reclamation belongings

2 Comments Posted on March 1, 2015March 22, 2015 reclamation art, reclamation belongings, sustainable lifestyle design

New Class: Wearable Art from Recycled Resources

New Class ! Wearable Art from Recycled Resources (Level 1) $70@

Sunday, April 19th, 1-4 PM Georgetown, MA (directions w/b sent to registered attendees)

(Includes $25 materials fee)

Would you like to learn how to make elegant fashion from recycled materials? Have the opportunity to work with a renowned painter and reclamation artist that will inspire your ideas and bring them to reality? And all while supporting two sustainable non-profit organizations?

Learn new techniques, how to deal with several provided recycled materials and those you bring from your own waste-stream. You will handle several different materials, and learn how to actualize them into differing design formats for fashion; this includes jewelry, accessories, and household items.

At the end of this workshop you will have a pair of earrings, the beginnings of a garment or accessory, and a toolbox of ideas for future projects. Bring your questions, a journal for notes and your sense of humor!

After you register with PAYPAL, you will receive instructions, directions, and a list of materials to collect.

3 hour Workshop, some materials provided. Minimum of 6 students, maximum of 12 students.

Please bring a shoebox worth, or more, of materials you can recycle from your own waste-stream to make fashionable art.

Your fashions could be featured in an annual runway event!

*****All proceeds after costs go to support sustainability education at www.terrabluteams.org and www.lwhome.org.

Do not forget to register for our tiny house workshop on 3/29!

Leave a comment Posted on October 11, 2014October 19, 2014 Events, reclaimed building materials, reclaimed furniture, reclamation art, reclamation belongings

Making Art/Furniture/Fashion from your tiny house waste-stream!

There is very little waste at the Silver Bullet Tiny House build. The little that remains was recycled and reclaimed, up cycled and repurposed, a few examples here:

• Free horticulture palettes that stored building supplies all winter were repurposed for an outside vermicomposting shed to reclaim 60% of our organic waste (the other 40% goes into another composting pile):

• NYTimes newspapers and bottled water containers left by workshop attendees were made into creative fashions:

Repurposed lumber scraps and found lumber used for basic construction workbench:

•Repurposed, repaired, reclaimed, recycled found objects from yard sales or free from my local UHaul “free cycle” area; see separate links for the stackable stools, the bar stool, gift boxes, and tray.

• More fashions made of rain screen, cedar breather and corrugated steel will be posted after the fashion show!!

North Shore Artists Advance Sustainability Through Fashion

Please come!!!

On October 25th you can purchase a gown, accessory, travel package, gift certificates to your favorite local vendors; have great food, meet new friends–a good time seeing some fabulous “up cycled/repurposed” fashions in this show and help raise funds for longwayhome.org (They build sustainably designed schools). (The gown on the far right is one of my designs).

Leave a comment Posted on September 1, 2014December 21, 2014 reclaimed building materials, reclaimed furniture, reclamation belongings

Another reclaimed stool, a cigar box and a tray

I left a gorgeous glass table and some chairs (too heavy for my tiny house) at my local Uhaul “recycling area”. While there I picked up a free cigar box, a tray and a swivel stool that needed some love and attention. I took some leftover wooden “Ball legs” from a commissioned series of large art screens and went to work. (Another Uhaul stool project)

I took a couple of wooden scraps, ripped, whittled and sanded two new legs for the ones missing from the chair, oiled and cleaned the swivel mechanism, sanded the chair and painted it.

And took my new stool for a spin! They don’t make them like they used to! This chair is wicked substantial and will work great for my tiny house kitchen chores.

Did the same with the tray (for tiny house parties) and cigar box (which holds my personally harvested non-GMO heirloom garden seeds).

What do you think?

Leave a comment Posted on June 27, 2014October 21, 2014 Community, reclaimed building materials, reclamation art, reclamation belongings

June 28 Byfield Music and Arts Festival 10AM-9PM

Want to hear live music from 15 different bands, try the brews, buy art, support sustainability non-profits and have fun on a beautiful summer Saturday?

Come join us tomorrow…at Manter Field 10AM-9PM for the Byfield Music & Arts Festival. Directions, tickets, more information is here.

The Struck women will be there at their Struck Studios art booth!!! Come see us!

All proceeds from our sales of gorgeous reclamation artwork and jewelry go to support the Byfield Arts Center and the Net Zero Silver Bullet Tiny House.

