Upcycle Project Aesthetic: College Beer Wall

For my Upcycle project I have decided to make a guitar strap out of recycled materials. I have been playing guitar since I was in the fourth grade and I recently have fallen back in love with playing and learning new songs. Therefore, When thinking about my desired aesthetic I knew I wanted to do something that related to guitar. My plan was to attach the finished product to my acoustic guitar, so I began to think of what I associated with acoustic guitar. My brain immediately whet to country music, and behind any good country song is a cheap canned beer.

I want my project to resemble that of a college apartment beer wall. A beer wall is the collection of beer cases, usually 30 can racks, that have been bought by the occupants of a house or apartment. When every beer within the case has been finished, the faces of the box consisting of the logo are then cut out and attached to the wall. Slowly the wall gets covered until you can no longer see the original drywall. The chosen wall is typically the largest wall within the main living area. The wall can even wrap around corners and cover multiple walls.

The wall is a representation all of the time the occupants have spent together. The size of the beer wall grows alongside the relationships of the members within the household, especially if they were strangers when they moved in together. Each beer case has a memory attached to it, whether that be a party or just sitting around and being with the people you care about. It also gives an observer an insight into what kind of beer the occupants enjoy and is a way for the occupants to express their taste. A beer wall is something you are only going to see in a house of college students, so this taste is going to consist of cheap light beers such as Coors Light, Busch Light, or Bud Light to name a few.

Since beer cases come in many different colors, the wall is becomes an amalgamation of bright colored squares. I want to encapsulate this aesthetic by using recycled beer boxes of different products I have used recently and weaving them together to create squares that show parts of company logos. Many beer walls also consists of posters or artwork that is of interest to the occupants. For this I will be looking for boxes with artwork or pictures that draw my interest. My goal in the end is to make this guitar strap my own portable beer wall that resembles me and my taste.

Beer Wall Is Complete! : Drunk. https://www.reddit.com/r/drunk/comments/5f8efv/beer_wall_is_complete/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023.

“Beer ‘Wallpaper.’” BeerAdvocate, https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-wallpaper.335339/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023.

“—.” BeerAdvocate, https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-wallpaper.335339/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023.

Beer “Wallpaper” | Community | BeerAdvocate. https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/beer-wallpaper.335339/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023.

heysian. “I Collect Beer Boxes. Then I Put Them on My Wall.” R/CraftBeer, 8 June 2014, www.reddit.com/r/CraftBeer/comments/27mga9/i_collect_beer_boxes_then_i_put_them_on_my_wall/.

“How about around the Beer Pong Table? Happening | Beer Wall, College House Decor, Beer Decorations.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/how-about-around-the-beer-pong-table-happening–283304632785333125/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023.

Sevilla, Johann. “The Beer Wall.” Medium, 9 May 2017, https://medium.com/@johannxsevilla/the-beer-wall-b315b59347c2.

“The Perfect College Apartment Accent Wall #FirstApartment #CollegeDecor #BeerWall #Beer | Beer Wall, Apartment Party, College House Ideas.” Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/the-perfect-college-apartment-accent-wall-firstapartment-collegedecor-beerwall-beer–527273068849661918/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2023.