Hippyshopper: Do It Yourself

Make Your Own Shoes

Frustrated with ephemeral changes to women's footwear and the astronomical prices charged for a few scraps of silk and leather covered in glue, Mary Wales Loomis decided to learn to make her own shoes. Possessed of sturdier construction than most fashion wear, and just as up-to-the-minute (your model, she says, can be easily updated to change the few bits that actually vary) your handmade shoes will also fit you perfectly since they're based on a 'last' modeled from your very own foot. $26 USD for her book on how. [GT]

Make your own shoes [via Trendhunter]

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February 28, 2007 in Do It Yourself, Fashion & accessories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Make your own tortilla press

Tortillas are a Romance food staple which us pasty whiteys often don't experience properly, since they have a peak lifespan measured in hours (and we often get them after days, or even weeks, in brittle plastic-wrapped packages). You can make your own tortilla press for about £5, which lets you in on a great food experience. (Be sure to use FSC certified timber or recycled wood!) [GT]

DIY Tortilla Press

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February 22, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

DIY Oil Can Parts Bin

If you've got a garage, there's a good chance you've got a bunch of oil cans kicking around in it that you really should have taken in for recycling but somehow haven't. Or, you can use the Oil Can Parts Bin How-To to turn those cans into useful little catch-alls (though please do recycle the tops and bottoms anyhow and also dispose of any leftover oil properly - oh darlings, as if you'd do otherwise). [GT]

Oil Can Parts Bin How-To

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February 15, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Bottle Cutter brings recycling home

Why buy recycled glass when you've got glass to recycle right at home? Oh yes, there's the pesky problem of turning it into a form that is more useful to you than the typical nippled missile shape. Solution: the Bottle Cutter from the Green Directory's shop. It cuts the glass off safely so you can turn around and make drinking vessels, ashtrays or vases. £31.50 and you get 35 bonus points. [GT]

Bottle Cutter

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February 7, 2007 in Do It Yourself, Ethical & green gifts, Recycling | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

1979 Kirby Hunting Trophy DIY

Why throw out an old vacuum cleaner when you can cut its head off and mount it on your wall? The 1979 Kirby Hunting Trophy also provides a cool little secret compartment that you'd probably actually find handy, and if you insist on it having some useful quality it also lights up. But mainly it's an entertaining comment on how in the future we'll be eating a lot of robots. [GT]

1979 Kirby Hunting Trophy

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January 29, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

DIY: Rice Paper Roller Shades

A little pricey for what they do compared with most of our DIY projects, but gorgeous, and inexpensive compared to what you'd pay to have someone else custom make them, let us present Apartment Therapy's "How to Make your own Rice Paper Roller Shades". Rice paper provides a vibrant mute on sunlight and only gets more dazzling as it bleaches with age - and this set lasted ten years before the paper needed to be replaced (whereupon it could be composted, natch). $85 USD per shade. [GT]

Apartment Therapy's "How to Make your own Rice Paper Roller Shades" [via Ecofriend]

More Design & furniture

January 24, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

DIY LED Bike Light System

The plans for the LED Bike Light System can be used just to make a headlight, or for the full headlight-taillight system giving a bright white light on the front and modest (but prominent) red on the back. The rear light even blinks! It's not quite as bright as a 15w Nite Rider headlight but it is brighter than the 10w, and gives you the satisfaction of knowing how the technology goes together. The author of the plan also reports he used it in a 45 minute pouring rain and it passed with flying colours. [GT]

LED Bike Light System

January 17, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

How to grow your own luffa shower sponge

To heck with elaborate high-tech exfoliants: one of the best pieces of tech to revitalize your skin all over (nearly) is the old-school luffa sponge - and stores often price them accordingly, even though they're extremely inexpensive to cultivate. However, Groovy Green has posted a great tutorial on how to grow your own luffa en masse, in your garden. It requires "a long season of frost-free weather", which is more common than it should be, but waste not, want not. Start growing them this spring and allow them to mature until the first frost kills the vine, and you'll have more luffa sponges than you can possibly use (thus taking care of your minor Christmas presents next year at practically no cost to you). If this sounds like fun but you don't have a garden, check out the Earth box, which gives you a complete growing area in a very condensed space. (That eliminates the cost savings, of course, but gives you the soothing ability to putter in a garden without the hassle of a full-size one.) [GT]

How to make (and grow) a luffa!

