Blog 1

The Beginning

I first heard about up-cycling when reading about an organization called “Gumdrop LTD”. It was founded by a girl named Anna Bullus in 2009 to help solve the problem of chewing gum litter. It collects recycled chewing gum in containers set up on the sidewalks and uses it to make new products out of the rubber that otherwise wouldn’t biodegrade. They make boots, school supplies, guitar picks and others. Even the collection containers are made out of the recycled rubber.

Seeing this made me realize that even though I’m not capable or qualified to create an organization like this, I could still try to turn less disgusting and saliva-covered trash into trashy art and maybe help the environment just a little bit.

So begins a new potential hobby…

Surprisingly, I'm actually pretty excited to start up-cycling. Maybe it'll give me an excuse to use power-tools. Most people won't even let me touch safety scissors.

Up-cycling is basically a large DIY project, but instead of using pastel papers and cloths, people use trash and old pieces of fabric. I'm not too keen on going dumpster diving though, so I'll stick with recyclables and awkwardly asking people for their old wine bottles and useless junk.

My family has the tendency to not throw out many recyclables. We’ll usually turn old tofu containers into boxes that feed our chickens and keep every single plastic bag from a store and use it instead of a trash bag. 

I don’t think it’s considered hording if we make use of most of the trash we have, but some of the leftover recyclables we don’t use often ends up getting stored in the basement, so why not take these discarded objects and turn them into art that can sit in the basement.

Over the next six weeks, I’ll be making a few mini-projects and a larger project while learning new up-cycling techniques along the way. I hope to finish at least three of the smaller projects. Some will be made of cloths and paints (so I’ll have to learn how to use a sewing machine too), and others will be made of metal cans and pieces of scrap wood. They’re not going to be masterpieces statues though. I’m not exactly Michelangelo.



My main goal will be to complete three mini-projects, a large project, and learn at least three new techniques. At the end of each of the first three weeks I'll finish one mini-project and the last three weeks will be dedicated towards the large project.

Up-cycling is a subjective idea though, so I'll be measuring my progress by seeing if how creative or complex each project is.


















Citations:

           Jones, Gethyn. “Schools Program.” Gumdrop, 2018, gumdropltd.com/.

Katie and Emmie said I couldn't make the name of my blog "I'm Trash" :(