Upcycling

I think recycled things are great; it helps to not destroy the environment as much as throwing stuff away, it slows down the filling of landfills, and it reuses resources instead of using up the unused. Like, if you decide to make am artsy coat rack out of a peice of plywood and a few screws, rather than go out and buy the plywood and screws, you would look in your garage/place for junk and see if you have plywood and a few screws. Your other option would be to go to a hardware store and buy a piece of plywood and a few hundred screws (I've never seen packs of 6) and make it, but then you still have all that junk in your garage.

"Upcycling" is getting some junk, and making it into a fairly ritzy, ridiculously overpriced product.
Examples of upcycling: making a bowl out of a vinyl record, making an ottoman out of some rice bags, making a purse out of old jeans that you've outgrown in the waist area, and more.
You might think that these are all things for college students or people who have no money to do but you are only half right! Anyone can do these sort of things and by doing them you help preserve the limited, unused resources that we have on this planet.

The image on the right is a white wine decanter made from a windshield. I think it is pretty snazzy.

Anyway, go here for some ideas.

Miniature Masterpieces

No, I am not talking about a postage-stamp Mona Lisa. I am talking about some of the most beautiful furniture (chairs at least) ever designed. The Barcelona Chair, The Ball Chair,and the Tulip Chair, and more.

I absolutely love these chairs. If I could, I would have most of them... unfortunately the cheapest I have ever seen them is over $2000.
Ah well.
The miniatures are much less. I got a Ball Chair at the Hirshorn museum a few years ago. It was about $20.

I managed to find a retail supplier of these mini-chairs, but I think one has to buy a case of them instead of individual chairs. I will continue my search!

I love December

December is one of my favorite months.

And NOT because of Christmas... well not directly.

See, I love the junk catalogs that you get because all these places think you want to buy their tasteless stuff. They somehow have enough money to send a few to my house even though I don't think we've ever bought anything from some of them, so somebody must buy their stuff...

Anyway, In one of these catalogs (Signals to be exact) there was this wonderful clock.

I've always wanted one of the clocks that were melting in Dali's painting, but the ones that I found were always clocks that were a bit wobbly. This one however is full out melting.

Interestingly, a "related item" is a plush beating heart, which I think is rather strange and does not get a place on my blog.

Quill Pen Anyone?

Yup, another post from the wonderful land of Vat19.

Moving on to the content, this is pretty much a big chunk of graphite (the stuff in pencils) albeit a whole bunch more awesome. There are a bunch of different shapes (including a human hand) but I really love the quill. I feel like it would connect me to Shakespeare because I always imagine him writing with a gigantic, fluffy quill pen.

On a side note, the entire surface can function as a writing implement. What I mean is if you wanted to write with the wrong end of the quill, you could. Somehow they managed to make it not get all over your hands though.

Anyway, I approve.

I want this.

Okay, this mouse pad is wonderful.

It comes in 5 varieties, and each is a wonderful little rug. According to the site this rug has 7,000,000 microscopic fibers, making it very smooth, and very easy to clean. Also there is a rubber backing so that it doesn't slide around.

Pretty much, I want one.

I approve.

Vat19

I have decided that because I will find so many things that I like on Vat19, I might as well make a few posts with several similar items and my comments.

Okay here we have 5 pens that are scented for that holiday cheer. I like that they are eco-chic, but I also like that they are scented. I tend to doodle in class, and whenever I use ballpoint pen, my drawings end up reeking of acid. That's probably because I use cheap Staples brand pens, but whatever. If these pens had replaced that stench with the scent of gingerbread and candy cane (which they claim to have done) then I think that these pens could help the world by saving the environment and by making my homework smell pleasant. Unfortunately, rather than having scented ink, it is the actual pen that is scented, meaning my drawings would still stink. But I guess that a scented pen wouldn't really make me better at drawing.

I published that without finding more items.
Whatever, I guess I'll just make more posts.

Inkless Pen?

Okay, so here is a pen... sorta.

The pen apparently uses the tip as the "ink" supply so there is actually no ink at all.

This is because of some fancy metal alloy that some fancy scientists developed. Pretty much, it's like a pencil, but without the wood, but it doesn't smudge.

And it's pretty!

In other news, I think I have found a new favorite website. Excuse me while I go and explore the wonders of gingerbread scented pens.

Source: http://www.vat19.com/dvds/the-inkless-metal-pen.cfm