Garnier Beauty Product Uses Recycled Glass Jars

For its face care line, Garnier is using a range of glass jars developed by the German glass maker Gerresheimer.  These glass jars contain 40% recycled glass. Garnier has a special source of recycled glass cullet that it adds to the non recycled glass in the manufacturing process.

Great job Garnier!!!

Click here to read the full story.

Upcoming Class on "Becoming a Professional Artist"

Are you interested in learning what it takes to become a professional artist?  Sign up for my two session class being held in the evenings on June 2 and June 9. This is a new offering by the Arlington Adult Education Program. The Adult Education Program offers an amazing variety of affordable classes from art to business to cooking to photography and many more. 

I got my start as an artist by taking various art related classes through Arlington County.

Link to Spring and Summer 2011 Catalogue (scroll down to the PDF link)


Becoming a Professional Artist

Learn what it takes to become a professional artist and
the do’s and don’ts of preparing your professional resume.
We will discuss how to properly enter juried art shows,
art licensing, proposals for books, agents, art grants and
avoiding art scams. Leave with a solid overview of potential
opportunities and career tracks.

$45 Arl. Res. $40 Arl. Sr. $55 Non-Res. $45 Non-Res. Sr.

FA-255 Clarendon Ctr. 308 6/2 Th 7:00p 2–2 hr

Lumicor

Lumicor, Inc., of Renton, Washington creates amazing recycled glass panels using resin and recycled glass.  Their recycled glass panels are embedded with glass aggregate that is 98%-100% recycled post-industrial content or post-consumer content. Each panel contains glass aggregate that comes from crushed bottles, plates, windows, and other recycled glass products. Twelve patterns and colors from "Mixed Bottles" to Ruby to Sunstone and more are available.

A Visit to Home Depot to Buy Materials for Art Risers

I needed to make three five to six inch high art risers or blocks for my smaller sculptures for an upcoming solo exhibit (more details on this event later). I arrived at Home Depot early this morning and had a lot of helpful assistance. An employee located a large $20 sheet of thick plywood and quickly cut about 24 pieces (7-8 for each riser) to size. I stacked and glued (used wood glue) the cut pieces on top of each other and primed and painted them white today. Everything came to about $40.

Back in Style: Bottle Trees

I think I subscribe to every plant and garden catalogue in existence but I was surprised to see a metal bottle tree frame for sale in The Gardener's Supply Catalogue. You can purchase it with an optional metal sunflower topper as well.

After you insert the four pronged stand into the ground, all you have to do is place empty bottles onto the metal rods. The tree holds up to 16 bottles. There are already 186 reviews of this popular product and, of course, comments on how great blue bottles look on the tree.

A point to note if you want to use red bottles: The color may simply be sprayed onto the bottle and it may turn into a less attractive color over time. If you look at the tip of a commercially available red bottle (bottled water, etc.) and observe the color fading out and some clear glass, this means the food safe red color was sprayed onto the bottle and it will not last. In order to manufacture a true red glass, expensive chemicals are needed which would in turn make the glass bottle too cost prohibiitve for everyday products like bottled water.

I am ordering my $29.95 bottle tree now!

Pendant Lights in Recycled Glass

Emmohome.com carries cast recycled glass pendant lights that are receiving a lot of attention.  The blue or green hues of recycled glass always seem to fit so well with colors that are trending now.

For more information on these lights, click here.

A Skull Made from Beer Bottles

One of my favorite websites, GreenDiary.com, has an interesting story on a skull made from beer bottles.

"Mexican artist Andres Basurto has created a new art that just needs old beer bottles and epoxy resin to create skull glass sculptures that have a ghoulish and macabre undertone to the pieces. Andres Basurto is a well-known artist and is particularly known for his sculpting abilities, but this time he has chosen a different element for creating a striking glass skull from booze bottles that we would perhaps throw away."

Read the full story here.

