Special topics in calamity physics

Being an avid reader there are few books which keep my attention (about every fifth even after pre-scrutinization of the cover information at the local library). Marisha Pessl (Penguin Books, 2006) did it big style. Not only did she keep me shackled to hundreds of pages, small print, spiked with quotations (science-style referencing complete with page numbers) of the life of a teenager (an unusual one, I give you that, but still – I am from the dinosaur generation), she also placed a constant (inward) grin on my face (I have not entirely figured out how that works). She managed to have me fully content reading on about the routine day of a high-schooler (quite an achievement, if you know, what I mean) so that I found it completely superfluous when the story suddenly (after 2 cm paper worth of introduction) became a crime novel (unthinkable, since most what I read in my off-time are thrillers (sorry, cannot stomach Virginia big W. and Rilke after a full day at work)), and was almost angry, when on top of everything political issues were brought in. However, Marisha managed the perfect ending which left me sort of flabbergasted (although I did not appreciate the final finish of the end – well, one cannot have it all). This is a book I can relate to (like I can to the “Big Bang Theory” (the soap; and the theory, come to think of it, but this is not relevant here)) and would wish to study for its craftsmanship (if I were not so eager for the next new book on the library shelf). There are a number of Pessl-quotations I am happy to go along with and which I should have written down for further use like (I will mess it up now having the memory of a sieve): “I have been raised a sceptic not believing in anything until the evidence lines up like presents under a Christmas tree.” Or so.

Oh, and yes, here is more on potato net couture.

Net couture

Olive, the doll, made it possible:  here is the latest on potato bag couture. 

Amazingly, the dress looks much prettier in the photograph than in real (or on me…). 

In terms of the craftsmanship I am also not totally satisfied. I fastened the swing parts of the skirt with blue bottle caps and they pull on the light material messing up the flow. But other than that...

Bed, bath and beyond

Every time I visit IKEA, Strauss or any other of those home decoration stores I encounter crocheted or knit storage containers for bath- or bedrooms. One-way nets serve the purpose as well. 

Use the stiff plastic sheet material you get from some potato nets and they will remain upright. This material is good for stitching or patching patterns onto the basket as well. I line them all with colorful fabric left-overs. In these two baskets, right and left, the net is on the outside and used as decoration.

 

In this basket, an intact potato net was double-layered for stability and decorated with fabric on the outside.  The advantage of the more flimsy nets is that they can be put away more easily after use. 

 

Plastic hyperactivity

Fortunately, the supply of (empty) shower gel, bubble bath and washing fluid bottles in an individual household is limited. Healthy restrictions to my current obsession.

Head or tail?

Sometimes I receive material of which not even the donor can tell me what it had been used for. Those one-hit wonders can be particularly inspiring. They sometimes do, and sometimes don’t, end up as something useful. The grey plastic here needed stability, because it was rather flimsy when cut into stripes. Thus, I braided it with cut-up black ladies tights and had just enough to make a base. For what? Big questionmark. As I liked the colors you can chose now between a basket and a hat.

 

The obvious

For weeks I have been moaning and groaning about my inability to find a proper use for undamaged one-way nets. Typically, people rip them open creating the usual plastic mess meant for the trash can. In that situation, I could shine by breathing new life into them. Now, apparently, I have conditioned my suppliers and the nets I receive are perfectly alright. Frustration reigns!

 

Of course, they are usable simply as they are, for instance when shopping in one of those stores where you bring your own containers. A potato net could continue living as a potato net. OK, but boring.

One could use them for storage of all sorts of material which either needs airing (sports shoes…), drying (herbs, tea leaves, plant bulbs…) or which needs to be seen in order not to be forgotten.

I had just concluded that this was the best I could come up with when I more or less tripped over my daughters skating gear.

How obvious! Add some ribbon and some fanciness here and there and get perfectly functional shoe bags, sports bags, and storage bags!

The bubble bath bottle

Now I am really on a roll. The fun comes from the bright colours of the cosmetic plastic ware, their special shapes and the fact that repurposing them generates useful products. With that one I solved my USB-stick storage problem. Thanks to Velcro with fastening.

Talk about coincidence

Tumblr is a network I visit about once or twice a month. I admire other people's ideas and share the upcycling stuff there; so, unless I have something new, I do not log in. Thus, I was quite flabbergasted yesterday seeing my very own work on the title page. That answers my question how they select the front pictures - they don't. They simply run a random generator, because my photograph was neither designed to work as a center piece nor does it do too well in that position. But hey, I was still thrilled of seeing it there!
Tumblr must have a mechanism in place how to sieve out the pictures with aggressive, insulting or otherwise unsuitable content. So, possibly, there is a person for final clearance.

Distracted by shower gel

My favored material, the one-way nets, failed to inspire me lately. One reason is the lack of it - not enough there to dream up anything fancy. The second reason is the fact that the few nets I have are all intact - which is sort of annoying, because I do not want to cut them up for repurposing. So, I stand in my own way in that regard. But then I "saw" some other plastic trash. These shower soap bottles seem to be useful as a shell for may  purposes: protective cases for glasses, external hard discs, mobiles or whatever else comes to mind. I line them on the inside with fabric and attach some decoration for the fun of it.