3 new bags

made 3 new bags from recycled banner material last week.
they have a shoulder strap that can be used when he bag is folded over and can also be worn by the cut out grip on top of the bag. Ideal to keep all your belongings, and shop your groceries at the end of the day...



I will be bringing a few of my bags on handmade markets i will go to in the next month, and they can of course also be bought through the website www.dingsboems.nl 

making a self-watering container from recycled material

I'm forgetful when it comes to watering plants in containers. Pets are easier, they ask for food when they get hungry. Plants don't, and untill they do, this is a great way to keep them alive, even when you are not in the opportunity to keep an eye on them.

It takes almost nothing too.

needed: empty can, 3 small screws, device to poke holes in your can ,
piece of string (from a mop) as a wick, a hammer or  a drill 

screw 3 screws halfway in the outside of your can to support the lid and
connect the string in the lid

should look something like this

insert the lid in the can, let it rest on the screws

finished! water goes in the bottom, soil goes in the top. add your seeds and see them grow.

herb growing

recycled containers in use as herb nursery

elderflower sirup 2012

It's Elderflower time!

Finally picked flowers and made elderflower sirup tonight, after a search through town for corks to close these beer bottles with. These are made for champagne bottles and are the only ones I could find that actually fitted.

I normally use empty wine bottles but just before I started making sirup roommate Huub took every bottle in the house to the recycling bin. These beer bottles are a much better fit for sirup without preservatives anyway, and they look pretty without labels and with their white caps...

Now there's still a pan waiting to be turned into elderflower champagne.

recipe? http://dingsboems.blogspot.nl/2012/03/elderflower-sirup.html
http://dingsboems.blogspot.nl/2012/03/elderflower-champagne.html

recycling doll hands and feet

i found this doll a few months ago and took her home with me. She looked too sad laying there in her underwear on the bin in the street.
today decided to cut her hands and feet off and make molds of them. filled them with cement so they'll be heavy enough not to float to the surface when i pour silicons over them.
I'm sure I can turn them into a small edition of very cute coat hangers for kids. don't know the material to make them with yet, but i'm sure i'll figure that out too someday soon.

concept hut village in Heijplaat, Rotterdam

With stichting Kunsteiland we are building huts in the playground at Heijplaat, with materials donated by the builders and demolishers active in the neighbourhood. A large part of the houses there are being torn down, and new better ones will be built. During this proces stichting Kunsteiland wanted to do something positive for the residents and created this childrens project with a lot of reuse of materials.
Children are building happily to make their own dreamhome...

sofa makeover

stripping the leather off the couch... turning the inside out...

and turning it into a bag














www.dingsboems.nl

cassette tape mold-making

I predict there will be cassette-tape shaped SOAP in the near future in some shops in Rotterdam. 

Had this idea but threw all my old tapes in the garbage  a few years ago when I had to move. Good friend tinyloops still had his complete selection and gave me one. Lubricated the tape with some liquid soap and pressed it into black silicone. Hoping for the best now. I will let it dry for as long as I can wait, patience is not my virtue.
Also watch the recycled container ;-) it came with cakes in it...

actually this is pretty brilliant

see more There I Fixed It

ghetto windowsill garden

growing vegetables in the window of my studio in old milk-containers. I cut them in half and inverted the top half into the bottom, put an old strip of a cotton shirt through what was once the opening we poured the milk from and filled it with soil and seed.
Put a lamp right above it for extra love (it is after all only februari) and poured lots of water in the bottom half. now they feed themselves and don't need too much attention.

the next photo is of a page from the dutch Millionaire magazine. interesting to see that even in this target group home gardening is considered the hip thing to do. Now they have the money to buy the most exclusive sets, I am planning to make my ghetto garden look pretty with recycled materials.

vintage finds yesterday

after a productive day where I sent out a new project plan and went to have my sore shoulder x-rayed I rewarded myself with a trip to my favorite thrift store, and found a stash of well organised vintage buttons, some old office-stamps that i am going to re-use as fabric stamps and a beautiful black bag from the same line as the green bag I am currently using.  

bathtubconversion

I love to go to secondhand stores and usually come home with lots of things I never thought I needed. This is my favorite find of today: a barbiedoll-bathtub, so beautifull. It found a new purpose in life as a drinking bowl for our cat.

can't wait till spring...

Okay, I don't really need this, since I have the luxury of having a garden but I love the idea of growing your own food in your window, plus it is about as easy to keep as your average farmville farm. After installing the system it's selfsufficient, so all you have to do is harvest when your food is ready. Don't even need the neighbours to water your plants when you go on holidays...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fPZWJggyXY

can't wait till spring...

this man grows his tomatoes upsidedown.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by0ttwUmvdw

Only the brave...

Yes, it's silverplated hose clamps. A present-day chastity-belt, or a too tight fitting wedding ring...
I made these for my partner and myself. Love the contradiction between silver and something so simple and domestic as a hose clamp.