A Surprising Collection of Recycled Art

Believe it or not, Ripleys Believe It or Not! has locations in Orlando and St. Augustine, Florida with a vast collection of excellent recycled materials artwork. Much of this art would be at home in art galleries or museums. However, it is interesting (or sad?) that using recycled materials is still considered so outside of the "mainstream" art world, it is viewed as an "oddity." 

In the collection, you can view a beautiful golden yellow dress made from M&M wrappers (click here to view the dress) or a 3D sculpture of Leonardo Da Vinci (click here) made from multiple glass panels.

Who's Who Scams Targeted at Artists

I happened to come across a discussion on Linkedin where several artists were taken advantage of by a "Who's Who" scam targeted towards artists. While there are some legitimate types of Who's Who books, many are scams and simply exist to obtain your personal and credit card information. In particular, if you google "Cambridge Who's Who", you will find a great degree of negative press on it. The website scam.com has a number of interesting posts on this topic as well.

With all the online discussion groups available for artists on the internet, from Linkedin to Facebook groups, all artists should research any "opportunity" offered to them. I know it is understandable to be flattered in being approached but scammers count on you letting your guard down in these instances. I have found that most artists are very willing to share their positive and negative experiences on any art topic.

So, the bottom line is, Ask Questions and Do Your Research First.

Aurora Glass and St. Vincent de Paul's Strategic Recycling Initiative

About the Aurora Glass Foundry

"There was a small mountain of glass growing off I-5 near Portland and it needed to go somewhere... it was destined for the land fill. St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County took note, and from that the Aurora Glass Foundry was born. Since then Aurora Glass has become an innovative resource for the community, recycling old windows and other waste glass previously without a recycling avenue. Proceeds fund St. Vincent de Paul's charitable endeavors in Lane County, Oregon."

"Aurora Glass is part of St. Vincent de Paul's strategic recycling initiative for a healthier community. We manufacture our popular line of products for wholesale and retail sale, as well as creating custom works large and small. All profits from Aurora are returned to the community in the form of assistance for homeless and low-income people through emergency services, housing, jobs, training, and other charitable endeavors."

The Process
"Recycled glass is collected, crushed, washed and mixed with metallic oxides that will produce rich colors when melted. Once the furnace is loaded with 500 pounds of the crushed glass, the "batch" is transformed into a glowing liquid and "cooked" at 2300 degrees over night. Our Artisans form the molten glass into architectural and decorative works of art for your home; unique items created exclusively by hand casting and the use of molds and stamps. Creating treasure from yesterday's trash is a beautiful thing, and we are proud to make products of simple beauty that also help reduce landfill waste in our community."

Check out their beautiful products by clicking here.

So What Price is Recycled Glass Cullet Selling For?

"Recycling glass is a challenge in Montana, but Headwaters Cooperative Recycling ‑ with help from the state and participating local governments ‑ has managed to make a go of it. And that’s a positive for all involved."

"The Cooperative’s mobile glass pulverizer is currently at the Butte‑Silver Bow landfill turning 600 tons of stockpiled glass into pulverized granules called cullet." "With the sharp edges removed, cullet can be put to a number of uses. Cullet has been successfully used as an alternative to gravel and sand in landscaping, walking paths, pipe bedding, septic sand filter systems, as aggregate in cement walls, blocks, and paving stones, and in road base. Its uses are only limited by our imaginations!"

Prices listed on the website are as follows:

3/8 inch glass cullet- $22.00/Yd or $17.00/Ton

Glass Sand – $21.35/Yd or $15.25/Ton

Cost per Pickup load- $15.00

Bulk price discount for orders of 100 tons or more 3/8 inch glass cullet $21.00/Yd or $15.00/Ton.

Glass cullet and sand is for sale in Butte by calling Headwaters at 406-443-3101 or emailing them at themanager@headwatersrecycle.com

For more information, click here.

Great job Headwaters Cooperative Recycling!!!