Happy new week! After a while it is time to share some DIY inspiration. I was going for a walk when I noticed something interesting in the middle of garbage. Broken shade made of wood or bamboo catch my eye. Instead of waste I thought it as great material. It is a way of thinking to see the material and it's potential. I am very picky and I don't take any crap from garbage. For example if the piece is made of something that is difficult to work with or too dirty to bring home I will leave. But quite often I see wonderful projects. For example last week there was this pretty wooden chair that would have made a pretty stool for flowerpot in the garden. I had no space so I had to leave it. But this shade was pretty simple to clean, pile and store for further use so I took it. I didn't have to store it long though because I had an idea or two how I could use it. When breaking the shade into pieces and cleaning it I thought about all the material in the world that goes to dump or burnt as energy waste. And I also thought all that new stuff produced every day. We have limited amount of resources, global warming and trash filling our (and flora and fauna's) living space at the same time when we feel we need new things.
I would somehow understand it if the stuff we put to garbage was actually trash, something we can't use in any form. But quite often we cast away things that are, in the current form (without manipulation out of our expertise or equipment) ready to be used again. Like this shade, after cutting off the strings and washing the pieces it could have gotten a price tag and put to a shelf in some hardware or craft supply store. Get what I try to say? For example plastic is something we can recycle and it is made new products in the factory. Same with newspapers, glass, cardboard, tin. Then again: An object with wooden pieces can be broken into particles, cleaned and used again at home. Same with for example broken dress that can't work in it's original use. It can be washed, cut into pieces and pieces used as fabric. Or broken coffee mugs can be turned into mosaic material using basic home equipment. I do buy new fabric and wood too. But I try not to waste good materials. Also if you don't make mosaic, sew or do makeovers you can give clean materials to your friend who does or ask in social media groups if someone is interested. My friends and relatives have given me broken mugs, plates, empty tins, fabric etc. for my projects and all those materials have been spared from ending to garbage. In my experience upcycling saves money and gives so much inspiration. When I saw this shade in the garbage my brain started humming, how could I use this, what fun project this could turn out? I would say 40% of my ideas come from an interesting material I have found from garbage or thrift store. And it is always a win to see polished trash as a part of interior decor.
This is in what shape how I found the shade. I took it to my balcony to be broken to pieces and cleaned. It had only some dust on the surface otherwise it was clean.
Beautiful material ready to be used. You see the difference how a trash becomes something with a price tag at store? This pile of great material would be more difficult to cast to garbage than the broken shade, don't you think?
I decided to make a web to a wall where I could twine climbers that are in pots on the table. I measured the middle of two pieces to get an even start. Then I just began to weave working every side evenly.
Sitting on the ground weaving. The material is so beautiful and my head was bursting with more ideas how to use it. One could decorate doors with woven webs or glue pieces side by side to cover boxes. If it would be sawed to small particles it would make good material for mobiles or wind chimes.
When you weave the web tight enough it will keep it's from without a need to secure the pieces with screws or staples. I attached the ready web to a wall above a table so I could easily put flowers under the web.
I had one Tradescantia albiflora and I bough new Epipremnum pinnatum. Now the plats are still watching the web made for them to climb but I am already dreaming how those will cover the whole wall :)
Sannu
