I just listed a new item in my Etsy store — Upcycled notepads. Constructed (almost) entirely out of materials destined for the wastebasket; I made 7 pads with approximately 75 sheets each, 3″x3″ (same size as Post-It notes), glue-bound, with a custom stamp on the back of my logo intertwined with the universal sign for recycling. All of them have similar content but are truly one-of-a-kind.
Fig. 1: Upcycled Notepads: Group of Seven
Since before I even started my education in graphic design, I have always kept a large file of collected paper stock. I collect paper of all kinds and keep it organized so I can use it later, be it scanning for textures for digital use, or for an unusual substrate for paintings, and so on. A lot of the time, however, found paper is of a color or size or consistency that doesn’t really lend itself to any of the above, and the search for a practical use for this media (as opposed to just letting it stuff up some landfill) was the true driving force behind this project.
Fig. 2: Upcycled Notepads: Front
The front was intentionally left blank to allow for it to be used as a cover, on which the buyer could inscribe their name or personalize it to be given as a gift, etc.
Fig. 3: Upcycled Notepads: Back with Logo Stamp
The back page of each pad is made from re-purposed card stock. I thought it suitable to sign this work somehow, and to do that, I created a custom stamp. Using decade-old craft foam sheets and an X-ACTO knife, I cut out my logo as well as that for the recycling program, and affixed them to squares of cardboard with Elmer’s glue. The silver ink was a neat find in the $1 section at Target, though it had a tendency to smudge — So I covered it with a square of packaging tape. That and the glue in the binding were the only materials in the notepad that weren’t upcycled.
Fig. 4: Upcycled Notepads: Pages
Here’s a look at some of the individual pages sampled from a few of the notepads (above). The last picture (below) includes a statistically accurate pie chart I created in Microsoft Excel 2007, breaking down the average percentage of each source of paper for the finished notepads.
Fig. 5: Upcycled Notepads: Composition Pie Chart
The remaining scraps were mulched in a blender along with water and Elmer’s white glue, then strained over a retired silkscreen frame, to create some good old fashioned at-home recycled paper, and put the cherry on top of this “green” project. Check out my listing on Etsy for these upcycled notepads, and have a look at my other works for sale of form and function!