So I thought I’d take a quick break from the misogynists of the world to tell you about a new blog from my somewhat environmentally obsessed friend Etelka, who has noticed that a lot of crafty types like to think they are saving the world by incorporating biodegradable and/or recyclable junk into their craft projects — “upcycling,” they often call it — when in fact what they’re doing is creating new garbage that will often be harder to dispose of then the original materials they started with.
Also, she’s noticed that a lot of the stuff they produce — like the eggshell candles above — is hilariously ugly.
So check out her blog, Wretched Refuse.
You might want to start off with this post about repurposed orange peels and eggshells and other organic matter — which is where I found those candles — or this one, about “recycled” soda can tabs.
Love your kitty avatar, grumpycatisagirl!
Don’t mess with the kitteh. 🙂
RE: Argenti
Sneak thinks that’s awesome. Pop tops can actually be surprisingly versatile, if you’re of a crafty mindset.
Speaking of which! CRAFT RAP! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN1OR1aa2cM
Oh no.
Some things are better to compost and not reuse……….
Wow. Remind me to never piss off a peregrine falcon.
Ok, this is too rich. I just got a Google+ invite to… Manoshpere.
Why me?
Because, uh, um, my being fucked over by the universe is wearing off on you? I’m terribly sorry!!
Oh pecunium, you should join, and then invite David. I bet there’s lots of blog fodder there.
Thanks for the instructions on becoming a kitty, cloudiah! I shall begin my transformation in a few minutes. =3
Yay it worked~ ^_^
Sweet kitty, Aaliyah! 🙂
Yay, more kitties! By the way, if any of you want to laugh at Erick Erickson some more you should read this: http://www.redstate.com/users/erick/ where he says all Americans should believe the stuff about men and women that is here: http://www.redstate.com/users/erick/
Erick Erickson totally makes me want to vote Republican in the next election. Except no.
Oops, that second link should be: http://cbmw.org/core-beliefs/
Thanks! I was going to make a black kitty as black kitties are my absolute favorite, but then I wanted to pick something more out of the ordinary. So I picked one of my favorite color combinations.
Longtime lurker here. Just popping up to say hello, so I can get one of those cool cat avatars. I LOVE mockery. I’m one of those people who have to bite my tongue every time someone says something stupid. Sometimes, I don’t though, and I still have my Mom saying stuff like, “I don’t understand why you say this stuff, you’ve got know there are consequences!” Yeah, the consequences are that every time I say something, it results in one less idiot for me to handle. *high five*
Okay, enough about myself.
David, you rock. Thanks, man for this. Mockery is one of my favorite art forms. And we get to make hay of misogynists and MRAs. Awesome.
Welcome, katjimiya! Have an Official Manboobz Complimentary Welcome Package!
I once saw a news report about someone making chairs and other furniture from recycled waste bottles collected from the countryside.
So, this guy drove for miles in a van, wasted all the waste bottles in masses of hot water with detergents to rinse of the mud, labels and glue, broke the bottles up in a petrol-powered shredder, then melted it down at 800 degrees (thermosetting plastic) to mould it into plastic chairs that sold for hundreds of pounds simply because they were recycled and trendy – even though they were heavy, yet still brittle because the source material was just plain useless.
As someone who actually took some time to study environmental chemistry and clean technology, I find most of this shit embarrassing to look at.
Something which is probably environmentally friendly for real (although I’m not an expert on recycling and environmental chemistry, so feel free to correct me) is people using the winter coats of their own dogs to make mittens, sweaters etc. There’s this woman here in Sweden who has a company where you can send your dog’s naturally shedded winter coat. Obviously lots of breeds don’t grow winter coats like that, but some do – including common breeds like GSD:s and jämthunds, a really popular moose hunting breed here in Sweden where we have tons of moose hunters, making it one of the most common breeds there are. And you have to do extensive combing of your dog during the shedding period in order to gather it all up neatly, rather than having it all being spread across your floor and furniture. Anyway, you mail the shedded coat to her and pay her a sum of money, she cleans it and spins yarn out of it and sends the yarn back, and you can then make sweaters, mittens and stuff. Apparently it’s a great material for clothing, very warm and water resilient.
I’ve seen something similar with shed cat fur, I think.
Damn, if I knew how to do that I’d make a fortune. ::looks around at fur carpet::
In response to the avfm link and the following WAM one (seriously ALL the tigger warnings for that link… I really didn’t need to finish my breakfast this morning anyway), seriously avfm is actually complaining that they are not able to post shit like what was shown on the WAM site AND still think they can pretend they are a human rights movement? Because not being able to post pictures about beating up women is against your rights? What the ever-loving fuck?
In other horrible news my brother tried to talk about “friend zoning” as if it were a thing. He got the smack down of the century from myself and a friend of mine (not that I think it really did anything but oh well).
Between no more breakfast and avfm making me want to vomit, issues with the bro, and a heat rash on both feet which keeps flaring up, I am in SUCH an awesome mood today… It’s a Kahlua in my coffee kind of morning.
I’m working as a custodian right now, and I find all sorts of perfectly good stuff in the trash. Naturally, I’m not just talking craft materials. Just yesterday, there was a large purse, three stuffed animals, a scarf and a silver wig in someone’s small trash can. It seems wrong to just let stuff like that go to a landfill, so I generally fish it out, clean it and give it a second life. Of course, if I’m not gonna use it, I either see if anybody I know can or take it to the homeless shelter. Otherwise I’ll end up on Hoarders one day.
Other fun finds: A reflective jacket, slightly used hard hats, a label maker (still need to see if it’ll work with batteries), lanyards, binders, a still-wrapped Nutty Buddy (THE NERVE!), work gloves, and a Buddha.
My best find from the trash in the last couple of years: A working C64.
I also got a ton of slightly used clothes and stuffed toys, two VCRs, several lace curtains (filthy, but otherwise in perfect condition), several CDs and DVDs including a Windows XP install CD (as I’m a Linux user perfectly useless to me but interesting) etc.. Somme people are incredibly wasteful.
Obviously, I tried praying to the Buddha for a pony and a plastic rocket, but he put me on the waiting list.
re spinning fur. cat is really hard. It’s very slick. As a result it doesn’t lock up when you twist it. Add a (generally) short staple (how long the average strand it) and it’s almost impossible to spin pure cat (you can spin dog).
There are also more people allergic to cat than dog. But blended into wool (or alpaca) you can spin it.
But it’s not easy.
Oh so that’s what happened! You where recycling your she’d hair by mixing it with the alpaca fur! (If you produce the brush rats I do, that could actually work even)
I’ve seen actually interesting uses of recycling plastic bottles too. Some guy built an island out of them! Also, if you google mac aquarium, you’ll find dozens of people who’ve turned old macs into nice little aquariums. (Hell, I repurpose old/shattered terra cotta pots for my aquariums, they make lovely little caves)