A lot of you have requested printable flyers, and Upcycle delivers! You’ll find that below. I designed it 8 to a page, to save paper. If you don’t have time to cut them out, just tell people you give the whole sheet to that they can pass it along to 7 other friends, if they are so inclined ;)

Also, I’m always raving about continuous ink systems to my friends. So I may as well tell you about them too, while we’re on the subject of printing. It’s a lot more earth-freindly to reuse cartridges over and over in your own home than recycling them. It’s also A LOT cheaper. I got mine at CISinks.com, but there may be other places that have them. CISinks makes kits for most models of inkjets. It’s not all messy like those kits with the syringes for normal cartridges either. Mmmk, I know ths has very little to do with upcycling….carry on!

This sweet little thing was found near a trash can on Meramec in front of the shop on Saturday! She was starving and rather stinky, but hung in there with us in the store until Elizabeth Frick of Tenth Life Cats came and whisked her away for some special care and a much needed bath. We are so lucky to have an organization like Tenth Life in St. Louis, who provides loving personal attention and necessary medical treatments to special needs cats and kittens in the city. It’s good to hear that Duchess(yeah, we got to give her her shelter name!), is doing well and about ready for foster care until she can be placed in a forever-home! If you are interested in adopting one of the many Tenth Life Cats available now, or would like to donate money and/or volunteer, go check out their website: http://www.tenthlifecats.org/

The Upcycle Exchange is donating 10% of all proceeds this month to Tenth Life too!

I handed a bunch of these brochures out at Indie Craft Revolution last weekend(which was awesome, by the way – thanks to everyone that dropped off!). It gives a good overview of how the store works, and our membership options for artists. You can download both pages, print it up 2-sided, and it folds all pretty-like. Just thought I’d throw them up here :)

The Upcycle Exchange {Materials Market} Brochure Side 1

The Upcycle Exchange {Materials Market} Brochure Side 2

I would have added the the Wish-list to it, but that would have been a little crowded! Do you want to go to there?

The Upcycle Exchange {Materials Market} quietly opened it’s doors on Earth Day, of all days! So, maybe you are wondering how the store works, what we have in stock, and all that jazz.

First, when you walk in to the space, you’ll see the wall of fabric and yarn, but also, lots and lots of lovely cabinets, and boxes. Upcycle isn’t set up like a normal store. We don’t put it all out in your face. Items are superbly organized, but you’ll have to open up those cabinets, pull out those boxes, and do a little treasure hunting. Everything is labeled, and not in overwhelming quantities.

You will also notice that the space is huge. The store is part of a multi-use building called The Collective, which is a business incubator. There are other companies that use it as an office and meeting space. At the moment, we are really concentrating on collecting and stocking materials, and won’t be offering any classes for now.

Prices are pay-as-you-wish, but we find customers appreciate having a reference point. So, we suggest $3/ounce for vintage jewelry/beads, and $20/cart for everything else. The carts are about 15″ on each side and 10″ deep. You can fit quite a bit in them. Again, it’s totally up to you what you pay, but keep in mind that we have to charge sales tax of 8.4% on each purchase. 10% of your purchase price goes toward a different charity each month. For April/May we are supporting a great organization called Tenth Life Cats. Ultimately, the store has many items that the suggested price is an absolute steal for, and other items, like common disposables, where paying that much would be silly. It’s up to you to gauge what it’s worth to you, and what you can afford. We won’t bat an eye at any amount.

The store does have a policy of one purchase/per person/per day of only what you can carry out the door in one trip (bulk sized items are allowed in addition to this).

Please remember to bring your own reusable bags to take home your purchases! You have like a million of them by now, right? We do usually have some paper grocery bags and empty boxes,  just in case you forget!

There are certain abundant and popular supplies that you can count on us having in stock. Fabric, of course, and yarn, though the fiber content of those items aren’t always labeled. We can usually help you figure that out. There are two large desks and some counter space that you can use to sort through any boxes or jars of supplies you want to check out. One has a measuring tape for fabric.

The layout of the store, counterclockwise from the entrance is:

• Vintage/Broken Jewelry and Beads – on the two window shelf units, displayed on platters and in jars
• Fabric, Yarn, and Other Needle/Fiber Arts – displayed on in the large wall unit. Smaller pieces and scraps will be organized by color in boxes. All sewing notions (we have a whole range), embroidery threads, knitting accessories, and other such things are organized in the cabinets beneath the display shelves. One cabinet houses interior design samples as well.
• General Craft Supplies – organized in boxes in the first glass cabinet. May vary, but usually contains a range of craft glues, glitter, sequins, feathers, pipe cleaners, craft kits for kids, artificial flowers, wood components, and natural components like pine cones and buckeyes. We also have a lot of melt and pour soap and soap making supplies at the moment!
• Common Disposables – in the white double cabinet. We will always have tons of wine corks and bottlecaps, as well as styrofoam pieces, misc. plastic, coffee bags, paper tubes, shipping supplies, and select china and glassware for mosaics and whatnot
• Fine Art Supplies – in the white corner cabinet. You’ll find bins of acrylic, oil, watercolor, and other paints, mediums, brushes, palettes, canvases, frames, drawing tools and paper, and some *special* finds on the top shelf!
• Paper Tools and Misc. – in the second glass cabinet. We have stamps, scissors, and other scrapboking tools, rolled sticker films, wallpaper samples. Our “misc.” right now includes TONS of vinyl records, decorator vinyl and floor samples, metal lunchboxes, tins, license plates, and other metal components.
• Paper and Ephemera – organized in boxes on the last shelving unit. We have a variety of vintage postcards, greeting card, maps, as well as plain and patterned paper for scrapbooking, playing cards, and other interesting epemera.

Well, that does it for the tour! When you check out, we use an iPad as our cash register and Square to accept Visa, Mastercard, or Discover. You can also pay through Paypal, or with cash, if you like.

We are always adding new inventory, and collect supplies at 5 area drop-off locations. Stop in early and often! Check out our store calendar for operating hours. If you are looking for something specific, feel free to call ahead at (314) 282-7042 or email us at UpXChange@gmail.com and you’ll here back from us lickity split. Hope to see you soon!

P.S. Any artists or crafters who operate local indie brands are encouraged to check out our Maker Membership options. Bringing together and promoting our local upcycling community is a top priority of ours!