The Weather Report
Welcome dear reader to another issue of our RecyclingCDs newsletter. A wonderful summer has sped by in a glorious haze of long, sultry days amidst some rather refreshing rain. We trust you enjoyed it. Now autumn has arrived in all its splendour and, was it my over-active imagination or did conkers seem to fall from every tree as soon as August turned into September? Magic!

Late summer and early autumn provide a great opportunity to forage our countryside and parks making use of the natural food resources they hold. We’ve already enjoyed a few wild strawberries, heaps of blackberries and some tasty apples al fresco as well as in delicious fruit crumbles. If you’ve never tried foraging before, take a leak-proof bag next time you’re out and about and have a look to see what treats nature provides free of charge. It may not be conventional recycling but ‘making good use of the things that we find’ as some furry South London recyclers used to sing, gets the thumbs up from us!

News
As announced in our last newsletter we are collaborating with lighting design specialists, Bruce Munro, to collect your unwanted CDs and DVDs for use in a unique and exciting art project.

The Bruce Munro portfolio of stunning light work for commercial and domestic use includes exquisite chandeliers as well as exhibition pieces and amazing large scale installations of illuminated sculpture. Each stunning piece is created with an evident passion for light and beauty. Imagine the excitement of seeing your surplus discs turned into one of these great light sculptures. Details of the exact work will be revealed later in the year.

So far, with your help we have collated 115,176 discs which we have forwarded to Bruce Munro. This is a fantastic start and as we are aiming for at 1 million discs we could do with a few more! Please have a hunt around the attic, shed, down the back of the sofa - wherever unused CDs and DVDs disappear to in your home or office. Place a virtual note on your facebook page or a real one on your community, church, college, work or school notice-board and see how many discs are wasting away out there unused, unwanted and sad. Make those metal discs happy by collecting them for us to become useful and loved again as part of a beautiful piece of art.

To recycle your stash, simply complete and send the recycling form on our homepage and we’ll let you know where to send your discs for recycling. Reduce landfill whilst creating art - perfect!

New Artists
We have taken on board 2 exciting new artists recently and warmly welcome Maxilla and Margarita to the RecyclingCDs creative family fold. Both artists’ work is available for the special price of £5.99 per clock until the end of September.

A recent graduate of Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, Maxilla Mellifer is well versed in illustration and this shows in the beautiful designs submitted which have a distinctly oriental and stylistic feel. The exquisitely detailed images of nature would not look out of place on traditional bone china but are brought up to date particularly when combined with digital collage as in the design entitled ‘Growth’.

Maxilla explains: “My work explores the power of nature and layers of inter-connectivity; anatomy and mortality; and the fragility of life. Most of my time is spent with a pen in one hand and a cup of tea in the other! … Working in a mixture of pen and digital collage, I make it my aim to push my drawings to create surreal and meticulously detailed worlds.”

Margarita Iosif’s designs also have a surreal quality and suggest intriguing narratives of a fairy tale nature. They draw the viewer in to try and decipher both what is taking place and the possible contexts. The images make appropriate clock designs as one seems to see or feel something new with each viewing!

Margarita says: “A surreal, abstract and conceptual character encloses all my work, which is based on the philosophy that lay behind the perception of reality and imagination and the way those two can blend together. Following those principles I am creating visuals and stories that combine both traditional and new techniques together.”

If you feel inspired and would like to join our family of international CDClock artists, go ahead - get creative and sign-up online.

Competitions & Features
If you’re not quite sure yet about becoming an RCDs artist but would like to see your own photos or images on a CDClock, look out for our Beta Custom Clock which will be available towards the end of this month. Our online image editor will allow you to edit your own designs to create unique gifts and memorabilia.

While your eyes are peeled, look out for our autumn competition coming soon. Details will follow on the blog shortly so stay tuned and get ready to win! And finally, we have a handy new Search box on the homepage which enables you to search for other recycled items. Try it - you never know what you might find!

Networks & Comments
We love to hear what you think about our products as well as your recycling ideas. Drop us a line, comment on our website, forums or on the blog or find us on any of the following web pages:
RCDs Community Page | MySpace | Facebook | Networked Blog Space | Twitter

Until next time, enjoy the conkers, foraging and recycling,
Rache & All at RecyclingCDs