by Kristina Gabalski
Wendy Becker of Kendall believes in re-purposing unused or discarded items such as ties and belts. She holds a doll-sized chair for which she is weaving a new seat with ties.Upcycling – it means converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of better quality or higher environmental value, or as www.naturallysavy.com describes it, taking something that you would otherwise throw out and finding a way to make it into something new. Whereas recycling might “downcycle” plastic to plastic of a lesser grade, upcycling maintains or improves the quality of the materials.
Wendy Becker of Kendall has been on the cutting edge of upcycling, repurposing old neckties (and belts) for about a decade by turning them into both useful and decorative objects around her home and for others.
Wendy says it all started after she found some chairs at a garage sale. “The seats were ripped apart and I wanted to use them on the porch around the table.”
She began to craft new seats for the chairs with fabric when “the idea of using ties just dawned on me,” she says. “They have their own personality and hold up very well.”
This vanity stool has a new seat made of belts.Wendy weaves the old ties (and belts) into beautiful seats for chairs, benches – even doll furniture. She notes that the ties are made of high-quality fabric, so they wear extremely well. The projects also preserve old furniture that might otherwise find its way to a landfill.
“My friends go around finding more chairs,” Wendy says. She picks up old chairs at auctions she attends with her husband, John, as well as picking up cast-offs she finds on the side of the road. “I find chairs left on my porch,” she says, “I have chairs everywhere – in the attic, the basement and the garage.”
The chairs often need a few minor repairs or a fresh coat of paint, Wendy notes. It takes her a couple of weeks in her spare time, to complete a project.
Several of Wendy’s projects are on display in her home – a wreath (placed on the doll chair at top), a purse, pillows, lampshade and the Christmas Tree skirt, a work still in progress.Wendy has also used ties to make wreaths, accent pillows, purses, small pouches for carrying money and small personal items, lampshades and a Christmas tree skirt – which is still in progress.
She finds bags of neckties left on her porch and loves church rummage sales for collecting ties.
People have started coming to her with neckties they would like her to use in a chair or other project for them. The result is a one-of-a-kind heirloom in memory of a special loved one.
“The ties really mean something to them,” Wendy says, “and I get to give them something back. A lot of friends and family have necktie items.”
Wendy also uses old belts in the same way she uses neckties – to weave a new seat for a discarded piece of furniture. “With a belt, you can just poke another hole,” she says,” and then buckle it up, you don’t even have to sew.”
There is a striking spindle vanity stool on Wendy’s porch that has been restored with a woven seat made of colorful belts. She painted the stool a sleek matte-black before constructing the new seat.
Wendy says she looks forward to having more time for her “upcycled heirlooms” after she retires. She and her husband have also begun collecting old picture frames which they repurpose into very functional and eye-catching memo/chalkboards by painting a board with chalkboard paint and placing it in the frame.
Does Wendy have a special piece she considers her favorite?
“They’re all my favorites,” she confesses, “I just love doing it.”
