Student Work

For my upcycling process I am working on making reusable glasses and shot glasses from beer bottles. The design process that I have been in has been a circle. I started with an idea, and from the idea, I designed an aesthetic that I thought would be exciting for a beer bottle glass. Then after…

My upcycling project is making a woodwind instrument. The hardest part of the project is calibrating pitches and this involves a lot of experimentation. I was originally going to use metal piping to get a more vibrant sound but soon realized that this would take a long time to machine and making mistakes could become…

The design process so far has been frustrating: I have looped back to previous steps several times so far. My project is an electronic project, but given the nature of the Upcycle project all the components have to be scraps discarded from other projects. These parts are very difficult to work with, as I don’t…

I’m a guess and check kind of lady, and I learn from my mistakes. I made a prototype plastic bag sandal that turned out super small and trashy. There was no way I could turn in these shoes for a grade. I’m not even going to show a picture of them on this blog post,…

I started the upcycle project thinking I would carve a specialized and unique hockey stick out of wood. However, when I Googled, “Homemade Hockey Stick,” I was inspired by what I saw. Ever since then, I’ve been working on making something out of broken hockey sticks. The key constraint has been the number of sticks…

I went through a frustrating design process creating my upcycle project. I knew what material I wanted to use, and I knew the general theme of what I wanted to make. However, I ended up throwing out a lot of ideas after I tested them for feasibility. I knew I wanted to make something I…

The design process naturally varies from project to project. For this project, I spent a lot of time thinking about what to make. I wanted something useful, and that I could use on a daily basis. At first that does not seem like a tall task; however with the limitation that it had to be…

Brainstorming for an idea is the hardest part. Once you get pass that, everything starts to fall together. I sketched out some ideas of what I wanted to cast. After that, I found out that silicone molds are relatively cheap to make and they can withstand heat. This means that I can safely melt down…

I do not come from an engineering background or area of study, so a design loop is kind of new to me. I do almost all of my creative work digitally through programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. So when I envision something I want to create, I kind of just jump in after some brainstorming.…

My design process was loopy. As I started planning the design out and actually working on it, some things that I thought would look good didn’t, so I removed them. Other things just didn’t work, like the Litchenberg Figure on the wood. Things got rearranged and moved around, like the hooks and the placement of…

For me the process of design is all about constantly going back to the drawing board. For our upcycle project I have had to do this with the design I intend to create using a mosaic of blank CD pieces. It is very hard to cut CDs with scissors and especially to make clean straight…

I decided to scrap the idea of making a skateboard rack due to my lack of access to woodworking tools. Instead, I’m creating a steampunk chest/trunk with cardboard and duct tape. This is far more feasible and allows me to express my artistic talents better. My design process included ideation, sketching, gathering materials, preparation of…

For my upcycle project, I will be melting down brass shell casings and casting a new shape using the lost foam method. I began the iterative design loop with this idea in mind but there so many different possibilities for where I could take the project. Sketching a few shapes I thought would be cool to…

For my upcycle project I used the design loop above. It started really with choosing a material and then using the internet to find inspiration and ideas about what I wanted to make. Once I knew I wanted to make some type of statue, I began sketching it out using the “beer cans” I chose…

For my upcycling project, I am melting the leftover waxes from other candles and putting them into one big glass vase for aesthetic appeal. Although this will obviously be an aesthetic project, I hope to also make it functional by adding string to the middle of the molten wax so that I can light the…

For my upcycle project, I am building a projection stage, which is essentially a scale model of a large electronic dance music stage. It consists of three-dimensional platforms which create space to display projections, as well as an area where a DJ booth would be placed. The entire stage is made out of cardboard and printer paper. My design loop…

For the Upcycle project, I have decided to utilize the empty glass bottles and produce bags I have lying around my apartment. My idea is to make hanging planters to house my air plants so they can be hung from the ceiling by the window and get plenty of sunlight. I was inspired by current designs…

Today we played the Aesthetics Game. Teams drew a random object and applied a randomly chosen aesthetic, and made sketches on the whiteboards around the room. Some awesome mashups resulted! Very popular: the Mob Culture electric razor, and the Sk8r Shoe Toilet. 09 Aesthetics Game A set of screwdriversSuburbia in TV commercials

Skis have been used to traverse the globe for thousands of years. Born out of necessity, skis helped farmers, trappers, and warriors travel long distances more effectively. The skis utilized then were thick and made of wood. A common problem in ski design occurs from the weight of the skier concentrating in the middle of…

  My upcycle project was inspired by a company that I worked for a couple of years ago called American Installations. This is a countertop fabrication and installation company. Here they work with a solid surface material called Corian to make all of the countertops, table and bathroom vanities. After manufacturing their product they have…

For my upcycling project I hope to create a functional object. I also want something that would be visually pleasing to the eye. Mixing discarded blankets, towels, and patches of fabric with cement water can provide some wonderful shapes when manipulated properly. After mixing, the fabric is hung over a stool and left to dry. Once…

For my upcycle project I was inspired by some of the cardboard lamps that I have seen in the past. I remembered some of the cardboard art that I have previously made in a middle school art class. The art looked something like this: I wanted to think of other ways to expose the inner…

