Do You Repurpose?

i repurposed a husband and turned him into an ex....oh, wait....mebbe that's not what you meant.

Don't spread that around Marlene. Fortunately my wife does not read FAA.

i repurpose everything. if it can't be fixed, it's parted. i made a tomato cage from loose parts - an old patio umbrella, extended with pvc. different meshes to make a cage. people toss hoses, wood, and all kinds of things. i just reuse it all. i'd rather use the old stuff than buy new stuff.

---Mike Savad

Kevin, I often find old pieces of electrical romex wire that customers throw out and they make for the perfect copper ant sculptures.

Yes I figured we will have lots of repurposers in an art community. I really like my CD holder (the ones you get from Staple with like 500 CDs), I use it as a brush holder for my long brushes.

I scour 2nd hand shops for old, preferably broken, vinyl records. I then cut them up, make them into jewellery and sell them in a few hipster stores around my city. Man, those kids eat up anything "vintage". :D

I reuse or repurpose when I can. When I can't i ask friends. Recently I've had to put less in recycling bins.

All of the stone used in my sculptures is reclaimed. This usually comes from building renovations but one of my favourite pieces came from an old stone wall which had been hit by a drunk driver. He survived the crash..the wall didn't fare so well..

I often work with papier mache and routinely use random odds and ends (bits and pieces of used plastic, wood, cardboard, newspaper -- stuff that would otherwise be tossed out) for my armatures (here is a blog post with a recent example of this: http://art-of-patience.blogspot.com/2014/09/sleeping-beauty-ballet-stage-props.html )

I also almost never purchase pre-stretched canvases, etc for my paintings -- preferring to use the found wood and the second-hand frames and such I happen to come across here and there and scrounge for my painting supports (another blog post example: http://art-of-patience.blogspot.com/2014/08/henry-david-thoreau-my-nibblefest.html) . I guess I just feel like we have enough 'stuff' in the world already, without me personally contributing to the problem....

After I graduate from art school and living on my own for the first time, I furnished my little apartment with wooden crates I found in my neighborhood. now I still pick up discards but turned into art and sell them.

@ Marlene - love it! LOL

We reuse and recycle - my husband does woodworking as a hobby and I take the bits and pieces he doesn't need to school with me for the kids for crafts - he will not throw anything out which is why both our garage and his workshop is full of "things" - there is so much that we don't throw cause it can be used for other things, like cans, bottles, juice containers and even old socks which I can take to school for crafts or use for dusting (which I hate doing) - I save some material from bed sheets etc to make my Magic Bags - I reuse certain jars and bottles for gifts, like homemade hot chocolate mix, we found a skid that was suitable to be cut up and my husband made me a box to hold my 8x10 matted prints that I was selling at a local indoor market - we don't do this because of budget restraints, we do it because we care about our environment and if you can save a few dollars in the process then why not? My husband also makes frames for some of my photos from left over wood projects - we have a friend who cuts trees as a part time job and he calls us when he's got some good wood, like oak or cherry and they cut it and bring it home, it dries and he has more free wood for his projects - we also have a wood fireplace, so again free wood to burn - and the list goes on and on!

Hi Kevin, What a great idea for a thread...maybe we can get some new ideas! I love to repurpose stuff! I like old stuff so a lot of the things in my house were originally used as something else. I just added a garden gate which is an old iron head board and because my house is very old and drafty I am making curtains out of some beautiful old quilts.

Super responses. Keep them coming.

we are serious coffee drinkers...we buy the largest plastic tubs of folgers...perfect water and brush containers!

I'm always looking through Goodwill for second hand picture frames. I've found some gorgeous ones.

Marlene, those containers are great for all kinds of things.

@Jennifer I also look for picture frames at Value Village which is a second hand place here and also buy a lot of books there for the kids at school and my grandkids as well as myself, I collect books from certain authors and have quite the library

I love re-purposing! ( and Marlene's comment was funny and one I can relate to ) I try to re-purpose whenever I can but lack the skills for anything truly artistic. However I have a board on Pinterest dedicated to this idea: http://www.pinterest.com/cjoyslattery/reuse-and-recycle/

Never one to waste a beautiful shape when we had to replace our kitchen faucet I simply made a sculpture of the old one. My wife suggested the running water. In the late afternoon sun, the crystals sparkle.

Do I repurpose? Do I repurpose?

How could you ask such a question?

