It may not surprise those of you that regularly visit my blog that I wear several hats.  Unfortunately, I won’t be wearing the Junk Man hat, at least not publicly, after today.  I wish I could say I am surprised, but I’ve had so many balls in the air lately that I figured something would have to give. I will miss the exposure and the interesting conversations with you all.  I am uncertain who will replace me, but I hope you will continue to check in regularly–I’ll do the same.  To be honest, I am very interested to see what the new Junk Person will do with the blog.  I think that my little blog could only benefit from the extra TLC that whoever takes it over will provide. The readers of this blog... [Read more]

This weekend, I’ve got the perfect idea for making things from old paper, be it old catalogues, old wrapping paper, used wrapping paper, or any other old paper.  The Fun in the Making blog has a post titled: Make Your Own Envelopes From Salvaged Paper. They have excellent instructions about how to make envelopes that are very appealing.  They suggest that you start by using an old envelope as a pattern.  They go to say: You can buy an envelope stencil or you can make your own. Just find a pre-used envelope and use it as a stencil. Better yet use that envelope to make your own stencil out of an old file folder or a piece of plastic. I used an ex-ray from when my husband broke his elbow; I knew I’d find a use for them someday. This... [Read more]

Alright, we’re nearly finished with this ring.  Now all we have left to do is lace it up. Begin by cutting a 10 in piece of hemp.  Now, punch holes into the portion of your leather that we cut extra to give us enough for a seam.  Now, form the ring with the “out” side toward the center of the ring (we’ll fold the “out” around to the front before we finish).  Line up the holes, and lace through the holes one way, then double back to make the seam look finished.  Knot it. Now comes the difficult part.  You need to cut two 20 in lengths of hemp (this will give you tons extra, but will make it easier to work with).  Thread one of the lengths through a set of holes just to the right of center (from the wrong... [Read more]

I’m always happy to my regular readers a hand with links! Sigrinn has recently authored a post called CD Cover of Recycled Pages and the cover looks fantastic. Here’s what the post says: I also made a stand for it of some wire… (It’s meant to be a photo-stand, but it worked this way too.) Any chance you will give us some instructions on how to make the stand, Sigrinn?  I love it! [Read more]

How do people survive financially without reusing things?  I have often wondered how people who make the same amount per year (or less) than I do can justify buying everything new and throwing out their things.  How can they afford to do it.  Perhaps their accountants are better than mine?  (I don’t have one…) My suggestion, and one that I lived growing up, is that you pass clothing on to people when you grow out of it.  Growing up, I got “new” clothes all of the time, and I’m the oldest child.  (Aunts and Uncles were very generous with their extra clothes.)  Weren’t these relatives practicing good junk creation?  I think the easiest way to make something “new” from something old is to... [Read more]