The Upcycle Exchange

Spring 2010 Open Enrollment

By Autumn | Published: February 3, 2010

hive1 Open enrollment is open. Would you like to get your craft on? We are accepting applications from artists to become members of The Upcycle Exchange for a limited time!

What do you make stuff with? Buttons? Fabric? Yarn? Bottlecaps? Ephemera? Beads? Vintage anything? Evil Toasters? If it’s not already on our Wish-List, we’ll add it, and you’ll get unlimited helpings of our veritable supply buffet at Finder’s Hive, our new distribution headquarters on Cherokee St.! See details on our Participate Page about all the other perks and bragging rights.

Or, go straight to the application

The application deadline is February 14th!

So, get on that. Then you can get all this…

Actually, those pics are over a month old, and only the tip of the iceberg…..
make that…more than this!

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Our New Home!

By Autumn | Published: December 2, 2009

Sneak Preview! December 5th from 10 a.m. – 4p.m.

at CAMP Headquarters during Cherokee Print League!
(Attending The Big Ass Indie Art and Crafts Show? We’re just a few blocks away!)

Wow! We’ve come so far in less than a year. Movin’ on up to the South side…on Cherokee St. that is! The Upcycle Exchange has partnered up with CAMP (Community Arts Media Project) to create a “co-op junk shop” that will now serve as our central sorting and distribution center called Finder’s Hive. The Upcycle Exchange will still be collecting at area events, in addition to new drop-off locations to be announced in January 2010.

The basic concept of the program will stay the same, but some of the logistics will change. We will collect specific supplies that artists are asking for, sort their unique requests into individually labeled storage, and group common requests for members to pick and choose from. At the end of every month, Finder’s Hive will host a private pick-up date for member artists, where they can collect their unique items and have first dibs on everything else we’ve collected that month. Anything leftover after the pick-up date will go to stock the shelves in The Hive, which will be open to the public on a limited schedule, at first. We plan to host events and activities in the space as well, but our focus continues to be catering to participating makers.

Open Enrollment is NOW thru December 18th!

Click here for more details on becoming a member

Our Wish-List, member enrollment, and incentive parts of the program are switching from an event-centric format to seasonal cycling. 1 month before a season is slated to begin (every 3 months), we will hold open enrollment for artists for 2 weeks. During this time, existing members will be able to edit their lists and incentives for the upcoming season as well. A new Wish-List will be published, and new Coupon Passports will be printed at the beginning of every season, which will run for 3 months. Coupon Passports (given to anyone that donates at events or drop-offs) expire 6 months from the beginning of the season. There will be a $15 seasonal member fee.

Every month, The Upcycle Exchange will run collection drives at local events, and run pick-up routes to drop-off locations. All donations will be brought back to Finders Hive and sorted in preparation for our scheduled members-only pick-up date, tentatively the last Sunday of every month. For $5, members will be admitted to collect the unique items we’ve sorted for them, and may take whatever they like from a veritable buffet of commonly requested items that have been sorted into categories. Any members that cannot attend the pick-up date may make arrangements with us to pickup there unique items and have a go at common leftovers afterwards.

So, that’s basically how it’s going to work! Just look at everything we collected at Strange Folk Festival this year…over 250 donations in one weekend. So, we think there will be plenty to go around!

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Wanna join the really green party? Our inaugural open enrollment starts TODAY! Since the Winter 2009 season is already upon us, you’re going to get a discount! Only $10 membership fee for this season! We already have a list out with lots of common supplies, but will add in anything you guys are asking for, and have Coupon Passports ready and drop-off locations set-up by the New Year. Our first pick-up date is scheduled for January 24th.

After we receive your application, we’ll send you an invoice for your membership fee within 3 business days.

Hurry up! Winter 2009 Open Enrollment ends on December 14th! Tell your artsy fartsy friends about it too

Big Ass Holiday Show!

By Autumn | Published: November 17, 2009

Get a big-ass chunk of your holiday shopping done at the upcoming Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show! Need some room in your closets to hide presents? The Upcycle Exchange is here to help. We’ll be on hand all weekend accepting items on our Wish-List. When you donate, we are offering FREE GIFT WRAPPING for all your purchases at the show!

Note: The Upcycle Exchange is currently switching from event-based collection/sorting/distribution to ongoing drop-off locations and central sorting/distribution. Please excuse the absense of discount coupons while this transition is taking place. We aim to have coupons back in place by January 2010. From now on, we will publish seasonal Wish-lists. Please see the Winter 2009 version below!

When:

Friday, December 4th: 7p.m. – 11p.m.