Dave

Carolyn,

Nice board.

Dave

My husband had a large (just over 4 feet high) black tool chest with 9 or 10 drawers in wonderful shape that served its purpose but he wanted a new one, a larger one, a mack-daddy one. He is a tool freak and he out-grew his. I wanted to buy a big tool chest for my paints, brushes, palettes, etc . . . I now have his in my studio and I love it.

Kevin, when I first started painting I didn't have anything other than a table top easel for small canvases. We had a a bunch of sheets of plywood in the garage (used for hurricane season when necessary) He cleaned one up so I could have a large easel; we leaned at an angle against a wall. He drilled large screws across at varying heights for different sized canvas. When I bought my large commercial easel, he removed the screws from the plywood, cut it and used them as table top for a large train room he and a neighbor built, in our garage.

Edit @ Marlene - same here, except Maxwell House (it's a fireman thing) and we use the containers for plenty of household things - I have one in my studio as well.

Kevin,

Not art stuff so much, but my backyard garden is full of things that were tossed out,for the dump. It's simply amazing what people throw out,after they are bored with stuff.As an example, I have a small wicker end table,round that the middle has fallen out-ish. I took a large 16" piece of floor tile that was thrown out,put that on top and then a plant, jade plant and now I've got a great plant holder. I've got lot's of plants that have been thrown out,with their clay pots,that were dead or dying and now are blooming! I've got 2 over 6 foot Palm trees, Robellini, that were throen out when they "looked" and were still in pots and needed some water! I've had these now,in the ground for about 6 years!

I got this from my grandfather,when I was probably 10 or so and he would ride around in his new "gold" Cadillac, on Monday nights and we would look for old furniture and stuff that he could repair and give to the grandkids(whether they want this stuff or not!).

When I get ready to get rid of something and it's still good, but I can't use it, like an old washer, I put it out a day or so ahead of the garbage day,with a sign, "WORKS!" and it's gone in an hour,maybe even minutes! I "threw out" a small red grapefruit tree, that I didn't have a place for and I had gotten from the garbage,after a few years and I waited for it to have fruit,then got it,root ball and all,into my large wheel barrow and out to the curb. I had a sign that it was a red grapefruit and even had a few little grapefruits growing. This was a Sat. afternoon. By the time I cleaned up the wheelbarrow and came out front, there was an older couple,with a pickup truck, trying to lift it. I went over and helped, they thnaked me and drove away! Less than 30 minutes!

I think this might be a "generational" thing and younger folk don't bother with the adventure of "searching" and just toss stuff and buy new...........

Rich

In my city in the spring and fall over a long weekend we have a "put whatever you want out on the boulevards" for people to pick up - saves hauling things like furniture etc to the landfill area and you would be surprised at how fast the stuff goes, we are a university city and I believe Labor day wknd was one of these wknds cause the kids need stuff to furnish their rooms and money is tight for them - anything aluminum, metal, my husband takes to a place where they buy the scraps and pay you by weight - last time he went he had saved stuff for a year and picked up $200.00!

As mentioned before, empty coffee cans are great for storage. I alternate between the Maxwell House and Folgers, depending on which is priced better, but prefer the Maxwell House cans, as they have better, sturdier lids. I have a few for mixed nuts, bolts, screws, nails, etc. My wife had a bunch of various cookie cutters, plastic and metal, that were taking up too much needed kitchen drawer space, so they now reside in two Maxwell House cans. They're easily stacked also. I ahve a 16' jon boat that has a bilge pump I installed, but I also keep a Maxwell House can in the boat also....just in case I need it for whatever arises.

Oh, the Maxwell House cans have better handles to grip and tighter-fitting lids too. ;)

This is what I love about artists, when people say creative this is the thing I think of.

Debbie, years ago while living close by the University of Delaware, I spied an old rocker set out with the chairs, couches and other student detritus. I was on a one way street so had to make a 2 minute circle and the rocker was already gone. Gotta be quick for the good stuff.

I live to repurpose!

Actually She who must be obeyed is a Master Repurposer.

She makes wooden Christmas ornaments that she personalizes and sells at craft shows and she does beautiful calligraphy on them. Well we were trying to come up with ideas on what to do with left over matte board we use for my prints.

Well being the resourceful woman she is she hit on the idea of making room signs for kids. The damn things sell like hot cakes at a fireman's breakfast for $5 a piece.