January 15, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

How to boil an egg with the sun

Can you boil an egg, using only the focused power of the sun, in gray and drippy Kent? Yes. If you have a whole weekend to spend on it. (Well, not a whole weekend; three hours to build the kettle and an hour to cook the egg will do.) The cooker is basically on the standards solar oven principle, except covered with simple foil instead of being made of real metal. Be warned do not touch the cooking pot without a glove or cloth as it does get very hot. I actually got blistered by it!!!!!!! [GT]

Solar Kettle [via MAKE]

January 14, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Make your own origami TV

If you're the kind of Hippyshopper that has a computer but no television, the Sharp Pencil Quality TV will be right up your alley. Instructions are pretty straightforward: download the template, cut it out, glue it together, wrap the ribbon around two pencils, and enjoy. Available already are templates for Dr. Strangelove, Dirty Harry and Kill Bill Vol 1, but you're encouraged to get their template and create your own. [GT]

Sharp Pencil Quality TV [via Shiny Shiny]

January 9, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Turn old vinyl into a new fruit bowl

Instead of leaving those ancient slabs of vinyl to moulder in the space above your car port, you can pop them in the oven until supple and then mold the now-limp record into a satin-candy crinkled fruit bowl. (You can turn your old 45s into snack bowls.) This project allows you to melt plastic on the good cookie sheets in the name of cleaning up junk. [GT]

The Record Bowl - How to Make It Yourself

January 4, 2007 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

2006 roundup #11: The year of DIY solar

In 2006 we learned to make some pretty impressive goods at home: wallpaper paste, non-toxic wall paint, a solar oven capable of baking bread in midwinter, a solar heater costing under £200, and, my personal favourite, a one watt solar panel costing only £1 which is sensitive enough to generate power even in areas as overcast as Wales. All of these DIYs are affordable, reduce your ecological footprint, and are within the technical capabilities of a normal human. Between the hippy urge and the democracy of the internet, what were once inaccessibly technical projects are now getting within the reach of the regular home handyman. (Not to mention the savings, and better air quality indoors from skipping the toxic paints and glues!) [GT]

DIY Wallpaper Paste | Make your own eco-friendly paint | Build your own solar oven | Build your own solar heater for under £200 | DIY Solar - even in Wales!

December 28, 2006 in Do It Yourself, Green News, Recycling | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Solar powered Mars Explorer Kit

While this is not the Luna City nor the jetpack I've been asking Santa to deliver this Christmas, the Solar powered Mars explorer kit gives the illusion of being involved with space travel while actually teaching about how to make the planet we've got work a bit better (since it involves installing a solar panel on top). Given it has over 100 small pieces, Christmas morning amid the debris of (hopefully recycled or otherwise repurposed) wrapping paper may not be the best place to assemble it, but a couple of cups of coffee (with) later you should be up for some quality eco-time (unless you choose to sneak it off to your office and use it to deliver surreptitious notes about your boss's need to control his own gas emissions). A very reasonable £29. [GT]

Solar powered Mars explorer kit

December 18, 2006 in Do It Yourself, Ethical & green gifts | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

HOW TO make a Christmas LED wreath

In the spirit of hands-on decor this Christmas, why not make your own Christmas LED wreath? Snip snip, solder solder, program program, and then you can send it to Aunt Millie to thank her for this year's holiday punch handoff. While the picture doesn't quite get the message across (so to speak) it actually says 'MERRY XMAS' (though could be programmed to say 'FRUITCAKE HANGOVER' or 'COAL IN STOCKING' if you made it big enough). [GT]

