ABOVE: This small ‘idea board’ has enough textural detail to stand alone as wall art.Over the holidays I was shocked by all the polystyrene (aka Styrofoam) packaging blocks piled up on the overflowing city dumpsters around my neighbourhood, all indicative of the tsunami of electronic toys and communication devices purchased for Christmas.
Despite the number-6 triangular stamp on each piece indicating that it’s recyclable — it’s just air-blown plastic, after all — polystyrene is not accepted in the blue bins in this neck of the woods, so all that bulky, non-biodegradable stuff ends up in the landfill. If I ran the zoo, I’d make all stores that sell items containing the rigid foam packaging accept it back like any other returnable. Until everyone starts following my orders, I’ve come up with a useful, attractive use for these space-hogging blocks.
I’ve long been intrigued by Styrofoam as a potential building material. It’s easy to carve and glue together, it’s incredibly light and matte white — all fine properties for domestic use. So while everybody else played with their new toys on Boxing Day, I played with polystyrene, cutting down the bulky pieces into various square-ish units, assembling the blocks into patterns, affixing the patterns to surfaces. What resulted is now a key part of my dream studio: a large, lightweight, wall-mounted surface for all my clippings, ideas and mementoes. I so love the architectural effect of all those white, various-sized squares and shadows that I’m tempted to create an entire wall, affixing the squares with double-sided tape directly to the wall.
Here’s how to make your own ‘idea board’:
Gather up hunks of polystyrene. Using a steak knife or bread knife dipped in dishwashing liquid, saw out as many square or rectangular units as you can eke out of each piece. Keep the knife well-lubricated and the saw action fast and light. Rinse the units and let dry. Glue the back of one unit with household white glue (never hot glue), like Welbond, onto a piece of thin plywood or heavy-duty cardboard or particleboard. Add the odd-sized units one at a time, positioning them snugly beside one another to avoid any gaps. Keep adding until the units hang over the edges of the wood. Let the glue dry overnight then trim the excess to the board edge with the knife.
***
Catch my demonstration of this fun upcycling project this weekend at the Home Renovation and Living Show at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre. More details at showscanada.net.