Saturday, December 5th: 10a.m. – 7p.m.

Sunday, December 6th: 10a.m. – 3p.m.

Where:

MadArt Gallery
2727 S. 12th Street
St. Louis, MO 63118

The Upcycle Exchange will be located in the green jail cel near the registers. When you go in the entrance to the show,make a left down the hall, and it will be on your left!

Print and Share the Wish-List:

How to use iPaper:

Have you ever used iPaper? It’s so cool! You can print or download the document , or if you click on the “Scribd” logo, it will take you to the full page view on their site where there are more options like embedding and e-mail.You can also post it directly to your social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. This project is being promoted almost entirely online, so we’re counting on you to help us spread the word…

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The Strange Upcycle Exchange

By Autumn | Published: August 28, 2009

This is THE BIG ONE folks! We have over 25 artists participating in The Upcycle Exchange at the upcoming Strange Folk Festival on September 26th & 27th in O’Fallon, IL. Strange Folk is one of the biggest indie craft shows of the year with 125 unique artists from all over the country, live bands, plenty of fun food, and hands-on activities. It was voted BEST Craft Festival OF 2008 by The Riverfront Times.

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When you donate items on our Wish-Lists, you’ll get a coupon book filled with amazing discounts and goodies that you can use in-person at the festival. make sure it’s your first stop before you shop!

When:

Saturday, September 26th – 10a.m. to 6p.m.

Sunday, September 27th – 10a.m. to 6p.m.

Where:

Community Park

401 E. 5th St.

O’Fallon, IL 62269 (Get Directions)

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The Upcycle Exchange will be located at the fenced-in area on the West side of the big pavilion. You can’t miss it!

Print and Share the Wish-List:

Don’t forget, we will accept items from our ongoing Save-it Forward List as well. We are also, for the first time, accepting donations for a few local charities! You’ll notice a new special section of the list just for them. At this event, we will be collecting items for Tenth Life Cat Rescue and The O’Fallon Public Library.

Make sure you go check out www.StrangeFolkFestival.com for all the details. Don’t miss it!

Posted in Events | Tagged Strange Folk 2009 | 4 Comments

Inside an Upcycle Exchange

By Autumn | Published: August 23, 2009

I get a lot of e-mail from other parts of the country interested in organizing Upcycle Exchanges of their own. My intention has always been to expand it as a Creative Commons project, like Swap-O-Rama-Rama. As you can see, our URL forwards to “Lucoop.com/pilot”. LuCoop stands for “Local Upcycling Co-ops”, and The Upcycle Exchange is the pilot program for this project. Since all is going well, development for LuCoop is beginning to take shape.
Basically, the site will have concise downloadable instructions for starting your own upcycling program, as well as Creative Commons licensed graphics (our “U” symbol to be precise), and also act as a directory of locations. With Strange Folk coming up very soon (list to be published in the next few days), we are looking at a launch date in late fall!
I thought I’d give you a little glimpse of how this program takes shape as I’m working on publishing a Wish-List. The main component of planning an exchange is compiling that. We take applications from artists online, and are able to pull their individual wish-lists into a document fairly easily that way. Once all is copy/pasted and consistently formated, I color-code each artist’s list. Since I know most of them personally, or at least are pretty familiar with what they make, I’ll usually give them colors that remind me of them somehow. It’s really easy if there’s a color in their brand name. If a request is too vague, I remove it or mark it for clarification. Otherwise donors end up bringing us everything but the kitchen sink!

Then, I create another document with catagory headings. This is the fun part (I think) where I get to organize all the items, keeping the color-coding intact so everything can be cross-referenced. I make sure to group similar requests by separate artists together. I think a dozen people asked for buttons this time around. So, when I compile a third time for the “nice” list that you download, popular items like that will appear in larger text to indicate more than one person asked for them. Sort of like a tag cloud, and that’s really all there is to it prep-wise aside from making coupons, promoting like crazy, and dressing our table at the shows. Having these color-coded lists makes it much easier to sort when people bring us donations!

Another tidbit: if you are thinking of starting an Upcycle Exchange in your area, try to think of a different name! Thing is, I’d like to see these programs sprout up independently and have the flexibility to form their own entity that is suited for their locality. There won’t be any trademark issues, and you’ll have more creative and financial freedom for your program. We just want to provide you with everything you’d need to get started, and you will be welcome and encouraged to use the “U” symbol as part of your logo or on promo materials so there is cohesive recognition of what we are doing.

I hope that gives you an idea where we are headed with expanding the program globally. As for the Lou…drop-off off locations are the next step, and we hope to have that figured out by early fall!