How to make a Christmas LED wreath

December 13, 2006 in Do It Yourself, Green gadgets | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

DIY: CD Spool Into Toilet Paper Dispenser

I just threw out four empty CD spindles (who in high tech doesn't accumulate towers of these things? They look like they should be useful but damnit, they're recyclable garbage) and now I'm regretful, for I could've made the biggest one into a reusable toilet paper dispenser in five easy steps. You can even jazz it up to match your bathroom decor just by lining the transparent inside with something pretty or festive (leftover Christmas paper, perhaps). If you're simply practical and wondering why you should bother: it's a lot more waterproof and hygienic than your existing paper setup. If you've got kids with virus-encrusted fingers, or you've ever been so drunk that you've whizzed all over the bog roll, this is for you. [GT]

Recycle your empty CD holder into a reusable TP dispenser in 5 simple steps [via MAKE]

December 6, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Solar Powered Alien Robot Kit

It's brightly coloured, it's eco-conscious, it's got circuits and gearboxes, it's modestly priced. What is it? Well, it's called a Solar powered alien robot kit, which is the only non-specific thing about it. Designed to let older children (and still-plastic adults) learn everything from how to put together a gearbox to how to connect a circuit to a solar panel, it contains over 100 parts and looks both creepy and cool. £29 from our pals at EcoCentric. [GT]

Solar powered alien robot kit

December 6, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Origami paint chips into business card cases

Great tip from designverb: don't toss all those paint chips you picked up for renovation. With a little cutting and even less double-sided tape, you can fold them up into great business card holders. If you've got as many professional hats as I do you may need different card cases depending on the occasion, so this makes them stand apart easily - not to mention you don't mind so much when they inevitably get scuffed up. (Also if somebody nicks them, you can just pop into a paint store and pick up the materials for a new one.) [GT]

Paint chip card holder [via Treehugger]

November 21, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

DIY Wallpaper Paste

Skip the chemical-laden wallpaper paste from the hardware store - it offgasses forever and Care2 has a non-toxic wallpaper paste recipe that you can whip up as long as you have enough cooking skills to make cream of wheat. Ingredients are water, flour, alum and clove oil - cook, cork and brush on. Lasts two weeks in the fridge. [GT]

Wallpaper paste recipe [via Treehugger]

October 31, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weekend DIY: Build your own Stirling Engine

A Stirling Engine is what rumour had the original Segway billed as. They are incredibly quiet, efficient machines powered by gas expanding as it heats up, and compressing as it cools down. The heat could come from anything from the sun to decomposing compost. In the SFA Stirling Engine Project, the heat comes from a tea light. It's a great little project for illustrating how common household objects could be repurposed into actual power sources, with a little imagination and elbow grease. [GT]

SFA Stirling Engine Project

October 26, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

DIY: Solar Jack-O-Lantern

Here's a quick Hippy project you can do with your sprogs between now and Halloween: a solar-powered Jack-o-lantern. The idea is pretty simple - it boils down to putting a solar-powered light in a plastic pumpkin. Naturally, a good Hippy would use a real pumpkin (and roast the seeds inside - delicious) and then either bake it or compost it afterward. Also, why buy the solar panel when you can DIY one of those up also for much lower cost. If any science fairs are coming, this could be a blue-ribbon project. [GT]

Solar powered Jack-o-lantern

October 20, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weekend DIY: Make your own eco-friendly paint

Here's a DIY for the serious Hippy: make your own wall paint from flour, water, clay filler and mica - plus whatever colour you want. (Make sure to write down how you achieved the shade if you want to do touch-ups later.) If you want oil paint, you can mix up natural solvent, chalk and linseed oil plus colour - or you can make your own milk paint with a casein base, lime and chalk. Then there's no question about what to do with leftovers: simply compost them. [GT]

Make Safe, Natural Paint [via Sustainablog]

