how to run an upcycling workshop

what is a upcycling?

furniture, textiles and other themes

planning an upcycling workshop

why upcycle? after the event and useful links

case studies

how to run an upcycling workshop





case studies

what is upcycling? 0

why upcycle? 0

planning an upcycling workshop 0

contents

after the event and useful links 0

case studies 0

furniture, textiles and other themes 0





case studies

What is upcycling?Upcycling is the process of converting waste materials or unwanted items into new items.

Why upcycle?• Upcycling is great fun and good for the

environment.

• From clothing to furniture, this eco-trend is all about creating your own unique style from cast-offs.

• Upcycling saves you money - upcycling your items for minimal cost, rather than having to buy new items.

• Research suggests that over 4 out of every 5 adults owns at least 1 item of clothing that

they have not worn in the last 12 months (82%). On average, every adult in the UK owns 3.5 tops that they have not worn (Source; www.loveyourclothes.org.uk). By upcycling these items, you’ll feel like you’ve got a new item of clothing that you can’t wait to wear.

• You may be bored of your furniture, but with some minor changes, it can get a whole new lease of life. Changing the material on your sofas/chairs, accessorising a set of draws, re-painting a table a new colour … these could all give a dramatic change to your home, saving you money and stopping furniture ending up in landfill.





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Planning an upcycling workshop

Who?• Decide on your target audience for example,

if it’s upcycling clothes, you may have more interest from women, if it’s something more technical, it may attract more men, or you may want to target University students who are very interested in fashion but often short on money etc.

When?• When you’ve decided on your audience, you

can agree the best time of the day/week to hold your event.





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Where?• This may depend on the type of upcycling, for

example, if you’ll be working on furniture you may need a large workshop or hall where you can make a bit of a mess and have access to tools. If it’s clothes, you won’t need as much space, but might need space for tables, sewing machines etc. Consider locations such as village halls, community centres, workplaces, pub-hotel function rooms or council premises. There may be a charge, so worth checking out first (you could charge an admission fee to cover the hire costs).

How?• Advertise through the local press, social media,

emails, posters, local radio, websites and don’t forget word-of-mouth. Tell local organisations such as the council, schools, libraries etc as they may be able to advertise your event. Invite journalists.

• Give everyone plenty of notice to ensure they have time to find an item to bring along (if it’s a furniture upcycling session, they may want to find an old piece of furniture at a re-use organisation to work on).





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• Make sure the advert is very clear as to what people need to bring i.e. old clothes, a piece of furniture, ideas etc, whether you will provide the tools/materials and what the costs are.

• Consider having a demonstration from an expert before letting participants have a go. Then a Q&A session. Then the expert can go round the room to offer advice as people work on their projects.

• Take pictures for inspiration and to advertise future events and PR.

• Consider an entry fee to cover costs of venue/materials.

• Consider if it’s a one-off session or a course over a number of weeks (depending on how complicated the projects are expected to be).

• Consider having refreshments to make more of a fun and relaxed atmosphere and to give an excuse for a break (especially for the organisers/experts).





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Furniture• Get participants to bring items of furniture, old

paint pots, ideas from magazines/websites.

• Or can you supply furniture (visit a Revolve store www.revolvereuse.com/ to see what you can pick up).

• Supply paint brushes, staple gun, paint, tools (sanders, hammer, nails), painters tape, rags, cleaning materials etc.

• Have a furniture designer there for advice/inspiration and a handiman/woman to help with tricky bits.





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Textiles• Get participants to bring along old clothes,

accessories, scraps, buttons, ribbons etc.

• Think about supplying some items in case anyone turns up without anything

• Have a mannequin to demonstrate things on

• Have a supply of buttons, ribbons, pins, needles, thread etc.

• Provide sewing machines.

• Have a designer and/or tailor there.

• Consider a theme e.g. Xmas party dress, summer outfit, make a cushion, make a bag, Xmas decorations etc.

• Consider having a fashion show at the end of the event to show off people’s creations.

Other possible themes• Upcycle old jars, bottles, picture frames.

• Make mosaics.

• Make draught excluders.

