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DIY: Creative Uses For Photocopies

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Left: "Chair-chair Pad" by Chenhhui Su; Right: Detail from Monique and Richard's SF apartment

There's been some discussion recently about the pros and cons of working with photocopies and facsimiles for projects in your home. Where ever you land in the debate, xeroxing remains an inexpensive process with huge possibilities, and we thought we could take the opportunity to show a few interesting applications we've collected over the past few months. After the jump, a roundup of some of our favorite uses for photocopies and ink jet prints...

 
 

In the images above, Chenhhui Su uses a silkscreen of a xerox to dress-up less than stellar chairs, and Monique and Richard altered what was originally an expensive Cole & Son wallpaper using a blueprint copier!

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Left: Detail of wallpaper by Jenny Holzer in The Fabric Workshop & Museum in Philadelphia; Right: file cabinet covered using photocopies, from Domino

Here, some of Jenny Holzer's Inflammatory Essays were installed in their original colors and formation in the Philadelphia Fabric Workshop & Museum; this filing cabinet was decoupaged with photocopies of a classic chinoiserie print.

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Left: "Tableaux Cloth" by Mark Cutler Design; Right: Handprinted wallpaper by Deborah Bowness

Mark Culter's "Tableaux Cloths" use simple silkscreening techniques and canvas to mask what were originally uninteresting tables, and Deborah Bowness' hand printed wallpapers employ a xeroxed effect in their tromp l'oeil of everyday objects.

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Left: "Verona" cabinet by Anna James; Right: Detail of "Curtain Wall" by Simone Decker

Finally, Anna James' "Verona" cabinet takes digital images of graffiti and applies them to a classic period piece, and artist Simone Decker transforms indoor space by using large scale fabric prints of images taken outside.

Tags

inspiration, wallpaper & graphics, DIY, photocopy

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Comments (13)

"Tableaux Cloth" makes me smile...

posted by vanessamarie on October 7th 2008 at 11:07am
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Whenever I see the 'tree print' wallpaper- which is pretty often lately- I think: "they must read the same design blogs and decorating magazines that I do."

posted by gquaker on October 7th 2008 at 11:42am
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/30160010@N07/2923002398/

posted by spinningscreen on October 7th 2008 at 12:58pm
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Xerox is not a verb.

posted by ldp on October 7th 2008 at 1:03pm
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Of course xerox is a verb - I just googled it to make sure. ; )

posted by home body on October 7th 2008 at 1:12pm
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Correctomundo! English allows you to verbify any noun. I know that freaks out English teachers and ESL students, but usage becomes the rule. You dig? I'm blogging this right now. ~;o)

Love, love, love that cat condo ottoman, spinningscreen.

posted by quiltmaster on October 7th 2008 at 11:32pm
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this can be coupled with rasterbator to make oversized xerox prints

posted by somedudeinvicenza on October 8th 2008 at 4:42am
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Heh. I was in the Burlington Coat Factory yesterday and saw something very similar to the "Tableaux Cloth" (except white on black print with the company logo in the space between the "legs") used on the display tables. Neat idea.

posted by BornSlippy on January 2nd 2009 at 6:58pm
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this thread reminds me a little of the bathroom fun we're in the midst of (can't afford to rehab, so we're aiming for the the distract-from-the-awful-tiling approach).
From our dreadful bathroom!

posted by littlebunnyfoofoo on January 2nd 2009 at 10:12pm
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@littlebunnyfoofoo:

Oh that made me giggle. I like it.

posted by sciencegeek on January 3rd 2009 at 8:15am
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No comments on whether this is actually legal or not. After all, if you're copying artwork, you're violating copyright. And much of this appears to be in that vein.

not impressed, AT....unless, of course, we can copy your website, copy your merchandise, etc and call it our own because it's cheaper.

posted by wc_canuck on January 3rd 2009 at 12:35pm
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thanks, sciencegeek! wc_canuck: i can only speak for the art we used for our bathroom, which is from one of those copyright-free books that dover books puts out. actually, trader joe's uses a lot of art from these books, also.

posted by littlebunnyfoofoo on January 3rd 2009 at 1:50pm
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an example of one such book:
http://store.doverpublications.com/0486237664.html

posted by littlebunnyfoofoo on January 3rd 2009 at 2:08pm
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