Author: Charlie Rufus

Repurposing The Past

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The past may be another country; a place we cannot visit and only know fragments about it based upon what has been left behind. And it was just such a fragment that came into my possession a couple of weeks ago in a thrift shop.

Back in the days of Jeeves and Bertie Wooster ladies and gentlemen of refinement carried their cigarettes in silver cigarette cases and those of us for whom silver cases were unattainable we carried them in the original packets until a bright spark hit upon the idea of making a chrome plated version of the silver case that would be less expensive and therefore would be available to a wider (aspirational) customer base.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and you find me in a thrift store holding said case and handing over a few pounds and leaving as the proud owner of one of these cases; who had no idea what to do with it.

Then it struck me. Whenever I have been travelling with notebooks, pens et cetera the one thing that always seems to end up rolling around in my bag is the spare cartridges and the occasional converter and this little case might be the solution.

So I decided to try out various cartridges from my collection to see what fitted and what did not; and here are the results:

Empty

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Full

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So there you have it, what could have ended up as no more than a novelty from the past now has a new lease of life as a cartridge caddy.

So next time you are in a thrift shop don’t pass over things until you’ve thought twice about it; remember if you buy it you are doing two good things; giving money to a charity or helping a small trader and you are recycling aka repurposing something.

Common Welsh Green Dragon

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On a recent visit to a Flying Tiger store I came across dragon erasers, pretty cool! And the picture on the front of the box reminded me of the scene when Ron is explaining to Harry that there are wild dragons in Britain.

“But there aren’t wild dragons in Britain?” said Harry.
“Of course there are,” said Ron. “Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who’ve spotted them, to make them forget.” ― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Needless to say, I bought a couple of them.

The dragon is around 75mm high, mostly blue with brown wings and a green underbelly. So, if you want to add a little dragon to your desktop or know someone who would then this could be the dragon for you.

Disclaimer: TheDragon was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with either the retailers or manufacturers in any way.

Side ProjecNo. 6 – Harry Potter Document Folder (Formerly The Harry Potter Desk Diary/Planner)

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This little project has been a long time coming; mostly because I put the desk diary ‘somewhere safe’ and couldn’t remember where I had put it and then, whilst taking inventory, I came across it, put it on the desk and pondered what to do with it. All this happened at the same time as I was looking for my Muji A5 document folders; again ‘somewhere safe’!

It was then that I looked again at the desk diary, flipped through it and realised it had been part used and was now a couple of years out of date so it was of no real use and just as I was taking aim at the bin a penny dropped with a resounding clunk; as I realised that, with a little work, this diary could be converted into  a document folder.

What you need:

  • 1 Desk Diary/Planner (I recommend one with stitch binding)
  • 1 Craft knife
  • 1 PVA glue
  • 1 Glue spreader
  • 1 Roll washi tape (I used Kookie & Rookie’s Hogwarts inspired tape)
  • Patience

Step 1

Get your desk diary/planner and decide how much you need to strip out.

I removed everything except the front flyleaf, rear pocket and elastic closure.

Once you have done this move on to Step 2.

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Step 2

This is the bit where it gets surgical.

Take the craft knife and find the stitch binding and carefully start cutting through the stitches.

It is worth noting that you will have a number of sections to remove; do them one at a time and carefully.

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Step 3

Once all of the sections are removed it is simply a case of covering the internal spine which can be done with the material of your choice.

I opted for washi tape. The only thing I found with washi tape is it was better if it was glued down with a drop of PVA).

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And that’s all it took to turn an old diary/planner from rubbish into a useful document holder.

Final Thoughts

I was surprised with the ease with which I was able to do this and how quick it was to do; so even if you are a person with, like me, with very limited craft skills this sort of re-purposing is achievable.

What I’m really trying to say is ‘have a go’ you’ll be surprised at what you can do.

Disclaimer: Everything used in this project was purchased with my own funds at retail price. The opinions expressed in this review are my own; and I am not connected with any of the retailers or manufacturers in any way.