Muni Market Day x Katha Upcycled Craft Workshop

So last last Sunday June 1st, Jen Horn and the rest of the Muni team organized an awesome event called Muni Market Day. It's a community event for conscious consumption and mindful living.

Muni asked us to have an upcycling craft workshop at The Grove Rockwell. Geli and I taught the participants how to make bags and bracelets out of old shirts (posted the tutorial here on my blog). I am sharing with you photos of our workshop!

Photos by Geli Balcruz of Katha Magazine :)

The girls of Katha Magazine :)

Our craft kits are ready!

There's Rea, Mae-Ann and Patrick. He loved the batman shirt.

Van and April - two awesome ladies who came all the way from Cavite!

 The end product. Good job guys!

 Here are our lovely bracelets.

Outside were tents where you can shop, dine, and listen to live music.

And there's Jusa, KKK Coffee, Edgy Veggy, Lotus Pod and many more. 

Too bad I wasn't able to see all the pop-up shops because I had to leave early. I really wanted to buy healthy food! Anyway, that is all for now. I am looking forward to having another craft workshop with Muni next time!! :)

How To Make Bracelets Out Of Old Shirts

So what are you going to do with the scrap fabric that you used for the shirt bag? Turn them into shirt bracelets! You will need to cut the excess fabric into half inch strips then stretch them to make the edges curl. For this one, I had four strips and tied them altogether.

This type of knot is the Macrame knot. Take the rightmost string and make an L-shape. Then take your leftmost string and place it over the L.

Take the leftmost string under and then out to the "hole" on the right side. That will be your first knot.

Then just tighten the knot to bring it to the top.

Then do the same steps on the other side!

When you're done it will look like this.

You can also do a fishtail braid or a regular braid if you want your bracelet to be nice and simple :)

Again, I promise I will post photos of the craft project that we had for Muni Market Day. :) Stay tuned!

Making Bags From Old Shirts

Today I will show you how to make a bag out of an old shirt! You can keep this inside your bag and use it if you are going to the grocery store for some quick shopping.

Start with an old cotton shirt. Something that you can easily cut, like this shirt that I used to wear when I was still at the University... so and so pounds lighter.

Cut the collar and the sleeves for the bag handles. By this time your shirt should look like a tank top.

Cut a 3 or 4 inch slit on both sides of the bottom of the shirt.

Cut the bottom part of the shirt into half inch wide and 3 inch long strips. You should cut both the front and back sides of the shirt.

Final step: Tie each strip twice, like a square knot. When you are done, stretch the shirt a bit if you don't want the bottom of your bag to be too tight.

And here is the final product!

By the way, I did this project for Muni Market Day, which was on June 1st. I will post photos of the event soon!

Cardboard Tube Pillow Boxes

If you are planning to give your friends earrings, bracelets, or small items for Christmas, then you can make these cute pillow boxes. And guess what? These are made from cardboard tubes that are found in toilet paper rolls! Way to go to recycle this Christmas!

Materials needed:

- cardboard tubes

- materials for decorating like wrapping paper, ribbons, washi tape, twine

1. You need to collect the cardboard tubes from toilet paper rolls

2. Flatten it to make creases at the sides

3. Open the tube a bit

4. Press the edge of the tube with your thumb.

5. That's going to be the flap for your pillow box. Now do this on both sides.

6. And you have a pillow box!

I decorated my pillow boxes in three ways (but they all look similar haha)

- Wrapping paper and yarn. I got the wrapping paper at the Rockwell holiday fair.

- Origami paper and ribbon. The origami paper is from Muji while I got the ribbon at the Hallmark sale.

- Washi tape and twine. Of course, the washi tape has got to be in Christmas colors.

It's still a bit early, but I already want to say this to all: Happy (handmade) Holidays!

Spray Painted Ombre Glass Bottles

Last weekend I did an upcycle project on glass bottles. I turned them into flower vases and spray painted them ombre-style. (Those are fake flowers by the way, haha)

My sister, who is a graduate of industrial design, has a collection of bottles that she used for her packaging class. She doesn't need them anymore so I asked her if I can have them. 

I removed the labels, washed the bottles, and wiped them dry. Make sure you cover the floor with newspaper so that the spray paint won't mess up your flooring. And then place the bottles upside down. I sprayed about 2 coats of white paint with flat finish.

