Reincarnate Used, Dead Pens
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA 
on 10.11.07
ReadyMade asked its readers to submit ideas on how to reanimate the dried-up corpses of juiced-out, presumably unrefillable pens. Although the winners of the magazine's MacGyver Challenge did not prove that the pen is mightier than the sword, they did demonstrate that it could at least hold its own against a butter knife, by fitting pen barrels to old silverware.
Runners-up include bud vases, a plastic jump rope, a pretty nifty recycled garden sprinkler, a tool shelf with pen-barrel pegs, plant stakes, and a trompe l’oeil pencil cup. ::ReadyMade
Difficulty level: Moderate
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Reuse Those Plastic Cups As Earrings
- 5 Reuses for: Watermelon
- Turn a Used Bottle Into a Funky Vase
- The Week's Best DIY Projects: Kid-Friendly Coloring Books, Energy-Saving Chargers, and Woven Coasters
- Can You Recycle Teflon Cookware?
- Build a Greenhouse without Going Broke
Now you just need to find something to do with all those useless utensil handles you cut off, maybe some ugly chandelier?
Have you ever thought about how much more difficult these utensils are to clean, once food gets stuck on their little nooks, hooks and crannies??
Not very smart. Nice attempt though ;;)
I use fountain pens. Since they are refillable, they cut down on the amount of plastic waste. I have one such pen that belonged to my grandfather. 60 years old, and the pen still writes perfectly.
Old unrefillable plastic pens have always been a headache to me in regard to reusing.
Plant stakes for flower pots
I have use then to plant a few flower seeds in my garden
I started making a plastic pen string door curtin once.
i did find a plastic pen is good to keep a window open (holding it up)
I can imagine building some kind od toy dwelling out of them ,but is it worth the effort?
I used one once to make a tree for a christmas display.
I also used a few for Christmas tree decorations
I tried making darts for a dart board used small nail
stuff the barrel with littleppieces of duct tape
(you had to throw them like a knife (Did stick over half the time)
made a fishing lure once (fish were smarter) and besides there is enough plastic in our waters.
I am glad to see a few others are working on this plastic pen problem.
No I stopped buying them a year or two ago.
Found me a nice pen (not very costly) and can get refills..
it really never occured to me to make eatting utensils out of them.
Good Show!
genaman