October 20, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Weekend DIY: Build your own solar oven

To take homemade bread one step further, try building your own solar oven. It's a plywood box covered in silver plastic gift wrap, with a 6mm glass top made from a regular double-thick window, plus some fiberglass batt and sheet steel. You also need a can of black spray paint to coat the inside and the bakeware to increase heat retention. It looks like a fairly simple project; Nev mentions messing up the frame a little but it all turning out fine. It even works in the winter, for cooking casseroles and roasts. The only real trick to remember is to turn the pan around periodically so it doesn't end up burnt on one side and raw on the other. [GT]

Solar Oven - the next step! By Nev Sweeney

October 6, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Weekend DIY: Floppy Disk tote

We've all still got a box or three of those old-school 3.5" disks lying around, and they don't even make good coasters the way AOL CDs used to. Well, now there's a nice weekend DIY project for you: the Floppy Disk bag. While it does involve a drill, the rest of it looks pretty simple, and if you whip up a lining so that it actually becomes functional, you've got a tote that even has a flip-top lid. Not exactly chic, but totally geek. [GT]

Floppy Disk Bag [via Shiny Shiny]

September 29, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Build your own solar heater for under £200

If building your own solar panel just got you interested, it may be time for you to go to the next level: a DIY thermosyphon solar heater. Total cost on the materials is around £175, so it pays for itself fairly quickly under current heating prices. Click here for a free and quite readable PDF of the instructions. [GT]

DIY thermosyphon solar heater [via Treehugger]

September 22, 2006 in Do It Yourself, Energy saving, Renewables | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Review: Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House

Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House
by Kelly Lerner and Carol Venolia, published by Lark Books, £11.77

Starting with a non-organic product of any kind and trying to make it green is always difficult, and a house is one of the most difficult (as well as most common). Result: this book was received with great enthusiasm. Contains lots of useful definitions for the novice would-be hippyshopper and a mix of obvious (yes, we know cooking with lids on the pots makes you use less heating energy) and non-obvious (putting the bathtub by a window really does make the bathroom look larger). Unfortunately, too much seems contingent on large design decisions (information on where to put windows implies one intends to move them) where more emphasis on small changes with good bang-for-the-buck impact would've been appreciated. However, it is called Remodeling - not, say, Tweaking. On the whole it's a slightly strange mix of specialized information (tables of the various virtues of different flooring, wall finishes, etc) and overly simplified (indictions to 'pick energy efficient windows'). Nonetheless, if you are undertaking a renovation of any kind it's worth at least a look, and at only £11.77, most likely worth buying. 3/5. [GT]

Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House

September 19, 2006 in Arts & information, Do It Yourself, Reviews | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Weekend DIY: Build a workbench from an old fridge

Why yes, this is the second DIY we've done involving a major chunk of a fridge (the first being how to make one into a thermal panel for £2). The DIY Refrigerator Workbench is even simpler though: flip the fridge on its side, reposition the crispers for use as drawers, and built on a worktop. Commenters suggested a toe-kick on the bottom and, most cleverly, that one have the freon professionally removed but retain the compressor as a source of crushed air for air-brushers or paint-sprayers. [GT]

DIY Refrigerator Workbench

September 15, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Do-It-Yourself Organic Beauty Treatments

Odds are, if you're reading this site, you have feet, and occasionally your feet get to be a wee bit on the antisocial side of smell. (Except the Shiny editorial staff's feet, all of whom were hand-carved of marble by Michaelangelo.) That can tempt you to resort to antisocial (by which I mean nasty chemical) scents - but you needn't, nor need you spend the quid. Organic Authority has a great set of foot treatments to get your toeses smelling like roses - well, like pineapple, lemon or tea tree, but if you want roses feel free to throw in a few. [GT]

Organic Authority home foot remedies

http://www.organicauthority.com/living/living_article_13.html#deodorizer

September 9, 2006 in Do It Yourself | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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