Students were asked to describe where their ideas for their Upcycle project came from, and how the idea developed.

Upcycling Project Inspiration/Update

Joseph Knapp
No Comments
In my original post, I described a lot about how I want to build my project, but my inspiration for this comes back to Tolkien’s books I read over break. As I was reading The Hobbit, and the Fellowship of the Ring I was amazed with the detail of his descriptions of his characters and…

Upcycle Inspiration: The Everything Drawer

Paul Tapsall
No Comments
When I was younger, and highly untidy, my parents would tell me “A place for everything, and everything in its place” to help teach me organization.  As I grew older, I realized that there was a loophole to this saying. This loophole was the everything drawer. This was a designated drawer in the house where…

Upcycle Inspiration // Vintage Romantic

Brooke Shade
No Comments
My inspiration for my upcycle project was a vintage/romantic aesthetic. I love the way that old typewriters look and the entire aesthetic surrounding black and white films. I was particularly inspired by the following image: Photo by Tyler Golden/NBC   This is Leslie Knope from NBC’s Parks and Recreation. Her last-minute wedding dress came together…

Upcycle Inspiration: Upcycled Fashion

Victoria Rios
1 Comment
The inspiration for my up-cycle project is up-cycled fashion which has gained popularity in the fashion industry. The fashion industry is notorious for being wasteful and unsustainable. Fast fashion is a term used for the process of creating cheap trendy clothes and and distributing them quickly so they are readily available to consumers. Fast fashion…

Upcycle Inspiration

Rhys Rueffert
1 Comment
When Professor Hertzberg mentioned in class that a key component to many upcycling projects is the volume of materials used, I knew I had to use a material I could get a lot of for cheap. It just so happened that my roommate had a hamper full of plastic bottles from a failed recycling project…

Upcycle Inspiration – Steampunk Fastener

George
2 Comments
gpid Designs https://gpidesign.com/2015/03/boiling-sculpture-down-to-nuts-and-bolts/ For my upcycling project I am thinking about using leftover fasteners from engineering design projects in order to build what looks like a steam engine.  This will follow the Steampunk Aesthetic. I got this idea when I was looking around for fasteners for my design project.  As I went through all of…

Upcycle Inspiration – Memory Box

Isabella Colosimo
2 Comments
For my project, I decided to just go to Goodwill and see what I thought was interesting. I spent a while looking through all the trinkets and realized that a lot of what I was seeing reminded me of my late grandmother. She loved going bargain diving at Goodwill and I felt that these items…

Upcycle Inspiration: Bookcase

Miles Radakovitz
2 Comments
For this project I am inspired by two things; my need to store books and plants and the tables made from planks and piping that you see in many of the wonder beer producing institutions here in Boulder. It is my understanding that the main draw to of these particular tables is the fact that…

Upcycle Inspiration: A Tribute to Ovechkin

Zach Aldrich
2 Comments
For my Upcycling project, I searched for awhile for inspiration. Artistic expression is not one of my strong suits, so I decided to search my hobbies and favorite pass times in order to find the answer. I finally arrived on my idea, which combined my deep state pride for my home-state of Maryland, my love…

Upcycle Inspiration // Kensue Kiatoukaysy

Kensue Kiatoukaysy
2 Comments
For my upcycle project I was inspired by the multitude of boxes sitting in my basement due to us recently moving into the house. I wanted to take advantage of the cardboard boxes with it’s ability to create solid objects when stacked on top of one another. By cutting the boxes into various shapes in…

Upcycle Inspiration: Aurora Borealis

Hannah Walsh
2 Comments
I felt lost when first assigned this project.  Without a set of constraints, I had trouble narrowing down materials, what to make, and where to start. I looked at what I recycle in my house, but there’s only junk mail, some cardboard, and food compost.  Neither the paper nor the cardboard sparked any creativity, and…

Upcycled Two-Way Wallet

Davis Robertson
2 Comments
For my upcycling project I am hoping to create a two-way wallet out of recycled leather. The inspiration for this project originally came from duct tape wallets that I used to make and sell in middle school. The type of wallets I made were able to open in 2 directions, where the geometry of the…

