How can I reuse or recycle old comics?
We’ve had another email from Maja:
It’s me once again :) since I have so much junk to recycle, I came up with another question: what to do with various comics?
My little brothers collected a whole stash of Donald Duck, W.I.T.C.H and other comics books. Can I recycle them in some crafty way?
The first things that springs to mind are using them for decoupage or wrapping paper.
You could also make them into colourful envelopes – like Lynsey from Swirly Arts does with old children’s books.
Other suggestions?
Hah! You beat me to it :) You could also see if your local school wants them for crafty use if you can’t use them. Or see if you have a local scrapstore as they will take them. http://www.childrensscrapstore.co.uk/Uk%20Directory%20of%20Scrapstore.htm
You DON’T recycle comics! You pass them around the whole neighbourhood to enjoy, and when they come back to you after a couple of years, it’s like reading them for the first time – and then you pass them again!
NEVER, NEVER, NEVER recycle comics. Donate them instead. Some thrift stores will take comics for resale. Some libraries will sell comics during their book sales. Or you could place them at strategic places, like laundromats, where bored kids will be able to read them. Think Bookcrossing for comics.
magerzines and brouchors can be recycled in the same way paper does
sell them on ebay someone always wants them
Cutting up the strips to make new stories is good fun – I especially enjoy doing this with the really stupid little comics made by Jehovah’s Witnesses, as they have particularly implausible and dramatic storylines even before you cut them up!
The only comics I recycle are funnies from newspapers, and I use them for wrapping and packaging or traveling. Comics and Manga you can pass around.
How would one make an envelope anyway?
You could use the pages as wallpaper in a child’s room or playroom (or maybe the toilet!). I’ve seen this done with manuscript paper before and it struck me that comics work work jut as well. Paste at different angles for really unique look.
Dont recycle them, its a waste! Comics look rly cool, you could use them as posters in a room for a kind of funky and original look. THe envelope is a good idea. (to make an envelope you need a square piece of paper and you just get four corners and turn them in to the middle or something like that) you could use them as postcards (stick onto card), this may sound rly weird but i think its rly cool, you could print it onto a tshirt for funky look or a dress or something. Yeh and you can use them as wrapping paper (rly cool) You could cut out the characters and put them in scrpbooks or mke them stickers. If the worst comes to the worst, either give them to a charity shop or give them to children or cousins or basically people who will enjoy them instead of wasting them because they are sooooo cool! Just DONT recyle them!!!!!!!!!(reuse them instead)
Put some clear vinyl on each side and sew them into rectangular sections then sew all the sections together to make a beach bag, purse, or so on. That way the comic pages are safe and dry and you have a clever way of seeing them.
Cut out just the text. Without the illustrations, the text, out of the expected context, becomes something different, and more interesting, and your personal statement. Then use those phrases and stick them on jewerly (imagine a pair of dangly earrings,) stick them on pencils, or mugs and plates, or long wooden mixing spoons. And voila, you are an artist, creating a personal expression!
…and i love every single one of all of the above comments – do a little of everything!
use them to cover a magazine holder. Cut about a quarter of a cereal box and then tape the pages of the comic around the box. I’ve also seen people cut them in circles and post them on walls.
Take a bunch of cool frames, cut them out, arrange them all over a table, then put a clear tablecloth over top of them. You can do the same with photographs.
I’ve seen them pasted together and then laminated to make a table cloth… you could use the same for book covers/wallpaper… I think it would be cool to make roman shades out of them in the same way too… I dont know if they would be burned if made into a lampshade, but it would be sweet-and perhaps if the bulb was cool enough.
Also, this wouldnt require reusing the actual comic, but if you could copy the image, it would make a great watermark for on the back of stationary and such.
I’d first try ebay. Someone might be interested in collecting. Or even a used book store.
Then I’d go the donation route, hospitals, especially places like Children’s hospitals might use them.
I’ve given mine to clinics, hairdressers, barbershops, dental surgeries and similar establishments. Most of the exisiting reading material they have are outdated and not child-friendly, so comic books are always appreciated. It’s nice to see all the comic books being read by youngsters each time I patronise the same places.
i use my comics and fashion magazines to cover all sorts of things, t.v s,doors,photo frames,old jewlry and diarys and books.
you could make colages out of them aswell. they look brill on anything! :)
Make paper beads out of them. You can find the tutorial online :)
eBay is useless, don’t matter what price guides say it’s worth if nobody will pay that for them
– look at eBay bids, it’s like you get $0.50 cents for 50 comics, not to mention shipping
the comic industry is down the drain, so many mim and pop stores closing, manga on the other hand is being put in every major book store chains, and who can blame? manga like Naruto is awesome (how can stories about 12 year olds in ninja school not be?)