• Seasonal; Xmas decorations, Halloween costumes etc.

• Pallet furniture.





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After the event• Most participants will want to take their

items home.

• On the odd occasion, a participant may not like what they’ve made. In that case, the item could be offered to other participants, sold for charity, or broken down to its component parts to be used in a future workshop.

• Taking photos of the finished articles is useful for post-event PR and promoting future events.

• Evaluation; consider forms of evaluation in order to monitor the success of the project.

• Weigh the items re-used and hence diverted

from landfill. • Estimate the cost of buying new items versus the

cost of the upcycled items.

• Pre - and/or post-event - questionnaires could be used to gain feedback from participants such as rating the participants’ enjoyment, their opinion of upcycling, whether they would be likely to upcycle more items in future as a result of the workshop etc.





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Useful linkswww.remadeinedinburgh.org.uk

www.remakescotland.co.uk

www.craftcourses.com

www.shrubcoop.org

www.loveyourclothes.org.uk

www.scrapstoresuk.org

www.upcyclethat.com

www.diynetwork.com/upcycle-repurpose-refinish/package/index.html

www.facebook.com/UpRags2Riches





case studies

Case Study 1 – Fyne Futures,Bute www.fynefutures.org.uk

Fyne futures ran an upcycling workshop using an old table. They split the table into 4 sections and used a different effect on each segment;

• one segment was left as the “before”, • another was cleaned, treated with “Scratch

cover” oil and then teak oil• one was stripped, lightly sanded, then waxed• and the last was stripped, lightly sanded, then

had 3 thin coats of polyurethane applied.

They then gave participants a really useful handout giving a step by step guide on how to achieve each effect and a list of local businesses who could supply the materials. So anyone attending

the workshop had the skills, knowledge and suppliers to go home and work wonders on their old furniture.





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Case Study 2 – Forth Environment Link, Stirlingwww.forthenvironmentlink.org/

Forth Environment link (FEL) regularly run pallet upcycling workshops and find they are really popular. They run full day (6 hours) or half day (3 hours) session that are free for participants (although they say some organisations charge around £20 to cover tools, resources, lunch etc). They’ve kindly shared their top tips for pallet upcycling workshops here;

For a workshop you will need:

• Pallets• Saws

• Claw Hammers• Screws (50-60mm)• Bolster Chisels and Crowbars• Power Drills• Extension Cable (especially if outside) to charge drills• PPE including work gloves and safety glasses (only if sanding using an angle grinder)





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Main points to focus on:

• Risk Assessments are required and should be updated• First aider must be present with first aid kit• Pallets are collected from organisations they work closely with, or they ask the group they are doing the workshop with to supply them. Always go for plain wood pallets, not the painted versions, as you don’t know what chemicals have been used on them and they are very difficult to strip Try to stay away from pallets made from hard wood, as they can also be difficult to work with. Try to get pallets that have been covered away from the elements and kept dry, as wet pallets are also difficult to work with. Unfortunately, even if a pallet looks in good condition and dry etc... it may not be.

• Pallet numbers required will vary. On average if you want to make a bench, you would need around 5, for a small planter you would need 1 etc... however always get

more than you think you will need, as they may be damaged during stripping, or may not be in good condition.

• Numbers should be kept to a minimum. If one person is running the workshop, then 6 people max should attend. If 2 people, then this could go up to 10 max. This is due to Health & Safety.





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• Each session always starts with full tool and pallet training including manual handling etc...

• For a full day session, start the workshop with stripping the pallets (separating all wood and removing nails), this is done by using the hammers, chisels and crowbars. This is very time consuming, so make sure there is plenty of time. It may be a good idea to have some stripped wood already prepped. Then start to measure the wood for cutting. If making something like a bench, you may want to keep sections of a pallet intact and not stripped. Wood is then sawed to length, and then the structure is put together using the drills and screws. Don’t use nails, as these will be difficult to remove if a mistake is made.

• For a shorter session, the wood is already stripped and ready, so just measure, saw and put together.

• For herb planters and bird box sessions, you can make templates of the actual sizes of both items, so people can just copy.





case studies

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how to run an upcycling workshop

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