Upcycling Inspiration: Street Art

Kaiya Wahl
2 Comments
My inspiration for my Upcycling project came from the art collection I started this summer. Driving around Denver I always so there incredible and colorful street art and wanted to explore this aesthetic for a while now. I don’t know if it will be enough to do a painting. For the upcycling portion of the…

Upcycle Inspiration: Wallet

Will Tse
2 Comments
For my upcycle project, I drew inspiration from a recent aesthetic exploration that Christopher Lehr, a fellow colleague in our course, observed [¹]. This aesthetic: “The Peter McKinnon Aesthetic” centers around the photographer Peter McKinnon, one of minimalism, simplicity, rusticity, yet modern. Looking into McKinnon’s videos, I came across his documentation of all the wallets…

Upcycle Inspiration: Plushies

Emi Lee
2 Comments
The inspiration for my upcycling project started with the numerous stuffed animals I have lying around my house, particularly the cute, mouthless style of Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty has a very iconic style: bright colors with various amounts of embellishments, cute black, simple eyes. I heavily enjoy the playful, childish appeal of the products and…

Upcycle Inspiration: Garden Planters

Austin Maes
2 Comments
For my upcycle project I started with looking at making some sort of clothing out of other clothing that I no longer wear. This idea led me to the internet where I started looking at other upcycle projects. This is where I stumbled upon people making planter boxes out of old household items, so I…

Upcycle inspiration: Turning plastic caps into art?

Xiang Luo
2 Comments
The story of my inspiration came from two weeks ago… One of my classes is called creative climate change, in this class, we have a professor named Patrick Chandler, who presented one of his past work experience, of working with the Washed Ashore Project. The project itself is about reusing the marine debris, trash gathered…

Upcycling Inspiration // Engraved Mandalas

Charles Keely
2 Comments
The advantage of using a computer to make art is that you can achieve the precision of complex designs with ease.  I have not completely decided on my project yet, but I would like to use a laser cuter to do some cuts and engravings on recycled cardboard, wood, or paper. My first inspiration came…

Upcycle Inspiration – Mobius Cube Side Table

Ryan Weatherbee
2 Comments
For my upcycle project, I am creating a side table that fits the industrial-modern aesthetic. The table will be made from square steel tubing for the structure; the top will be made of varnished pine wood. The aesthetic that I am trying to emulate with this project can best be shown by the following image:…

Upcycle Inspiration – Folding Table

Sarthak Bal
2 Comments
For my upcycling project, I draw inspiration from my day-to-day need of a folding table. This table has various functionalities and is used for a wide variety of applications. I have decided to draw ideas from the readily available products in the market and to further modify it in a way that it addresses many…

Upcycle Inspiration: Kirby Sculpture

Thomas Buckholtz
3 Comments
My upcycling project thankfully came pretty naturally to me. I’ve always had an affinity for Japanese culture/aesthetics, so coming up with a way to materialize the “Kawaii” aesthetic was an endeavor I’ve already been working on. I recently picked up the hobby of drawing digitally after being laid off from my previous engineering job, to…

Upcycle Inspiration: Egg Shell Egg

Nicole Leon-Molina
3 Comments
For a while I had my mind set on making something useful. I kept struggling to find materials to efficiently replace, enhance, or re-imagine things that I already owned so I decided to settle on making a sculpture of some sort. Again, finding sufficient materials has been a limitation but I eventually decided on making…

Upcycle Inspiration: Scrap Electronics

Patrick Bodine-Ellison
3 Comments
Featured image credit: Ghana ScrapRegister   To make money while in college I picked up an Information Technology job 4 years ago and have been surrounded by computers and electronics ever since. As a result of both my employment and my interests I have a considerable amount of scrap electronics or “e-waste” sitting around my…

Upcycle Inspiration: Fast Food Wrappers

Kevin Yang
3 Comments
For my upcycle project, I wanted to work with fast food wrappers in some manner. Ultimately, I’m tentatively deciding on building a sculpture of some sort – I think this will be one of the striking ways to transform something which we consider useless and essentially trash into something that is visually pleasing or meaningful.…

Upcycle Inspiration

Jamie Frankel
3 Comments
We were tasked to find a way to upcycle something preexisting to be art or something useful for our first project in this class. I have a passion for indoor houseplants and wanted to make something that would fit this theme. Originally I thought of making a trellis for my plants but that wasn’t  quite…

