reusing Archives - Blinds by tuiss ®

Thursday thought by tuiss :: it’s a time for giving

December 30, 2010 by Vanessa·1 Comment

This really is the time of year for giving. At tuiss we try our best in more ways than one to share. One example is what we do with things we no longer need.

When we’ve finished our photo shoots we obviously don’t need the window blinds anymore so we take the blinds to our local Oxfam Home shop. What a treat for some lucky bargain hunter, a tuiss blind!

We really had to think outside the box when it came to thinking what to do with fabric samples that we no longer needed. The Women’s Institute is the lucky recipient where nimble fingered ladies turn them into all manner of wonderful bits and pieces. What a nice ending for a scrap of fabric!

Thursday thought by tuiss :: Babybel candles

August 12, 2010 by Vanessa·0 Comment

Thursday thought is all about doing something simple to do your bit to help the planet. This one isn’t ever so simple but it does sound like fun!

My children love Babybels but I do ever so slightly fell aggrieved at both the cost and the packaging. Well I’ve sorted one of them! I spotted on Condo Blues a great idea of turning the red wax into a candle. Instructables also gives instructions for candle-making with babybels.

Get chomping kids!

Reusing the unloved:: Rubber bands, teddies and business cards

December 1, 2009 by Vanessa·0 Comment

Planet Green has a whole load of good ways to reuse things. Just what can you do with rouge elastic bands, piles of business cards and unloved teddies?

Tie your hair back, wrap around the wii, tidy cables ...and more

If you have the heart use him as a whiteboard cleaner ...

Gift tags (glue them together), book marks, shopping lists ...and more

tuiss Love :: Glove Love

November 18, 2009 by Vanessa·0 Comment

What to do with a lone glove or lost glove that you find? Glove Love has the answer. Glove Love pair up gloves to make a ‘matching’ pair. The gloves that you will receive will be washed and specially labelled with the Glove Love many-handed monster. An unusual gift for this Christmas time.

There is a lovely story behind Glove Love that’s well worth a quick read or watch their quirky video.

Innovative upcycling :: rubbish to beauty

November 13, 2009 by Vanessa·0 Comment

The phrase upcycling was coined by William McDonaugh and Michael Braugart in their book on ecologically intelligent design, Cradle to Cradle. In the simplest terms, upcycling is the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value. All of the following products have been upcycled and some of them from surprising products.

Some we absolutely love and have bestowed tuiss love on them. In particular take a look at the Smateria website, you cannot fail to be impressed by the dedication and entrepreneurial spirit of the Cambodian people. Take a look at the videos too, taking a plastic bag and turning it into a handbag is tops in our opinion.

Milk bottles from the 1980's upcycled into retro glasses

Old scratched vinyl records transformed into coasters

Once a number plate now a designer bag

Colourful choco pouches upcycled into luggage

Juice cartons into hard wearing document folders

Bright Choco handbag this time - drink less choco maybe?

Once a dirty old bin bag transformed by crochet

Old London Fire Brigade hoses, profits to the Benevolent Fund

Once a tyre now a rock chick bag with attitude

tuiss Love :: Ghost Furniture

November 9, 2009 by Vanessa·0 Comment

Ghost takes furniture that has had a hard life and heaps tender loving care onto them. The results speak for themselves, items that may have ended up in a skip now make outstanding designer pieces.

Very cleverly Ghost have given the background to each of their unique pieces, I just had to include these happy ending stories!

This poor battered lady was found at a Flea Market in Paris. She had been knocked about a bit and was crying out for some TLC. Finished in Designer's Guild Kingfisher and treated with Ghost’s special smooth wax finish. A vintage collar has been stiffened and fixed to the bust. A beautiful vintage brooch with lily of the valley in the centre and a silver frame has been pinned to the collar.

We found this curvy and very sexy antique chair in an old barn in France. It had seen better days and was crying out for some TLC. Finished in a milk chocolate coloured paint it still needed a lift so we decided to wrap it in gold just like you would a chocolate. The seat has been upholstered in a delicious satin, striped in green/gold and chocolate and tied to the uprights at the back with the same fabric.

This fabulous farmhouse chair with a perfect rush seat was found in a cellar of a medieval house just outside Paris. The chair has been painted in Fired Earth Verde Antique and the ornate floral carvings in Fired Earth Rose Mallow Farrow and Ball Red Earth with the scroll details in Farrow and Ball Mouses Back.

Exactly what it says. This antique oak footstool was found in a large house clearance in Northumberland. Beautifully made with little turned legs. An old plaster cast of part of a gladiator's foot in a Roman sandal has been fixed to the top of the stool - yes that makes it a Foot Stool.

Just where do McDonald’s Happy Meal toys go?

November 6, 2009 by Vanessa·0 Comment

This has to be one of the strangest, slash creepy, yet weirdly beautiful things I have seen in a long time!

These white bud vases are made from a reclaimed sherry glass with an imprisoned toy animal trapped inside the heat-shrink skin. Made by Studiomold Design in Cambridgeshire.

The impression of the imprisoned animal is just visible, frozen in rubber forever!
Each vase is hand made using found animals so every one is totally unique.

tuiss Love :: Ting

October 27, 2009 by Vanessa·0 Comment

blog-true-love
It’s quite difficult to get any more eco-friendly really. Reusing unloved things and turning them into lovely things. This is exactly what they do at Ting.

Ting transforms seat belts into cushions, poofs, wallets and more. Not just black seat belts either, there’s green ones courtesy of the ambulance service and orange ones from Easyjet. You won’t need to worry about chocolate stains or greasy fingerprints spoiling your new cushion though, the seat belts are all new having been rejected by buyers for one reason or another. The leather items were once old belts and saddles.

Ting is based in London, everyone cycles to the office, and they minimise their environmental impact wherever they can. There’s so many reasons to support Ting.