Order your Salvage Kulchar product....

• Looking for modern sleek PVC, plastic items?
  
• Looking for undistinguished, regular and commonplace pieces?
  
• Are you looking for mainstream, characterless, insipid products?
  
• Looking for mass produced, mass machined; all from one mold, synthesized products? 
  
  
  Sorry to disappoint you; you are on the wrong site, not going to find those type of products here!!
   

Here at Salvage Kul.char,  we create bespoke, unique, custom designed, handmade  Assemblage Art* items; signs, benches, art objects, tables, lamps, etc. etc

"Assemblage is an artistic process. In the visual arts, 

it consists of making three-dimensional or two-dimensional artistic 

compositions by putting together found objects."   

Some items are practical and functional; others only decorative. - ALL definitely a piece of art completely unique from the mass produced items flooding the shops. 






@ Salvage Kul.char we use salvaged and re-purposed material, thereby keeping items out of the landfills and saving one more tree, and one more stream in the process. 

We put love and effort into the items we make, it is not a heartless production line only chasing $/R's whilst running without a single care about the sustainability of mother earth.

How do get to own and adopt your own Salvage Kul.char item??
6 Quick steps get you there....

1. Email us on info@salvagekulchar.co.za and tell us what you want,
2. we give you a price,
3. you pay a security deposit,
4. we make it, 
5. you settle and arrange your transportation of the item. 
6. We hand it over to you, including a certificate with your serial number on!

It is as Easy as that ..... so what is stopping you ?


Soon our website will be up and you will be able to order direct from there !
Our online store is up and running - Order now @ www.salvagekulchar.co.za/shop

 

Sharing is cool, so start sharing now !

Sharing is cool: It's the environmental key to maintaining our quality of life

Hey people

This post is a subject close to my heart and to the basis of Salvage Kul.char.  Sharing ...

Sharing is definitely growing in popularity as a greener option.  Sharing promotes sustainability and breaks the evil hold the monster called Consumerism has on modern culture, our environment, our natural resources and our collective future.

Consumerism .....

 

Sharing promotes sustainability

Why Share,

I want to add a new word to the family of RRR - Re-use, Re-Cycle and Re-purpose.  I like to think of it as ShareCycle, no not as in sharing a bicycle :-) but please feel free to do that as well; but rather creating a culture of sharing with each other, whether is in family groups, communities or through the world wide web or any other means.

What does it mean:  Identifying those things we don't need anymore and instead of sending it to the local landfill; sending into a Sharecycle - sharing it with someone how will have a need for it. Therefor keeping goods in a cycle of RRR.  However the biggest obstacle is us the superior race "Humans" and the human pride.  Put it away immediately and think of what you are contributing to the sustainability of eart.  Do not be ashamed to share and also do not to be ashamed to ask and use from the Sharecycle.

Ok; but how do you know if someone wants your "stuff";  there are a few ways;

ShareBox

 a.) Start a community share box; place your item in it.  Others from the community can take from it.  I will do a separate post with basic rules of usage etc. on this specific item; Salvage Kul.char will also be donating a share-box as part of that post.

b.)  Share through a business / church / school newspaper, website, notice board.

c.) Through your local recycling center

d.) Through the Salvage Kul.char online Sharecycle network.  (This is still wip as part of our new website, but it is going to be exciting, more on this shortly in a separate post)

e.) Through your friends and family network; speak up tell your family that you have something to share and ask them to spread the word, I bet you once everyone is used to doing it your own Sharecycle network will be up and running, and you will reap the benefits; financially, environmentally, and more...

Sharing = we don’t act merely for our own good, 

but go out of our way to contribute to the common good

Show what’s possible when we share. Show that we don’t act merely for our own good, but go out of our way to contribute to the common good. Show that we can solve the crises we face, and thrive as never before. Show that a new world is emerging where the more you share the more respect you get, and where life works because everyone helps each other

 

“Sharing is a relatively simple concept and a basic part of human life,” reports Janelle Orsi on Shareable, an online magazine that tells the story of sharing. “What’s new is that people are applying sharing in innovative and far-reaching ways, many of which require complex planning, new ways of thinking and organizing, and new technologies. In short, people are taking sharing to new levels, ranging from relatively simple applications of sharing to community-wide sharing initiatives —and beyond.”



“In a shareable world, things like car sharing, clothing swaps, childcare co-ops, potlucks, and co-housing make life more fun, green, and affordable,” reports Shareable. “When we share, not only is a better life possible, but so is a better world.”

Last paragraphs sourced from: http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/article/20130818/NEWS04/308180026/Sharing-gains-popularity-greener-option?gcheck=1

We have been featured. on 1001 pallets !!

A Salvage Kulchar project was featured on 1001pallets.com.