Upcycle Inspiration 2020

Daniel Straub
4 Comments
For the past couple weeks, I have been struggling to find something to build for the Upcycle project. I have had tons of materials come to mind, but not a lot of applications. After scouring through the internet, I have found a couple ideas that have inspired me. My favorites as of now are the…

Upcycle Inspiration: Bottle Caps

Mary Rahjes
4 Comments
Coming into this class, I already knew that one of the first major assignments revolved around upcycling and reusing materials that we had readily available around us. So it was no question in my mind that I could create something with the bottle caps that I had been saving for quite a while. I had…

Upcycle Inspiration: Roller-coaster

Justin Lim
4 Comments
I want to build a roller-coaster for my upcycle project. The material used in the project will be mainly cardboard. This is the base of the roller-coaster and will act as rails for the “roller coaster”. I am going to utilize the double cone so that the “roller coaster” will stay on the track and…

Upcycle Inspiration: Vintage Cigar Holder

Jackson Hootman
4 Comments
My Upcycle project was inspired by a show called The Repair Shop. The Repair Shop highlights the repair and improvement of vintage antiques and cherished family items. The Repair Shop: www.netflix.com   In one of the first episodes, a vintage music player/cigar holder was brought in for refurbishment. While the musical aspect may not be…

Upcycle Inspiration: Dynamic Rope

Davis Butte
4 Comments
This project of the upcycle has been an interesting challenge thus far. I’ve thrown around ideas about many different types of materials and designs and haven’t felt content with any one idea. I then started thinking about who I am and what materials would make sense from a standpoint of what I already have and…

Upcycle Inspiration: Motorcycle Brake Rotor Art

Noah Verspohl
4 Comments
For my upcycling project I plan to create a piece of wall art from an old brake rotor off my dirt bike.  Dirt biking has been a defining hobby of mine since sophomore year of high school. I started off riding a trail bike, but quickly realized I wanted to do more than just putt…

Upcycle Inspiration: Lights and lamps

Benjamin Robles
4 Comments
For the upcycle project, I immediately thought of using wood as one of my main materials because I have a lot of scrap wood in my garage, plus the ITLL has plenty of scrap wood in the shop downstairs. I also knew I wanted to use the laser cutters to become more familiar with them…
Mosaic Art

Upcycle Inspiration: Mosaic Art

Hailee Pritchard
4 Comments
Mosaic Art     My inspiration for the upcycle project is mosaic art. Not only does the history of this art form fascinate me, but the creation of mosaics makes me really excited as well. Mosaic art originated from Mesopotamia, and is compiled bits and pieces of colored glass, stone, clay, and others. The very…

Upcycle Inspiration: Plastic Spoons

Bryan Wong
4 Comments
For my upcycle project, I drew inspiration from the internet. I searched the internet for ideas on upcycling and came across an idea that seemed artistic yet functional. The main material I am planning on using will be plastic spoons. I plan on creating a lamp using the heads of the plastic spoons as decoration.…

Shotgun Shells Coat Hanger

Abdulrahman Nashawi
4 Comments
To be honest, I was not very sure what I wanted to do for my upcycling project until yesterday. What I struggled with the most was narrowing down the ideas I had because the project has almost no restrictions or guidelines; we can do almost anything we want. Two weeks ago when we first were…

Upcycle Inspiration: Mycelium

Fiona Bell
5 Comments
          For my upcycle project I decided to focus on mycelium. What is mycelium? Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus (aka mushroom roots). Mycelium is a key element of our ecosystem because it helps with decomposition and absorbs nutrients [1]. I learned about mycelium while working as a graduate…

Upcycle Inspiration 2020: Pocket-Sized Sketchpad

Justin Engbrecht
5 Comments
While we were discussing the importance of doodling within lecture the past week, I realized that while I have a full-size notebook in my backpack dedicated to this course, I may want another smaller sketchpad that I can carry in my pocket for whenever inspiration strikes me. In the context of upcycling, creating pages for…

Upcycle Inspiration – Wine and New Zealand

Austin Ross
6 Comments
The inspiration for my upcycle project is my mom. Being that she loves trendy art that is suitable for display in our house, I figured I would create her a wall piece to hang in our house. My mom is originally from New Zealand (hence the reason the featured image is the New Zealand flag)…

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