MAKING THINGS: GLASS CUTTING

I wanted to do glass cutting for a long time! You know, recycle bottles into drinking glasses and what ever else you can make from them, vases or bowls..

So, I came across different methods, for example tying a piece of string around the bottle and setting it alight with lighter fluid. Like, really?!

Cutting the glass with a special bottle cutting tool.

Then I’ve found this video, which seemed to use a pretty reasonable method.

And then, by coincidence, I also found this glass bottle cutting workshop, which was hosted by Sekundär-Schick, in which we basically used the method described in the video.

Breaking the glass with hot and cold water.

It was a free workshop, you could give a donation for materials. I love free workshops!!
I love it when people give away knowledge for free and everyone(who can) throws in some money to set it up!

Done!

Our host, Sigrid, was really nice and patient and even prepared a soup for us beforehand.
Sekundär-Schick, is like an office for recycling projects. They do upcycling workshops with old clothes and stuff. Here are more pics of the workshop.

Sanding, not one of my favourite things to do.

Anyways, if you wanna do some glass cutting a few words of caution:

WEAR PROTECTIVE GEAR! While you’re cutting, breaking and sanding the glass. I had little glass projectiles coming off the bottle even after I finished cutting it. Dangerous!

Some finished glasses. You can make wine glasses from the top half of the bottle. Like the one on the left, just attach a piece of wood as a base.

I also got very sick immediately after the workshop. I thought it was from breathing in glass dust, coz it started with a sore throat. My mask hadn’t been really tight and I had dust everywhere, on my clothes, in my hair.. And then I had a pretty severe flu for about a week.
Maybe my glass-cut throat just made me more vulnerable, it was just weird that it started straight after.

I also won’t be using the glasses I made for drinking glasses, more for decoration. I wasn’t a 100% happy with the sanding. Don’t want anyone to cut themselves!

I engraved some of my glasses. That was the most fun of all!

I love going to workshops lately! And to learn new things and skills. Even to sometimes learn, that a certain material is not really your thing. Glass is not really my sort of material and that’s fine.

My favourite materials are fabric and wood, but more on that later!

2013! NOW WHAT?!

I’ve really been neglecting my blog baby quite badly lately.
Feeling quite guilty.

Thinking of how I started it and how I was so excited to write every day about all these exciting things, new and old, great and interesting ideas and knowledge.

Maybe it was a bit much for someone who still wasn’t really connected to blog writing?

It took me ages to research, write and edit most posts, several hours. I didn’t just wanna write quick posts with mediocre information.

The end of last year was super stressful for me. Actually, almost the whole year.
My move back to Europe turned out to be far more stressful then imagined and the bureaucratic onslaught that followed was overwhelming.

I have learned so many new things last year and revisited topics that I already knew about.
My favourite topics lately have been “living without money” and “sustainable companies”.
But more on that in my next posts.

I DID make some New Years Resolution. I think they are kind of fun. Even if people often don’t stick to all of them. It’s cool to have a clean, new slate and use the New Year as some sort of deadline and inspiration.

I made a list for the New Year, of things that I am already doing which are good for me and of things that I definitely wanna bring into my life.

Here are some of it:

•Pay more attention to my blog baby

•Spend more time with old and new friends

•Keep an open mind

•Don’t let myself get too stressed by outside influences

•Make more, reuse and recycle more

•Buy as little as possible, especially new things, spend as little money as possible (and still fun)

•Forget about perfectionism

•Work in my own business

•Do new activities were I can connect with likeminded people, learn new things and have fun

•Implement ways of doing things better, like green web hosting, using a community bank or using sites like Freecycle and Ebay’s free section to get new furniture

•Take care of myself, my physical, emotional and mental wellbeing!!

•Take time for myself

•Less internet and facebook

•Eat more fresh fruit and unprocessed food

•Get better at receiving and giving

•Treasure my health, my body, my mind and the time I have to enjoy them and all the cool things I can do with them

Pretty comprehensive list, huh?!
Do you have any New Years resolutions? What are they? And if not, why not?

Freegans

Freegans, weird name, right?! I don’t like it. What has getting stuff for free to do with vegan, coz it doesn’t hurt anyone?! Doesn’t mean they are vegan either. When i was squatting i never heard anyone actually call themselves a freegan.

That’s to say, i like the concept, just find the name a bit  ..contrived.

Nevertheless, you can check out this freegan website to find out more about how the ideologies of waste minimization, consuming and working less and eco-friendly transportation are tying in with the freegan lifestyle .

I posted a clip about some freegan practices in this previous post before.

Have a look at how the freegans do it, in these clips.

This woman’s show is quite funny(she’s so Australian!).

Freegan/dumpster diving/skipping and food recycling, as it is sometimes called, isn’t for everyone, i find it a bit rough and embarrassing to go through bins looking for food, but i have done it and i have eaten food other people pulled out of the rubbish (in general i’m more comfortable with getting other stuff, furniture or homewares for example).
If you’re broke, you’re grateful for things you probably wouldn’t normally be so grateful for.

Also, for most people i met it wasn’t a political statement it was a necessity, but then i suppose your life is always in some way a political statement.

Have you ever pulled shit out of the rubbish, apart from picking up the odd piece of hard rubbish from the side of the road? What was your best find? Would you eat food that came out of the bin if it was fresh and clean?