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Big Ass Indie Show 2009

By Autumn | Published: July 8, 2009

craftShow2 It’s a Big Ass Upcycle Exchange! Drop-off wish list items at our booth near the entrance and receive a Coupon Book full of awesome discounts and give-aways from participating vendors!

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The Big Ass Indie Art and Craft Show is a merchandised event with a central check-out. Due to this set-up, they will not be able to process coupons at the register. However, you can shop local online anytime, and many of our vendors will even accept them in person at upcoming events!

When:

Friday, July 31st – 7 pm to 11 pm
Saturday, August 1st – 10 am to 7 pm
Sunday, August 2nd – 11 am to 3 pm

Where:

Mad Art Gallery
2727 12th. St.
St. Louis, MO (See Map)

Print and Share the Wish-List:

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Don’t forget, we will accept items from our ongoing Save-it Forward List as well. See you there!

Posted in Events | Tagged Big Ass Indie Show 2009 | 1 Comment

Save-it Forward!

By Autumn | Published: June 24, 2009

Excuse our brief hiatus! I, Autumn, have been renovating a house for the past couple months, and we’re finally moved and settled in. So, back to business! Lots of catching up to do… First off, we have a couple big events coming up: The Big Ass Indie Craft Show and Strange Folk (still accepting vendor applications through July 6th!). We’ve also revamped our wish list format. Check out the new Save-it Forward List! These are commonly requested items, and we never fail to find an eager artist to take them. We will be happy to accept these items at any upcoming events, or e-mail upxchange@gmail.com to make other arrangements. Event-Specific wish-lists will still be published prior to shows to accommodate special requests from vendors, and may qualify donors for additional incentives!

Next up, Hello St. Louis At Home readers! We’d love to keep you posted about upcycling news and events in the metro area. So, pick your poisen: Twitter, Facebook, RSS Feed, or good ‘ol fashioned e-mail (sign up for the Weekly Digest on the right column of this page). We aren’t spammy, we promise. In the meantime, be sure to check out our participating artists…you can find eco-friendly locally made merchandise 24-7 in their online shops!

Posted in Announcements, Events | 2 Comments

Artropy 2009

By Autumn | Published: April 14, 2009

When:

Saturday, April 25th – 9 am to 3:30 pm

Where:

SqWires – The Annex
Historic Lafayette Square
1415 South 18th Street
St. Louis, MO 63104
(See Map)

Exchange Info:

Drop-off wish list items at our booth upstairs and receive a Coupon Pass for 10% off all purchases from participating vendors, plus special give-aways while supplies last!

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Our first Upcycle Exchange went so great, we just couldn’t wait to do it again! This time we’ll collect supplies for vendors at Artropy, a unique art and craft show experience hosted by ShowMeEtsy, The STL Etsy Street Team. They define Artropy as “A measure of the randomness of production, according to handmade principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” To sum it up, you’ll find lots of really cool stuff there, including upcycled goods galore. Snag discounts and freebies while you’re there! Check out our wish list!

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Etsy Trashion Interview

By Autumn | Published: April 10, 2009

It may come as no surprise that one of our participating artists is a member of Etsy’s Trashion Street Team, a group of Etsy sellers who focus on recycling and upcycling all kinds of discarded and found materials. Emily of Candy Calamity recently interviewed us for their blog. Check it out! In related news, we’ll be posting a new wish-list on Monday for ShowMeEtsy’s upcoming show, Artropy.

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Sublime Stitching Upcycling Contest

By Autumn | Published: April 6, 2009

Are you a crafter? Then you’ve probably heard of Sublime Stitching. Jenny Hart designs some of the hippest, cutest embroidery patterns you could ever hope to get your paws on. Embroidery is a versatile and easy way to spiff up boring clothing, and personalize everything from pillows to window screens, and that’s why it shouldn’t be too hard for you to come up with a creative way to incorporate it in your next upcycling project.

With that in mind, Sublime Stitching has announced an upcycling contest, and guess who’s judging it? None other than Upcycling Exchange founder, Autumn Wiggins. So, show us your stuff, and win some awesome prizes!

How to Enter:

Create something made of items that would have otherwise been thrown away or recycled (stained shirt, chipped glass). While we admit to being partial to embroidery, we will accept entries of any kind!
Submit a photo of your entry by April 27, 2009 to the Sublime Stitching Customer Gallery. When you create the name for your project be sure to begin with the word “Upcycled”. (For example “Upcycled Book Mark”) This is important because otherwise we may not see your submission. That would be a bummer.

Prizes: