NEWS

Bicycled: A Bike Made of Junkyard Cars

Bicycled: A Bike Made of Junkyard Cars

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Bicycled is a upcyling project where the frame of a bike is made out of recycled materials that come from cars from the junkyard. Lola Madrid, who is behind the project strips cars of parts such as the transmission belt, upholstery materials, and door handles and uses them to make a new bike.

Which parts are used for what purpose? The bike chain is made out of the transmission belt, the seat and handlebars  are made from seat upholstery, the seat post clamp is made out of a door handle, and the bike’s safety reflective lights are made from the turn signal reflectors on the car.  Each bike is unique, and he is working on developing a line of bikes.

You can watch the Bicycled video online which shows Madrid in the process of making the bikes, and contact him via the website to get your name on the list for a bike.

Image Source:
bicycledbikes.com/

 

Links:

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wOB-KciTjvo

bicycledbikes.com/

 

Host a Neighborday Celebration on April 27th

Host a Neighborday Celebration on April 27th

Posted on by Kbaumlier

How well do you know your neighbors?  I know some of my neighbors first names, what cars they drive, and what kind of dog they have. I don’t know where anyone works, what people care about, or really much more than what I see when I walk past their yards.

Today with the increase of “social” networking tools, it makes it easier to not do in person contact with others around us.

GOOD is a global community of people and organizations working towards individual and collective progress.  On the Good.is neighboring webpage it reads, “What might we be missing? Collaborators, friends, emergency contacts, sugar? What does this mean for society?

As a kickoff to improve cities and communities, the GOOD community is starting by reconnecting neighborhoods.  On April 27, anyone can host a Neighborday party (either big or small) that might be a barbeque, having your front door open, or a neighborhood event.  The goal is for one thousand small-scale gatherings around the world to celebrate “neighboring.”

I recently picked up the recent issue of GOOD magazine, and there is a poster in it designed by Frnk Chimero that is meant to be posted on your door on Neighborday – to let your neighbors know that you are participating.

If you want to get involved, you can go to the good.is neighboring page, and sign up to host a Neighborday on April 27. You can get information about the event, and also get inspiration for the day.

Image Source:
www.good.is/neighboring

 

Links:

www.good.is/neighboring

Identical Lunch: Food + Performance by Alison Knowles

Identical Lunch: Food + Performance by Alison Knowles

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Ever eat a tuna fish sandwich on wheat toast with butter and lettuce, no mayo, and a cup of soup or glass of buttermilk?  Alison Knowles, conceived of the piece the Identical Lunch in the 1960s. when a friend and fellow Fluxus artist Philip Corner observed that she ate the same lunch every day at a local diner  This daily ritual became a performance where she invited friends to try the same lunch and to write about their experiences.

Knowles wrote a score for the piece, which reads, “The Identical Lunch: a tunafish sandwich on wheat toast with lettuce and butter, no mayo, and a large glass of buttermilk or a cup of soup was and is eaten many days of each week at the same place and at about the same time.”  The piece explores how no object is identical to itself within the context of the human experience.  Years later, the project has evolved to have communal events where groups of people eat the lunch, and people generate photographs and writings about the experience.

At MoMA, the Identical Lunch event was done in 2011 with visitors eating the Identical Lunch with Knowles.   More recently, the piece was part of the exhibition Feast at the SMART Museum of Art at the University of Chicago.  Here it was featured in an installation where several times a week, the security supervisor Paul Bryan puts out a real glass of buttermilk and a tunafish sandwich prepared fresh by a local caterer, according to the specifications of Knowles’ score. The lunch is on display and age (and most likely start to mold and smell)  until a few days later Paul replaces them again.  The museum’s café has the Identical Lunch available for purchase, and visitors  are invited to perform the score and eat lunch.

A video about the Identical Lunch is online, and by watching it – you  might even get inspired to eat a tuna sandwich.. and maybe a glass of buttermillk.

 

Image Source:
www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1126
blogs.uchicago.edu/feast/2012/05/planning_the_identical_lunch.html

 

Links:

vimeo.com/36770058

www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1126

blogs.uchicago.edu/feast/2012/05/planning_the_identical_lunch.html

 

Urban Rancher: A City Boy Building a Homestead

Urban Rancher: A City Boy Building a Homestead

Posted on by Kbaumlier

I recently was able to get the inside scoop on what it is like to buy some land and build a small house off the grid – all by yourself, by checking the blog of the Urban Rancher (a.k.a. “E.”)  “Can a city boy build his dream homestead on a mountain, by himself and with no mortgage?” is the description for the website, which documents the challenges of a man who buys some land on a mountain, and works to build a small home that is off the grid, and is 4000 feet above the “California sprawl.”

Past updates on the site, which has been called a construction blog,  include E.’s experience of lifting a heavy framed wall into place by himself and the challenges working as a professional in California for 20 years (and watching the work leave California and head to other areas.)

You can see pictures of the small house that he built on the site, and also see past progress on the project.  The last post asked readers to send suggestions about how to create a mobile recording studio.. but with a grand piano as part of the design.  With talk of tiny houses on the rise, this is a great site to learn more about the process of building your own tiny house, as well as the challenges of having woodpeckers, and buying a parcel of land.

Image Source:
urbanrancher.wordpress.com/

Links:

urbanrancher.wordpress.com/

 

Build It Naturally: A Green Building Store

Build It Naturally: A Green Building Store

Posted on by Kbaumlier

When I was in downtown Asheville, NC this week, I stopped by to check out Build It Naturally, a green materials hardware and resource store.  The store carries non-toxic paint, hardwood plywood that is formaldehyde-free, and materials such as cork, linoleum, bamboo and other materials.

I checked out the showroom, and spent time talking with the owner Jennifer Woodruff and talked to her a bit about the business.  She summarized the store as having, “non-toxic, renewable, or green” materials, and mentioned that they both sell materials and sources as well as doing contracting work.

Woodruff has had a lifelong interest in natural.  Her parents did recycling, composting, had an organic garden, did canning, and did natural dying the wool of the sheep they raised on the farm years ago before it became trendy.  In 2005, Jennifer met Susan Bahl who started the Natural Home Design Center, and ended up working for and being inspired by her passion for only having natural ingredients in all the products.

She decided to make her own green business in Asheville, and continues to bring new products into the store.  We talked about wool carpet, a new hemp product used for building, and milk paint, which is a natural paint made of pigment.

I found the samples of cork to be interesting.  They varied in textures and patterns, and are often used for floors and also as counters in cafes.  The display of natural linoleum was impressive.  I recently learned that linoleum is bio-based, durable, non-toxic and also anti-microbial, and comes in more than 100 colors.  Other materials they have include stains and finishes, insulation, and sealing and caulking – making it possible to get most building materials at one store.

On the website, you can read about many of the materials, and there is also valuable information about health, fabrication tips, and other information.

Image Source:
Kristen Baumlier
Links:

http://builditnaturally.com/