Upcycling & Crafting Useful Items Out of Trash

Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or a higher environmental value. Upcyclers have found many uses for something that most of us pitch in the garbage without thinking twice about it--styrafoam.

One such upcycler is Amanda Formaro, who describes how to make miniature hats out of styrafoam cups at FamilyCorner.Com.

Styrafoam Miniature Springtime Hats

Supplies Needed

Styrofoam cups
acrylic paint in pastel colors
small silk flowers
small beads
pastel or sheer ribbons
hot glue gun
magnets (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

The temperature and instructions in this craft are based off of a dark coated cookie sheet at 250 degrees F in an electric oven. You may want to experiment with different temps until you receive satisfactory results. It is recommended that you bake one or two cups at the recommended temperature and time first. If they seem to melt too quickly or the ends curl up and under, try reducing the temperature and trying again.

Place Styrofoam cups upside down (open end of cup down) on a dark coated cookie sheet, placing them about 1-2" apart. Note: we experimented with both dark coated and silver cookie sheets, the cups did not melt properly on the silver sheets.

Bake in the oven for approximately 3 minutes, don't walk away! It will take about one minute before you see any changes to the cups, then the heat will begin to melt and shrink them rather rapidly after that. It's lots of fun for the kids to watch, so be sure to turn the oven light on.

Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and set aside to cool completely. DO NOT try to remove the cups from the cookie sheetuntil they are completely cooled. As they cool, the Styrofoam that is stuck to the sheet will relax and release its grip from the sheet, allowing you to remove them easily. Most cups will melt rather well, thought you may end up with one or two that look rather distorted or disfigured.

Paint the "hats" with pastel colors, one coat is usually enough, and allow them to dry completely. Once they are dry you can embellish them with small silk flowers, pretty beads, and ribbons using a hot glue gun.

If you like, you can hot glue a small round magnet to the bottom of the hat at the brim and hang on the refrigerator.

Model Styrafoam Cars

For die-hard modelers there's the Mercury Custom Coupe made out of styrafoam at Saveon-plastic-models.com. The coupe is a 1/25 '49 Mercury Custom Coupe 2 'n 1 by Revell-Monogram (rmx852860). The accurately reproduced bodywork is molded in white polystyrene.

Styrafoam Insulation

Some upcyclers use styrafoam to insulate the outside of their house. Others have made bookcases and shelves out of styrafoam. Just spray paint or glue pretty paper or fabric onto the styrafoam. This would be great for wallboard that can't handle heavy wood.

Blue jeans outgrown and too shabby to donate?

Woven Rugs from Blue jeans

Many upcyclers weave rugs out of old jeans. An E-How writer describes how to do this.

Cut blue jeans into long strips about 1 to 2 inches wide. Use as much of the denim as possible. Avoid lumpy seams and pockets, which will make your rug bunch.

Join small strips together by cutting each end at a 45-degree angle. Sew the angled ends together.

Take three denim strips of relatively equal length and stack them neatly together. Close a safety pin through all three strips near the top of one end to join them together.

Lay the strips on a table or on the floor and anchor them by placing a paperweight or other heavy object on top of the safety pinned end. Braid the three strips. Keep the strips flat as you braid. This will stop the fabric from folding, bunching or twisting. Pull the strips gently as you braid to keep it tight.

Sew more strips to the bottoms of your three pieces to extend the strips and keep your braid going. To do this, first put a safety pin at the bottom of the completed braid to keep it from unraveling. Cut the ends of both strips at an angle and sew them together. Unfasten the safety pin and continue braiding the strips.

Repeat this step, adding new strips as the braid runs out, until you have a braid long enough to coil into a rug. Sew both ends of the strips together when you have finished braiding to secure the braid. Lay your braid on a flat surface and begin to coil it around from the center out. Use a thick needle and sturdy thread to stitch the coiled braid together as you go. Keep the braid flat as you continue to coil it, creating a circular rug.Tuck the end of the braid on the underside, or stitched side of the rug, and secure it with a few stitches. Flip the rug over to hide the stitching.

Blue Jean Picture Frames

Another use for old jeans is to make picture frames out of them. Cut the jean leg off from the jeans. Place a photo frame near the bottom of the jean leg and trace around it, inside and out, with chalk, leaving 1/4 extra allowance for seams. Remove the frame and cut around your tracings. Turn the edges under 1/4 inch and press with an iron, then hem. To stiffen the fabric, use Stiffy Fabric Stiffener by Plaid or use Pellon Wonder Under Fusible Web. I made one of these and on the corners made triangles out of aqua fabric that I then slipped over the edges at the bottom of the frame. I also made a hanger for the frame out of the aqua fabric. Sweet.

Office Containers--Blue Jean Covered Containers

Cover small coffee cans or small plastic containers with part of a jean leg for a trendy pen/pencil holder. Or make blue jean bracelets.

Fashion Accessories--Blue Jean Piping & Scraps for Bracelets or Necklaces & Flip Flops

If you like decorating flip-flops, blue jean scraps are great for this.

Use the piping--single or double it up-- to make a bracelet or necklace. Connect the ends with a colorful stone or gem. Or, if you want to upcycle again, use the colorful rings off the top of plastic bottles and caps to connect. Just loop the piping through the ring at either end, and lay over the top of your piping, then attach to the piping with velcro or sew.

Blue Jean Kitchen Decor

Coasters, place mats, aprons, and utensil holders made out of old jeans, can be seen at craft shows. To make the coasters, the jeans are cut into strips and then rolled around in a circle. The strips can be glued to form the circle or sewn.

Place mats can be made as large or small as needed, or use a place mat you already have for a pattern.

Another way to reuse jeans in the kitchen is to make a holder for potholders--thus keeping them cleaner.

There are so many ways to upcycle things that are normally considered trash. Some people who begin upcycling soon find that not only is this a way to keep items out of landfills, it also can be a way to make pocket money or an income.

Sources

Jessica Lynn, E-How Contributor, How to Make Braided Rugs Out of Old Blue Jeans, E-How

Amanda Formaro, styrofoam_cup_spring_hats, Family Corner Magazine

Personal experience

Saveon-plastic-models.com