Sunday, August 10, 2014

My Winter Games: Summer Update Part Two


Okay, this is a big day!  I am about to finish a rad recycling project: a series called My Winter Games, which you can read more about right here.  Of course, winter is long gone and it took me nearly 'til the end of summer to complete my self-imposed challenge.  No matter.  NO MATTER.  Let's get to it.

At last count, I needed to use up seventy-two of these ugly, non-recyclable little doohickies, formerly heavy-duty packing clips for skis.



I give you...candleholders!  A plethora of candleholders.





The tealight ones are my favorites: little criss-crossed sets of four doohickies each, with pretty stuff glued strategically to the ends.  Stuff like crystals from a plastic Xmas garland:



And glass flower beads.




They are even quite beautiful plain (with a side dish of fu dog).



For the great big one, I spray-painted a clay saucer black.  The doohickies just happen to hook perfectly into the underside of the saucer, so it is quite stable when assembled.



I used some round wooden scraps to make these rather lantern-like ones:



I drew Sharpie polka-dots, then glued the doohickies in a circle.  I think they would look particularly nice with green candles instead of white!

These modern black and white ones - strange, eh?



They're six doohickies simply hung from the rims of champagne glasses.  (Dollar store plastic ones, naturally.)  I like how they combine a bold graphic feel with a tendency to look like the world's weirdest shrimp cocktails.  They amuse and please me.


So how did the count come out?

One big giant candleholder: 12
Two green polka-dotted lanterns: 12
Two shrimp cocktails: 12

That left 36 for my small tealights.   Did I use them all up?

Um, YEAH I DID.  I decided to make sets of three as hostess gifts.  Three groups of four doohickies = twelve doohickies per hostess gift.

I made three gift sets, which equals 36 doohickies - and that was every single one used up.

Yay!

But I didn't even stop there.  I am so in love with my little tealight holders, I disassembled some of my previous creations, just to make more of them.  Eight more, in fact, or 32 doohickies' worth.

Also, since my last post, two more people emailed asking for doohickies, so 9 doohickies just went out in the mail.

I think that means I used 100% of my original 247 ski clips, and double-upcycled 41 more.  Is double-upcycling a thing?  It should be.

Hope you have had fun following these games.  I sure had fun wrapping my head around the challenge.

I kinda think I won.



In case you missed any:

Round One

Round Two

Round Three

Round Four

Round Five


Round Six

Round Seven

Round Eight

Summer Update Part One




7 comments:

  1. wow - no one would believe if you said that these were made from repurposed dookies. These products and photographs look straight out of a high end interior design magazine. well done, Mich!!

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  2. These are so adorable and creative! I think your imagination has gone into overdrive.

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  3. I hereby award you the gold metal in the doohickie winter games, and I think you deserve the silver and bronze too.

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  4. OH EM GEE I love love love love love these like so much. I love the ones with the flowers the most. You go Michelle. You amaze me! No one would have thought they were ski clips.

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  5. Oh I love these...maybe the best!! Of course, the foo dog ones is my favorite! I haven't forgotten that I have mine and I'll get to them...this winter!

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  6. Okay, these are my favorite yet. The plastic champagne glass ones look like they are levitating!

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  7. You TOTALLY win. I could see any of these in a Pottery Barn or IKEA catalog. I've loved every bit of this challenge you set for yourself - you have such an amazing creative mind!

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