the pentagon making technique yesterday.  It is made from twelve little flowers all together. 
Day 301:  I made some more magazine page bows.  These are the smallest ones so far, much smaller from the very first ones I made.  I made them all from the same magazine page.
Day 302:  Another set of bows.  I really like the black and white ones!
Day 303:  And more bows!!!  After all, tis the season...
Day 304:  I made a bunch of rolled magazine circles for my art piece I've been working on (see day 287).  I made about 10 little circles.
Day 305: I was hanging out at a friend's house and he had a Christmas origami book with instructions for a paper gift box. I made this funny little box out of a couple of Rolling Stone magazine pages.  I liked the combination of the guy with the nerdy glasses on the lid with the text on the inside.