Exhibit Design Inspiration: Creative Recycling Ideas

Some of the favorite things to show up in my Facebook feed are the inspiring ideas and images from the Italian group posting as "Creative Recycling Ideas."  (Sorry if you're not on Facebook --- CRI doesn't seem to have a dedicated website.)

Seeing how clever people have transformed ordinary materials (like inner tubes above and phone books below ...) into wonderful and useful things always makes me smile --- and gives me ideas for future projects.

Enjoy!

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Exhibit Design Inspiration: Fasten-ating!

There's something satisfying about taking/recycling pieces of cardboard and fastening them together to make interesting new creations.

To that end, check out the video above of the automated cardboard horse that gallops around Bulgaria. Using cardboard, and what appear to be "zip ties" the artist has made not only a cool kinetic piece, but has also created something that gives community members an excuse to gather together  --- big fun!

If you're not ready to create your own animated cardboard beast just yet, you might be interested in checking out MAKEDO, a reusable building system from Australia, that enables materials including cardboard, plastic and fabric to easily join together to form new objects or structures.  

MAKEDO looks like a great "maker" activity for museum programs or "crafty" exhibit areas.

So, look around for project scraps, or ask your your local appliance store for some old cardboard cartons, and get building!

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Green Design Resource: Earth911.com

One aspect of the emphasis on "green design" that is often overlooked is how to properly recycle scrap or waste exhibit materials that cannot be reused.

For example, many museums are switching to more energy-efficient lighting like Compact Fluorscent Lights (CFLs). However, even CFLs burn out eventually, and each bulb contains a small amount of mercury, so CFLs shouldn't just be pitched into the dumpster.

Similarly, even the empty cans from low VOC (Volatile Organic Componds) finishes need to be properly recycled.

The problem is that it's not easy to know where to properly recycle every type of product or container.

That's where a site like Earth911.com comes in! Besides being packed with lots of great tips about living and working greener, there is a handy form at the top of the homepage that lets you enter the type of stuff you'd like to recycle and your location to find the nearest recycling facility that accepts your particular leftover materials or scrap.

(By the way, most Home Depot locations now accept used CFLs for recycling, even if you didn't buy them there originally.)

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Turn Your Old Tootbrush Into A Robot!

The fine folks at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories have posted this nifty set of instructions and video to make a "Bristlebot."

Now I just need to find some old pagers to scavenge their motors!