UPCYCLING

Beer bottle caps made into  pins and magnets.

                                                               Fabric covered tomato tomato tins.

Most of  us want to keep the  landfills in our communities from reaching capacity. Wherever and whenever possible, we recycle paper, glass and metal objects. Some of us go beyond mere recycling to  reinvent  objects First World citizens once threw away. We do what people of  conscience have always done  out of the conviction that  to be  wasteful is immoral and impractical. We follow a tradition that inspired quilters to make useful visually enchanting bedding out of  old clothing--the same tradition that  led women who lived through the Depression  to make beautiful dresses and linens out of feedsacks.
My own contribution to the upcycling movement is minor. It includes turning food tins into receptacles for pencils, pens, sewing implements, small gadgets, plants . I use either  paint, fabric or paper to cover the tins. The result can be pleasant.

I cannot say that I find my first attempt at making pins and magnets out of beer bottle caps was either pleasant nor admirable. Judge for yourself. I find the process fiddly and the result mediocre. Perhaps it is a question of persisting with the craft until I get better at it. Right now have supposedly upsycled Stella Artois  bottle caps I tortured with tin snips and a ball peen hammer before I gussied them up with a French stamp,  printed Redoute roses and glitter glue. The world was just fine without  them.