Mouseracas!!

Here's a fun project inspired by the book 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer (And Other Discarded Electronics). I flipped thru the pages at a ridiculously fast "flip" to see what would catch my eye. Here's what did — maracas made from broken mice!

First I took the mouse apart (of course) and gutted the insides. We'll be able to use the circuit board and cool wheels for something else, guaranteed.

The book suggests using dried rice and beans as the noisy parts, and I guess that's the traditional way to go, but come on! We're SCRAPpy and have loads of other good candidates, with some below -- pop tops off of soda cans, our always-reliable plastic needle protectors, random plastic from the removed "guts" and elsewhere, maybe even the door that holds in the trackball (lower left). Obviously, the sound will be different, but it could work. The soda can tabs should make it really jangle-y.

From the beginning, I'd wondered if I might turn the hole in the bottom of the mouse into a see-thru window. I sure have enough plastic to try it out. I traced the trackball door onto a flat piece of packaging remnant, cut it out, and saw that it fit just fine. Many times during this process, I loosely assembled the top and bottom back together, window in place, too, and tested out the sound of differing mixes of noisy bits inside. In one of these trials, I noticed that really small pieces were getting trapped behind contours within the mouse and didn't make it back over to the window. Where's the fun in that?

So you know this kind of packaging? The kind for vitamins where you push the capsule thru the foil? I'd been saving some up and keeping the plastic from getting deformed by piercing the foil to remove the capsule. This seemed as good a time as any to see what I might do with the stuff.

Voilà. This plastic "dome" has its own flat cover and is glued on right behind the window. I found some colorful pieces small enough to fit that now jump around without getting lost. Sweet!

Keeping the mouse "as is" would in no way detract from whatever music the resulting maraca makes, but remember all those candy wrappers we'd collected at Halloween? Most were sent to Terracycle, some became other crafty projects, but a few were held back for a purpose to be figured out later. Well, it's a month later:

Bam! :^)

For the last part, as much as I like the handle as made in the book, again, this is about using what you have on hand, right? So why not...

...an old toothbrush? [You know, the entry floor of the American Visionary Art Museum is "paved" with them!] We'll have to make second mouseraca, then some more instruments, and have a concert. Or how about a musical artsy bike-float parade?

What do YOU want to make next?

SCRAPpy Halloween, part 2

This is a follow-up to our previous post.

So, did that foam disk glued to the pinwheel keep the components stuck together? Yes! Next I put a pin through the disk, then through a popsicle stick. The wheelie part turns, but nothing about that design helps an air current catch a piece to make it keep going.

Here's my solution to that one. If you've ever made a paper football, you should be able to get the hang of this.

Take a wrapper and flatten it down, turn it over and fold a corner up to form a diagonal as seen here.

Turn the top flap down and then fold in the extra little tab so that you get a triangle. Whereas, with a paper football, you'd want to tuck the last part in to secure it, in this case it's no big deal.

Now make a few more!

Pierce that last tucked corner corner of each and stack them on a head pin.

I made a spiral with the tail and actually bent its sides down to keep the "leaves" together.

Stuck the end of the spiral into one of our plastic tubes, and voilà!

Here's a lovely spool-of-thread stand for it, 'cause... why not? We've got loads of this stuff at our SCRAP store (52 O St NW #L2), and very little money buys you a whole lot! Come on by tonight, 5-9, and visit our booth at tomorrow's Trash to Treasure. We'll have wrappers, some with candy still in 'em :^); add yours to our stash and plan to make something crafty, too. Hope to see ya there!!






And how about making this pinwheel turn? Well, with the aforementioned popsicle stick, this design is a bit top-heavy. I've got some ideas on how to fix that, but can you think of modifications to try?

SCRAPpy, Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween, all! After the trick-or-treating or party is over, there will inevitably be loads of leftover candy wrappers. Here are some fun ideas for reusing them. 

All of the above use Starburst wrappers, but of course you can use others. You'll quickly figure out which ones best hold a crease, can be glued, etc.

• Top left, I've wrapped them around the plastic tubes we discussed way back when. At first it seemed that no glue would let the wrapper stick to itself, but holding everything in place for a few seconds teaches the paper to stay put.
• For the technique used to make the little wreath, top right, the best illustrated how-to I've found is at the "fluffyland" blog -- which actually shows how to make a bracelet. Tucking the two ends into each other is a little tricky, but you could also tie them together with a bow.
• Bottom right is my attempt at a pinwheel, which tweaks the above method a bit. A flat foam disk glued to the center (next photo) might keep the slippery pieces from separating. We'll see!
• The flower, bottom left, is made of wrappers whose centers I scrunched and then secured with wire. I also mixed in thin strips that I'd cut away while wrapping the tube beads. Once done, I thought it could use a button, but when that also looked kind of bare, I glued on a little bead as seen below.

Feeling inspired? Come to our booth and share your ideas at Trash to Treasure: A Green Craft Fair, this Saturday at PG County's Watkins Nature Center. This year we're offering a Make-it Take-it that uses -- what else? -- empty (but clean and dry) candy wrappers! We should have plenty, but plan to add yours; those we can't use for crafting, we'll send in to TerraCycle. Awesome!

[See what else we collect for them at this link.]

Be safe tonight while trick-or-treating! And check back later this week for more about the pinwheel.