It is an honour to havee one of our projects on this phenomal website, they are trendsetters and have a huge following in all the social media sites.

Please go and have a look, and share this blog post 

http://www.1001pallets.com/2013/09/pallet-bench-project-sturdy-high-bench-made-from-salvaged-and-re-purposed-pallets/




Thanks 1001projects.com !

View original post here : Sturdy High bench made from pallets

Salvaged Books Lamp to bring some light into your life

French vintage lamp complete with vintage image; made from salvaged books.

 Another - "must do this"  project done!

Giving old books a second opportunity by creating a vintage lamp:

Salvaged Books becomes a French Vintage book lamp

What was used: 

• 4 hardcover books - Salvaged from a bin destined for rubbish dump
• Salvaged Lamp base and lamp rod
• Salvaged lamp shade
• Paint
• Vintage girl image from the http://thegraphicsfairy.com/Random handwritten images
• Glue Gun and glue sticks
• Gel Medium
• Laser Printer
• Silver powder
• Drill and drill bits
• Wood Glue
• Inkjet printer
• Transparency film
• Standard Photocopy paper

Sorry folks - I did not do step by step photo's - when the creativity overtakes me I forget about taking photos....

The making process:

So right from the word go I knew I wanted the books painted; they were completely mismatched. (when it came to category or content, ranging from biography and sport to business.)
I also wanted them completely painted in white, I had no intention of sanding down to show the original cover colour again.
I roughly stacked them to see which I preferred at the bottom, top etc.

First step:

- To make sure the pages are stuck down, now I have seen some book projects where the makers glued each page literally page by page, this was not an option for me, time consuming and plus I wanted the ruffled page look.

I glued the first few pages in the back and front of the book (the paste-down, flyleaf plus a few extra pages) to ensure these don;t lift and then used whilst holding the book in one hand, applied ample amounts of white wood glue (cold glue) with a sponge brush to the fore-edge, tail and head of the book making sure that the glue runs in between the pages.

The books were then left to dry for a few hours.


Step 2: All the books were painted. During the painting process, specifically the fore-edge, tail and head,  I deliberately did not cover everything, thereby ensuring some of the natural page colour still show.  Once again left to dry - this time overnight.

Step 3:
I decided to use random handwriting on the book spines.  I selected an image from my stash and then enlarged it to create large bold type.

I printed the enlarged image on a single A4 transparency film for laser printers using the inkjet printer. Then transferred the type to the spine.

 Step 4:
The centre point of each book was marked, a hole was drilled through each individual book, the lamp rod will be thread through this later.

Step 5:
For the Front Cover I wanted to use a "mixed" image. I decided on a vintage image of a girl I sourced from the Graphics Fairy.  I made my own French wording and used a french looking font and arched the type above the girl.  For the background I used a handwritten letter image.  Lastly random twirls and a french cock made it to the top of the page.

I printed the images on plain copy paper with the laser printer. Cut down to size and covered the front of the image with transfer medium. I did this in several layers, leaving a to dry in between. Once completely dry, the images were soaked in lukewarm soapy water. Starting with the combined girl image, the image was removed from the water placed face down on my worktable top and with my fingers I gently rubbed all the paper of the back.  Transfer medium was painted on to the cover and the image was put into place over the wet medium.  The same process was followed for the swirls image.

Step 6:
The lampshade just shouted out for a distressed look.
I once again printed the same handwriting image I used for the spines, this time on standard copy paper.  Gel Medium was painted onto the lampshade and the image was placed printed side down on the medium, this was left to dry following which I started removing the paper, as expected some of the paper stayed behind and had to be removed by slightly damping it and rubbing with finger tips. 



For some reason the transfer took brilliantly to certain spots and zero to others, all I can think is that the lampshade might have had a waxy / oily blotches.
Nevertheless, I wanted distressed and that's where it was heading.

I finished the lampshade by rubbing silver powder into the shade and over the writing.  (I used my fingers and hand for this  process)

Lastly:
The books were glued together with the glue fun in the order I wanted.  Meanwhile during one of the drying periods; the base, wiring and lamp rod were assembled.  When the stack was dried, the lamp rod assembly was threaded through the holes and the lampshade and bulbs were fitted.

To add accent some of the silver powder was rubbed into the edges and sides of the books, and ...

Voila, Lampe terminé et magnifique pour apporter la lumière à votre vie..

A lamp, yes, but definitely not out of the "production line of stuff", definitely not the same as "what everyone else has".  Made from salvaged books into a vintage french theme.

I did not want it to be the same as all the other french white items found everywhere, wanted rough and distressed but full of character, turned out Exactly how I envisaged it !!

Do you want a unique lamp?? 

Tell me what you want I will create it for you. Your theme, colour, style, natural or painted.  Do it adopt a Salvage Kul.char lamp today.

Ransom Note...