recycled toy jewellery: dinosaur ring

I just finished making this for my friend's birthday. I don't think it's very practical, but it was fun to make and paint. Dayglo orange with nu-rave multicolored tiger stripes.



This is how it started life - as a small plastic heterodontosaurus from the Brick Lane car boot sale:



You can see more photos of it if you're interested here on Flickr.

I might try to make more and sell them on Etsy, but they are dreadfully time consuming and fiddly.

recycled toy jewellery: banana necklace

I have started making more things from discarded toys I have found in jumble and car boot sales. Banana necklace number one and its owner.



This is a banana necklace made from recycled toys found in car boot sales around london. It's 100% handcrafted and unique, made by ethnic labourer, in our hackney workshop.

cool product: webkinz

I really like this idea. They're like Ty Beanie Babies (limited edition collectible cute soft toys with high re-sale value), but they come alive online - each toy has a unique code which links to its online avatar version.

Like Habbo Hotel, kids can talk to other virtual pet owners, buy stuff for their pet's rooms and so forth. They're doing very well in the US with 2 million units shifted so far, of which about 1 million sign up to the Webkinz online club thing.

Computer time, originally uploaded by mia3mom.

Has implications for products with maximum idea, minimum physical stuff. You could see the virtual stuff as like Barbie's accessories - kids these days are happy to pay money to consume these virtual things (which have less environmental impact).