Help me turn Trash into Treasure!

I really think you're onto something here, D. I've been trying to figure out a way to apply it to interior design (which is probably one of the most wasteful artistic industries there is!) but I always hit a brick wall - how does one convince rich people to buy former trash? It's amazing how easily they can get insulted/offended. I know there is a way, and I'm sure other designers have been thinking about it too.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what treasure pieces you create from trash though. How cool! And fun!

I kinda wanna see like.. a habitat.

I say you cut all the paper and cardboard into thin strips and weave a mat that you can use for shading. Draw/paint/ink on one or both sides of the mat and hang it up in a window of your place. Then use the plastic products as water receptacles for houseplants. What did you end up making, anyway?

Make a tank.
The A-Team could with those materials.

Who is that hot chick on your fridge?

Ya could make various weapons out of them....mmm swords, knives, and with the heavy metals...yes...

Cardboards could be paper bombs, just add oil and light it...

Plastic could support the handle the spears, swords, knives, etc....

Err....Art sounds nice...mmmm

Scuptures....Paintings ......melted...paintings...

I tend to accumulate heavier trash in the garage, like old car parts: a water pump, brake discs, fan motor. Or if you throw away old furniture, you can disassemble it and use the parts, especially the hardware. The wheels on furniture are always valuable. Sometimes shelves have long tubes in them.

So you could take long tubes and use them as floor lamps. Put a brake disc on the bottom for support, and then figure out something for the lamp shade, maybe some of those cardboard boxes. I like art that has a piratical function like that.

What might be cool is to have a trash exchange. everyone can post what stuff they have and where they live. They they can all share trash to build stuff.

@JanforGore - Part of this project was about awareness. I didn't realize the bottles were in the trash but I wasn't going to remove them just to save face- it seems to me that attempting to make someone feel shameful or bad about being honest is not productive, just mean. It's curious how you want people to support your petitions and projects, yet act rudely to people who could help and restrict your support for other community members.

However, JanforGore a.k.a Buzzkillington's methods bring up an interesting larger question of how the Green movement functions. There are many people out there who think that guilting people into changing their behavior is effective, but I'm not really sure about that. I'd prefer to treat other people the way I want to be treated- with understanding and creative, solution oriented problem solving. Basically, if you sew seeds of anger and shamefulness you will yield a crop of resentment- and that helps no one. Before we stand in judgment of other people we should consider ourselves as well- no one is perfect. We can all help each other improve the way we live and affect the environment and in my opinion, the holier-than-thou snide arrogance isn't an effective way to do so.

Egg crates are good for sound absorption. The only thin is there are probably a fire hazard. However, I once had an idea to line the walls of our school sound studio with them. I even called a hotel who said they have lots of them available to pick up.

I have recently in one of my art books,decided to take things such as stickers on bread bags that say things like "Special of the Week" & use those in the book! I have been trying to just use as many found materials as I can! I also do the same type of thing in my music project on some levels! Although I use many store bought high tech instruments in my songs,I also use things such as a PVC pipe off an old shop vac as a flute!I grew up in a solar house,but back then there was some sort of weird taxing or some nonsense with having the solar panels ! I think it's great these days that so many people are getting involved in environmental /eco friendly projects!

I had a friend who studied the equivalent to garbology..he might know.

Clever, clever post, D. The challenge, as I see it, is not so much in making art as making Art from the random contents of a typical waste basket.

But maybe that is the key: not all waste baskets are created equally. Can you IMAGINE the opportunities that must exist in certain garbage cans at, say, National Geographic Magazine, the Smithsonican Institution, the Guggenheim (sp?), or even places like welding shops, glass retailers or fabric stores? Just promise me you will stay away from rendering plants, the open-air meat markets one sees in Mexico, China and many other countries where refrigidation is sort of a luxury option. The world can get along just fine, thank you, without new and creative "virus-art" or "bacteria-art" (particularly if we are talking about a performance-based artistic medium)...

BTW: When do you think we should tell the kids about our collaboration on the creative writing group? Are they ready to get their heads around that kind of a shock, do you think?

How about decreasing the amount of garbage you have in the first place? Plastic water bottles? For shame.

the what... EPA... come agian.... look i'm a man on a big tv

great idea. what i noticed is that u wore gloves but no shoes

DTA,

Well I'd hate to repeat this again (no, not really) but that pan-down shot was ummmm, yeah.

But on point here, I say you turn something ugly into something inspiring. Use only garbage which is nonbiodegrable and throw the rest out... pun!!!

Really though,

Sans the paper products, use it all to make a piece.

I wish you luck!

you could use that cardboard paper roll into a nice 'Pope'

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Homemade-Smoke-Filter

Make a Robot!

'cause you said you love robots.

I HAVE AN IDEA:

Take all plastic bags that you can find and make a hot air balloon out of it, full of colors as big as you can make it. Create a skeleton that would hold its round (non inflated) shape made out of wires.

Tie the hot air balloon to a big, black round plastic garbage can which represents the wicker basket and fill it with all the garbage you can. Glue the garbage all the way to the top to give the impression that it is overflowing from the can (wicker basket).
Hang this hot air baloon to the ceiling to give the impression it is flying up in the air and make sure to write on the surface of the balloon this sentence:
LEAVING THE EARTH

You can write that using any garbage material, may be using coke cans glued to the plastic bags surface.

I hope you like it. It takes a lot of work to do it. Not much of a treasure.

I do my animations out of recycled cardboard.....so im all for the recycling thing......now how to make art out of trash is going to be hard....maybe a collage? or a ben and jerrys lamp.

Nice goods! Re roll a couple Dutchmasters and a few beers....great work. Seriously though, great post as always!

I don't know if that is a new color in your hair but I like it!

You could make healthy, fresh looking food art from the food garbage...

I like it! Next we could each do it ourselves and then display our art here.

Oh, and I vote for reshaping the plastic and turning the paper into papier-mâché to make a 3-D wall hanging.

Make a sex toy. That would both impress and gross me out.

I like the idea of making paper. A friend of mine took all of the cards people had sent her over the years and recycled them into a new paper that she then made into her wedding invitations (she lived in Alaska and had plenty o time on her hands :).

I also see a mobile in your future...

that was barely a boob shot!
Anyway, I think you should make some paper from all that junk mail you have there. The more paper you make, the less risk of someone thieving your identity.
Then you could do a collage on the paper you made with your 30 rack and Dutch Master trash!!!

When you said we gotta go through the goods and he pointed the camera down, I thought he was diving into your dirty pillows. My bad.

I think it would be cool to make something out of the ice cream container and egg carton. Maybe a person or animal with newspaper hair?