In the Making: Upcycled Comic Book Accessories for the Holiday Season

     We decided to begin sifting through the boxes of old comic books in our closet and to start giving them new life this holiday season.  It's fun watching an old item become a piece of pop art.

      I've always loved digging through the racks at thrift stores. Partially, because I can't bring myself to pay high prices for new low-quality clothes -- and partially because I love looking for treasure.

 
     Our new focus on working with comic books has given me an excuse to hunt for treasure.  The Wonder Woman heels in the picture above are my first attempt at covering an entire shoe with comics.  I'm pleased with how it turned out. The heels were an old vintage pair of heels that I found at a thrift shop.  Maybe someone would have bought them -- or maybe they would have sat there for years.  As a piece of canvas to work with -- they were irresistible to me.  The vintage style was perfect for laying down some vintage Wonder Woman.  Vintage Wonder Woman comics look so much better than the more modern comics.

     After that, I was officially on a Wonder Woman kick.  Last holiday season, comic book jewelry was a hit.  However, I didn't make a wide selection last year. This year, I decided to make theme sets of 5 paper bead stretch bracelets.  The first pack of Wonder Woman bracelets sold within a few hours of posting them to Ebay.  Keep an eye out in the next few weeks because more theme packs will be rolling out.  If you have a favorite comic book -- or have a friend you need a custom request for -- contact us and we'll make it for you.  These packs of 5 comic theme bracelets are going to be listed on Etsy and Ebay for $15 a pack.

      Another great thrift store find was a handful of red & pink  or brown & pink wallets.  I found them in almost new condition.  The surface of the wallets was just screaming to be filled with comic book heroes.  I decorated the first of the bunch with Supergirl.

     Hopefully, I'll have time to roll out more of these wallets before the holidays.  Anyhow, support upcycled gifts this holiday season.  Why would you want to?  We may be able to replicate a process - but never an item.  This means the gift you give to your loved one is going to be one of a kind -- the only one in the world. Why support mass production -- it's destructive to the environment and our health to keep creating new stuff.  There are thrift shops, garage sales and dumpster bins just full of stuff that can be given new life.

     All the upcycled items (except the bracelets- but we have other bracelets) are available in our Etsy and Ebay shop.  We also have some purses and clutches in the works that will be posted in the shops soon. Come visit us!

and Have an Upcycled Christmas this Season --

The ReInnovations Upcycle Shop Rap

An artist we found on Fiverr.com created this video for our shop.

Check out his sweet rap about ReInnovations Upcycle Shop and what we do.

When you're done -- check us out on Etsy!

Pop Can Butterflies

I got this great punch machine for Christmas that works great for upcycling cans.  Watch it in action.

 The punch cut through an Arizona pop can without a problem.  I was able to get a handful of butterflies from one can.  I have tried other punches, but they barely even made a mark in the aluminum.

 These are the earrings I was able to make from the cut butterfly pieces.  I cut up a plastic soda bottle to make a piece to display the earrings on. These earrings are available in our Etsy Shop.

Valentines Day Gifts: Upcycling to Let You Know We Care

We just rolled out a few special items for Valentines Day.  We recently discovered we could print on bracelets, which opened up a whole new world of fun with these personalized Valentines paper bead bracelets.

     We've also started going through our stacks of upcycle material to find found words.  We found a bunch for Valentines Day.  This opens up whole new possibilities for some children's bracelets we have in the works.  There are a lot of great found words in National Geographic magazines like "Pirates", "Blackbeard", and "nanobots" -- so much fun for future making.                                                                                                                                                                       
Lastly, we bring out the cocoon container beads in a smaller earring version.  They contain hidden messages that can be customized.  



Valentines is right around the corner... we have plenty of handmade ideas for you to make it a special one.

Trash Collection: We’re Looking for Trash to Upcycle

We are currently looking for several items that will be upcycled into something new.  Here’s a list of what we are looking for at the moment.

Magazines

Comic Books (battered is okay)

Cigar Boxes

Coffee Burlap

Corduroy (torn is okay as long as there are good parts to the clothing item)

Junk Mail Flyers (like Kroger, CVS ads – thinner paper and not cardstock)

Send us a message if you have items to donate.

Unrolling New Beads

…or rather rolling them up for the new year.

The first batch of beads being offered is here and available in our shops on Etsy, Ebay and Storenvy.  Unlike the beads we’ve made in the past which were designed by cutting and rolling random strips from magazines – these beads are made with strips that are measured and counted to make a specific style of bead.  It’s really quite amazing how many types of beads can be designed from just rolling strips of paper every which way. 

It’s been a little over a year since I started ReInnovations.  My bead rolling obsession began during a visit to San Francisco.  I was working on a campaign at Forest Forever.  A month before I had bought a paper bead bracelet at Whole Foods, and thought it was the most amazing piece of work.  When I was in San Francisco, a man tried to sell me a box that he said contained a laptop.  I gave him some cash – he looked like he needed it pretty bad.  He gave me the box.  I then began to regret taking the box because I realized if there was a laptop in it – it was probably stolen. I was relieved to find that the box was full of magazines.  I had been meaning to start making paper beads, and now I had the incentive to do it.  Those first beads looked really rough.  But after a year – I feel I’ve really gotten it down.

Before I began upcycling paper into beads – I was upcycling coffee bean burlap from local roasters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I used the burlap to make messenger bags with a cooperative project called Basement 6.  I plan to pick that project up again in the near future.  I’d also like to begin experimenting with making wrapper bags within the next year.

For now though, it’s all about the beads.