Leave a comment Posted on May 5, 2014October 9, 2014 community resilience, reclamation belongings, tiny house community

Artist Turns Trash into Homeless Tiny Houses

Hi everyone! I have been wicked busy building and preparing for the Silver Bullet Social/Demo/Tour Event. There are a few spaces left, so register soon, click here. Will post videos, pics, etc. of my last few weeks of construction after the event!

There are several artists and tiny home enthusiasts helping the homeless by repurposing and recycling trash. For the full article and many more pictures of his creations, please go to the full article at viral nova.com.

Gregory Kloehn goes dumpster diving, but not for the reason that most people would think. He isn’t homeless. In fact, he is an artist from Oakland that is trying to help the homeless and develop his craft at the same time.

Instead of building sculptures that he would sell to rich people to add to their massive homes, he decided to focus his efforts on helping house the homeless population in California.

Gregory digs through illegally dumped trash and goes dumpster diving.

He uses what he collects to build small, one room shelters for the homeless.

And his homelessness project is getting attention.

2 Comments Posted on February 10, 2014February 12, 2014 reclaimed furniture, reclamation belongings

Tiny House Stools

I arrived in Massachusetts four years ago with 3 large storage units of furniture, belongings and painting/art studio items from my Asheville home and gallery. My goal was to begin living an even more sustainable tiny life.

It has taken those four years to down size and smart size in preparation for moving into my tiny house when its finished. Believe me, it is a challenge to make sure that every item is sold, repaired, repurposed, given away, composted and recycled without any of it ending up in a landfill.

But what is really great about this process are the emotional and creative experiences gained with the benefits of all kinds of community engagement.

Last year I inspired my local U-haul storage facility to set aside an area near all the interior storage units where folks could leave stuff they didn’t want instead of filling a dumpster destined for a landfill. I am specifically looking for items that are beautiful in design, functionality, easily repaired, and easily eco-refurbished. Here’s my latest find:

These stackable stools after I cleaned off all the mildew and grease would probably be great for most folks as is. They have a few small repairable scars I’ll deal with and then I hope to transform them into more playful and very light furniture for the Silver Bullet.

As I am finishing my interior with a whitish pickled surface, I will strip them, pickle them and rub a low VOC varnish into them. Maybe I’ll paint the other two the color of my double doors, one of my favorite greens.

So that the stools don’t chafe each other or the new tiny house floor while traveling , I’m attaching felt sections on the legs.

Here’s how they turned out, pretty good for my first project, eh?

Leave a comment Posted on December 21, 2013April 4, 2014 reclamation art, reclamation belongings

Tiny House “Gone Knitting” Sign Posted

I love trout fly fishing and knitting. Go figure. I have custom rods and custom needles. Both activities have incredible health benefits, you can find those here and here.

After MRI’s, X-rays and cortisone shots, I received my doctors now mandatory orders: two months physical therapy for my elbow (from construction overuse) AND no typing!

Totally bummed about not being able to work on the build, I found a way during the holidays, snowstorms and frigid weather to still move forward on my sustainable tiny life.

In the afternoons, after teaching my “Sustainable Lifestyle Design” classes, I would post items from storage for sale. In the evenings, I decided to engage in other sustainable practices such as preserving my famous Mango chutney, infusing vodka with lemon/ginger/honey, and creating sugar/coconut/raw honey and lemon/salt rosemary body scrubs. So much fun and makes the house and your skin smell delicious!

Anyone have some of their own homemade stuff to barter/trade, Email me at taospirit [at] mac [dot] com!

Like other tiny life enthusiasts I was anxious to creatively repurpose my, my friends and family “stuff”. I needed some great winter socks, holiday gifts, hats and scarves anyway. All these designs are mine. Not planned or written down; just organically started, a different color here , a different kind of stitch or cable there, different texture based on what was left at my front door on a given day.

I was able to gift all the leftover sets of hats and scarves to our local Council on Aging before the holidays for those in need. I got carried away and knit another entire drawer full of socks and leg warmers for my daughter who likes to walk through the snow and woods to teach at the private academy nearby . And best of all, it provided endless hours of play for my daughter’s felines and for me, plenty of laugh therapy through the snowstorms while we await the Spring!

Repurposing of worldly goods this month: 26 cubic feet.

silver bullet tiny house