While the white paint was drying, I took a photo of the spray paint that I was going to use as accent colors for my bottles. The colors are (not so) baby pink, cool green, and lilac. I bought these at the hardware store.

Your bottles should still be upside down. When using your accent spray paint, aim your nozzle at the bottle's bottom about 10 inches away and at an angle. You should be able to cover half of the bottle. Sorry I don't have a photo of me doing it, I couldn't take a photo and spray at the same time. But I made this so others can visualize what I did:

The effect should look like this: Saturated at the bottom, and it gets lighter and lighter to the top.

Wait for it to completely dry before you can use them. I bought these fake flowers at the department store and placed these vases in my bedroom. If you're into fresh flowers, then I guess that's better :)

And you're done!

Upcycled T-shirt Headband

Today I will show you how to put your old shirts to good use by turning them into headbands.

Look for old shirts that are made of cotton jersey, so that it will nicely curl into thin strips when stretched. I had pretty bright shirts that I don't use anymore. But I chose the neon pink for this project.

Cut them into strips, about 2 inches wide, and for the length it should be twice as long as the circumference of your head. I had to use sticky tape to keep the shirt from moving while i was cutting it.

Then stretch each strip as far as you can. This will curl the sides of the strip. It should look something like the one on the photo below. Then for the accent at the middle portion of the headband, I made a knot that looks like an infinity sign. You can also watch the video on how to do the knot on Sugar Bee Crafts

After that, I did a fishtail braid on both sides of the headband.

You can sew both ends together. But I have poor sewing skills. That's why I never sewed for fabric projects. Anyway, what I did was I tied both ends together cut the edges. I know it looks messy. You can cover that with a piece of cloth

And here's the finished product:

I wore this today when I went out for a jog with my dad. It was pretty snug and it did not loosen on my head all throughout our jog. 

Hope you like this tutorial!

Garbage (gär'bäZH) by Mitch Shivers

Yesterday I went to UP Diliman to:

1. Fix my documents for the board exam

2. Pass by our org tambayan and meet new applicants, and

3. See Mitch Shivers' exhibit at the College of Fine Arts on its last day

While commuting to UP, I saw this awesome mural at Philcoa. The paintings on this wall at the Philcoa foot bridge changes every now and then. 

Here's another mural that I came across at the facade of Bartlett Hall.

My sister met up with me at the lobby and gave me a tour of her teacher's work. GARBAGE (gär'bäZH) is an exhibit by Mitch Shivers which showcases upcycled furniture pieces out of salvaged items.

Here are some of the items that I liked in the exhibit. Captions below the photo.

Beat Box Carton Speakers
Repurposed cardboard packaging boxes

Reconstruct Track Light
Salvaged I-beam and repurposed G.I. pipes

Head Banger - Blue Head Speaker
Salvaged mannequin head

Maschine Coffee Table

Reclaimed wood planks and salvaged gears

G-55 Lounge Chair and Side Table Set with QR Pillow

Made from 55 gallon industrial container drum, salvaged SUV pistons, repurposed TV picture tube frame, lid of container drum

Night-Night Tenite LED Table Lamp

Reused iMac monitor stand, assorted salvaging metal parts, Tenite pendants

kWh (Kilowatt Hours) Clock

Upcycled electric meter casing, repurposed G.I. pipes

HARD (ware) & SOFT (ware) - Lounge chair with QR Pillow
Made from floppy disks, keyboard keys, reused extruded aluminum bars, salvaged automotive metal panels, upcycled polycarbonate TV projector panel.

Honey Bear Bottle Lamp

Remember those cute honey bear bottles that you use during breakfast? I'm going to show you how you can upcycle your bottles into night lamps.

You will need an empty and cleaned honey bear bottle, lightbulb and chord for lightbulb which you can buy at the home depot. My light bulb is a 5 watt warm white compact fluorescent light.

Next cut the bottom part of the bottle using an exacto knife or a plain cutter. The type of plastic is a little harder than the usual PET water bottle so be patient with cutting and be careful not to hurt yourself. I kind of stabbed myself in the hand but it's nothing serious.

Spray 3 coats of white spray paint on the bottle and let it dry. Once it's dry, then place the lightbulb underneath the bottle.

And here's the final product! It's so cute, you can use it as a night lamp for a child's bedroom.

Hellooo

It won't really melt the plastic bottle. I have observed it for a few hours and so far the plastic did not feel warm. The cap portion is open anyway so there's enough space for the warm air to escape.

What do you think? :)