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 and the countless others behind the scenes (b5media, my wife daughter, etc) and the other eco and green bloggers have been such an addition to this blog.

As I said earlier, I plan on checking in from time to time, so look for my comments!  Feel free to comment below about your favorite posts, the good times, and, if you are so inclined, your hopes for the new Junk Person’s changes and/or additions!!!  Now is your chance to be heard.

As I have said, on so many occasions, Good Luck and Happy Junk Hunting!

Post from: Blisstree

A Fond Farewell

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 blog post gave me all sorts of great ideas for card envelopes–who knows, maybe the power company will get a fun envelope!

Post from: Blisstree

Home-Made Envelopes Have Flavor

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 side of the leather and out toward the right side).  Now do the same on the left side of center.  (See above, the hemp will end up holding the display piece into the ring.)

Place your display object over your seam and under the two pieces of hemp.  As mentioned earlier, this will hold your display piece in place.  At this point I will give you slightly different instructions than I used to make my own ring (above).

Cross both ends of the hemp and lace them through the wrong side of the next holes and out through the right side (like lacing your shoes).  This should form an “X” on the outside of the leather and draw the edges of your ring around the piece.  Continue this process about half-way around to the “bottom” of the ring.  (The ring above was made using a different, deficient lacing pattern.)

Now that you are half done with one side, repeat on the other side.  Be certain to keep your piece centered–it makes life easier.  With this side, you can continue all the way to the “bottom” of the ring.  Lace the side you began on until it meets up with your second lacing.

Now, tie off all four strands to one another.  There may be a better way to do this, but what I used were two standard square knot.  Be creative, but keep in mind that if you intend to use your hand while wearing the ring, the knots have to be relatively flat so as not to impede your finger movements.

WOW!  That was a very long explanation.  Tell me what variations you come up with!!!

Post from: Blisstree

Scrap Leather Ring Take 2 (Part 2)

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!

Post from: Blisstree

DIY Paper CD Case and Stand

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 give it a new owner.

What can I say, I guess we learn everything we need to know about junk creation before kindergarten: sharing is good, accepting gifts graciously is important, and making something out of nothing is fun and cool!

Post from: Blisstree

"New" Can Mean "New to You"

The Belleville Intelligencer recently posted an article that features Harold, the geeky nephew from the Red Green Show, and his enormous keyboard.

In his post McKenna: no love lost for monster laptop, author Luke Hendry shares a portion of his interview with Harold (Pat McKenna) and I have quoted a portion of the portion below:

Pat McKenna is most famous for his roles as the stressed-out, half-crazed Marty on Traders and the goofy tech-head nephew Harold on The Red Green Show.

When I spoke to McKenna by phone Tuesday, we talked briefly about those shows, and and he mentioned his hatred for wearing Harold’s unique computer console. It was made from an old Commodore computer keyboard – remember how heavy they were? – and assorted other bits of gear.

Through 300 episodes, McKenna stood there with this monster around his neck.

If Harold seemed to lean backward a little, it’s because the thing weighed 40 pounds.

And I thought we photographers had it bad.

“They made it as a joke, never thinking the show would really run,” McKenna said, adding that his back is still bad because of it.

So if Harold’s little laughs and quirky noises sounded a little strangled, it’s because McKenna’s spine was being compressed a little more with each taping.

I makes me feel marginally remorseful that I laughed so hard at the Red Green Show–since it seems to have been slowly driving the man playing Harold to the chiropractor.

Seriously, I highly recommend the show, back-breaking though it apparently is.

Post from: Blisstree

Commodore 64 Sighting: "Red Green Show" Prop

Today will be a similar post to the previous few, but it will be another scrap leather ring, instead of the rubber one from last week.

I’ll focus on designing this particular ring, since it is a bit problematic.  This design is a bit problematic to describe because it takes some spatial perception, and that means that it is very hard to describe the process.

To start with, you need to measure your finger (see my previous Scrap Leather Ring post for further details on this process).  After that, you must lay out the pattern.  Below is what the pattern for this particular ring looks like:

I didn’t bother making it to scale, because your fingers will probably be smaller than mine.  However, you will want to notice that I left room for an overlap on the two ends.  You will need this when stitching the above ring.  Notice also the hole placement, you will need to punch the holes far enough into the piece that they will not rip through the side easily (I learned this the hard way).

When designing the patter, it is best to start out by tracing whatever it is you will be displaying in your ring–above, I display a glass disk.  Below is what my schematic looked like before I made the pattern above.

Also, keep in mind that you will need around a 1/4 in overlap onto your display piece IN ADDITION TO THE WIDTH OF YOUR PIECE (learned that one the hard way, too).  You will also want a smooth transition from the wide portion at the center of your display (top of the finger) and the band of the ring.

Once you have a pattern, lay it out on the inside of the leather, and cut out the pattern.  Then, punch the holes.  You will want them approximately 1/4 in apart and all along the sides.  Don’t punch them into the overlap portion.

Next time, we’ll discuss the hair pulling process of keeping the round glass disk inside of the leather while your attempt to trap it with hemp lacing–you can guess how much intensity that will bring!

Any questions or comments about the ease/difficulty of the project and/or different processes, are very welcome.  I sometimes skip steps.  Good luck!!!

Post from: Blisstree

Scrap Leather Ring, Take 2

I especially liked his paragraph about eco art:

Fancy some eco art? Eco Artware creates gifts from recycled , reused and natural materials. If coasters made from re-used metal traffic signs, or a bottle opener made from an old bike chain sound good to you, then take a look. Life Goggles will be reviewing some of their products over the next few months (i.e. when I buy something from there for my wife’s birthday!).

Give it a look–maybe give me a plug?  Just kidding–you knew that, right?

Post from: Blisstree

Check Out the "Life Goggles" Blog

Last Scrap Rubber Ring Post I explained about measuring and cutting the rubber for your ring.  This time, I’m going to help you finish it off.

First, figure out which side of the rubber is the inside and which is the outside, for both pieces.  Next, lay one piece exactly on top of the other with the insides of both pieces inside.  Slide the top piece so that it only half of the bottom piece.

This will stagger the joints so that your ring will turn out round, but with an inner joint above your finger and an outer joint below.

Next, begin stitching along the length of the pieces (beginning at the corner halfway along the matching piece).  I suggest stitching at least 1/16 in away from the edge and about the same length from your previous stitch.  I like to stitch all the way around the ring and then double back to complete the stitch.

Once you finish with one side, you can start on the other.  The best part about rubber is that if you need to, you can stretch it a bit.  Be cautious about this, however, because it could mess up the symmetry of your ring–and rings look very strange when that happens.

When finished stitching, you can add a rivet to highlight your piece.  You will need to follow the instructions that your rivet and setter come with.  I will warn you that if you place the rivet on a seam, you should be wary of the seam.  It can make your rivet set to the side, or the rivet may be forced into the seam (the inside seam seems most likely, it happened to me).

The last piece of advice I have is to use thin rubber, otherwise your measurements may be off when you get your finished product.

If you do it right, this ring ought to be a totally unique and original piece of yourself–embellish it to suit your fancy.

I’d love to see photos and/or improvements of projects based on this!

Post from: Blisstree

Scrap Rubber Ring (Part 2)

Sometimes, people’s creativity just plan makes me wonder.  Such is the case with the pictured item.

The simplicity of this particular invention is in the design.

Thought the creator of this project (I found the picture and story here) seems to have simply removed all of the guts from an old Walkman style tape player.  As we all can see, it now houses soap.

I love simple little projects like this, don’t you?  I wonder what his shampoo rests in–maybe an old boombox?

Post from: Blisstree

Walkman Soap Dish