(source: pinterest.com/pin/30188259982318117/) For my upcycling project, I was wanting to make something more visually pleasing rather than functional. I have been obsessing over interior design lately, so I decided I wanted to make some sort of decor for my apartment. This nail and thread art came to mind. I plan on taking recycled wood pieces to…

For my Upcycle project, I am going to attempt to build a guitar out of spare materials laying around the house. I have always loved playing the guitar and rock music in general, so I thought it would be something fun to try. I initially got the idea from Jack White in the documentary It…

One of the side effects of moving in from different country, as I did six months ago, is that I ended up with a lot this. So, when we were given an upcycling assignment, I had little doubt about what raw materials I was going to use for the project. Yes, I decided to use…

I am planning on welding a house of cards using scrap metal and then putting cards on the faces of the metal to make it seem like a normal house of cards. This is a commentary on how if you cannot overcome something, change the rules. Blow all you want, my house of cards is…

My upcycle ideation thus far has consisted of multiple ideas and not a whole lot of commitment to any, single concept. So my strategy is I will outline my top few concepts here and please post any feedback in the comments. 1) Upcycled Glasses and Matching Bistro Lights (or Lamp) My uncle recently introduced me…

One of the most common things that is thrown away in my house of seven people, is cans. Whether its tin cans from food goods or various beer cans from many different brands. I began collecting them as soon as I heard about this project but did not yet know what I wanted to do…

While thinking about what to make for this project, I remembered a concert that I saw recently. The band Moon Hooch modified there instruments differently in each song to create new and unique sounds using mostly upcycled materials. They originally started playing in the subways stations of New York and as a tribute to that…

Being an avid skier and having access to lots of old skis which have no purpose this seems like an opportunity for me to make use of them. There are lots of examples of ski furniture and accessories which be made out of skis that have passed their prime. Some of the design considerations that i…

While procrastinating brainstorming for this project, I stumbled across something called fidget toys (particularly fidget spinners).       They appear to be getting trendy and are for people who like to keep their hands occupied at all times. The idea for these toys are to replace habits like pen clicking and foot tapping with something less…

The idea of using useless material to make something aesthetically pleasing, potentially with a function, is incredibly intriguing! Unfortunately too intriguing in my case, as I cannot seem to converge on one concept. This post is more about seeking input from other students, than documenting my own progress. Therefore, PLEASE HELP ME BY COMMENTING YOUR IDEAS…

When we were first told to make something useful (or purely aesthetic) out of something that would be thrown away, my mind started thinking of all the different possibilities. I was really excited because I am a packrat – I try to save as many things as possible! I tried to brainstorm some ideas but…

For my upcycle project, I will be making a paper mache stool. This stool will serve as footrest for me to use when I am relaxing while also providing a unique aesthetic. The actual structure will be made of remnant wood material found in my backyard or at a local wood cutting shop (Home Depot,…

As a hockey player and sports fan, I have always loved the sports aesthetic. Whether you consider it to be sports bar-like or a man cave, I have Colorado Buffaloes, Green Bay Packers, and Wisconsin Badgers logos all over my walls. However, I do not have any sports-related furniture. How cool would it be to…

The biggest struggle I have had with the Upcycle project was coming up with something to do! I woke up this morning and began to get dressed and went to put on my shoes and out of the corner of my eye I saw something; my old faithful pair of Sperry’s. They had served me…

For my upcycle project, I decided to utilize some extra PVC pipe laying around my house from my landlord’s garden sprinkler project. There is roughly 10 feet of PVC pipe in my laundry that my landlord has given me his blessing to use. I went straight to brainstorming of what to make and a common…

Source: redneckbeerhats.com[1] A long time ago, I received a hat just like this one as a gift, and it quickly became one of my favorite hats. It’s simple, made out of just cardboard. I want to see if I can recreate it myself. Hopefully I will have enough cardboard in case I mess up. My…

For me, one of the most annoying things is when you have multiple candles that have such little wax that you can’t even fit your hand into the jar to light it. When this happens, I tend to just put the candles in a bin or box because I think, maybe I’ll get one of…

After coming up with many terrible ideas for a project, I decided to look for inspiration. I got on my phone and googled “upcycled art,” hoping to see something that would inspire me. Then, it hit me. I remembered a small motorcycle statue I purchased in Vietnam that consisted of nuts, bolts, and washers welded…

As we continue to dive into aesthetics one fun upcycling project came to my mind. Over the past year, I have noticed that most of the recycling/waste that leaves my apartment is empty beer bottles. So for my upcycling project, I have decided that I would really like to incorporate beer bottles and make them…

Went over 0,1,2 and 3 point perspective, and then how to sketch a block. Based on Steur, Roselien, and Koos Eissen. Sketching: The Basics. Amsterdam: BIS Publishers, 2011. Then we listed to an excerpt from This American Life, #370, on how bad apple behavior (slacker, jerk, depressive) can ruin a group. 07 Sketching and teams

After a frustrating brainstorming session over the weekend, I ended up making almost no progress. Hence, I decided to go ahead and build something out of discarded foam boards which I found in my RA resource room in my residence hall. I thought it would be sweet if I could build a whole arsenal of…