Upcycle Progress: A Few Ideas

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 to this idea when he gifted me two new whiskey snifter for Christmas. They are dimply the bottom halves of Jameson bottle, cut about 5″ tall and hand sanded to remove the sharp edges. The glasses are cool and very aesthetically pleasing on my bar, but then I got to thinking. What was left over? The top halves of the bottles would be leftover. I had seen chandeliers lights made from wine bottles before so I am curious if I could make the tops into matching bistro light shades or retrofit them into a lamp fixture.

2) PVC Fly Rod Tube

I have wanted to make a car-top fly rod carrier for a while. Similar to ski racks, off-the-shelf rod carriers are crazily expensive for they really are. However, unlike ski racks they only hold a few pounds of rods and reels at a time, so they do not need to incredibly robust and could easily be removed when not in use. There are a variety of examples of DIY projects using PVC to construct rod tubes (see below). While this is an upcycled design, it does not capture any bold aesthetic so far.

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2 Comments. Leave new

  • The bottle designs are great, super solid executable idea.

    The fly rod holder is a cool idea. I suppose you could aim for the aesthetic of the car you are mounting it to so that it looks like it belongs. I also feel that the idea is very unique (much more so than the bottles)!

    As for post design, rotating your sketches if they are aligned sideways would help for readability.

    Reply
  • Blake Arellano
    February 5, 2017 4:21 pm

    I like your spectrum of ideas here; one is more aesthetic with a bit less functionality, while the other is something more industrious and useful. I am personally a bit more excited about the bottle light bulb/tumbler idea than the fly rod tube, but I could see it being more appealing to yourself if it is something you would use often. Though to make an aesthetic out of the fly rod tube will definitely be a bit of a challenge relative to the light bulb holders. Plus, with the bottles you get a neat light AND a whiskey tumbler out of the deal. Not bad, two aesthetic items out of one object otherwise useless object.

    Reply

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