"You do not sew with a fork, and I see no reason why you should eat with knitting needles." - Miss Piggy
March 29, 2011 12:08 PM   Subscribe

 
They seem like profoundly impractical shelves.

If you want to prevent waste, use reusable chopsticks instead of disposable ones. Rescuing a few dozen (out of many thousands) to build some rickety shelves doesn't accomplish much.
posted by ixohoxi at 12:12 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


The downside: It gets confusing because you read a book and immediately afterwards you want to read another.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:16 PM on March 29, 2011 [6 favorites]


How do they get them to stay in without wobbling, and also is there a way to do it with less ugly?
posted by entropone at 12:17 PM on March 29, 2011


They make shelves for book? Why not just pile them on every available horizontal surface like us normal people?
posted by Splunge at 12:19 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


I think that simple wood and cinder blocks would look better than the ramshackle mess that is chopstick bookshelves.
posted by Fizz at 12:21 PM on March 29, 2011 [7 favorites]


That's thinking outside the Bento Box.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:25 PM on March 29, 2011 [7 favorites]


One of my old roommates wanted to create a found materials, student-type bookshelf for herself. The theory behind these things is that they're functional but extremely cheap, since you construct them out of basically garbage and put them together yourself.

Rather than try her luck dumpster diving, she went out and bought pvc pipe fittings, cinderblock, and boards. She ended up with the right look--a piece of crap ramshackle thing that looks like it's made out of trash--but ended up spending over $80 and many hours to do so.

At least these guys didn't pay anything for their ugly shelves.
posted by phunniemee at 12:28 PM on March 29, 2011 [8 favorites]


Over the years, with a terrible book habit, I have had many types of bookcases: all the way from milk cartons and cinderblocks-and-planks to the serviceable IKEA Billy to the nice modular pine ones I built myself to rich oak ones I got secondhand from a law office. I have never had anything that looked as crappy as a bunch of chopsticks driven into the wall.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:28 PM on March 29, 2011


I guess it comes down to utility versus aesthetics. Though I think if you plan right you can have both and without a lot of expense.
posted by Fizz at 12:30 PM on March 29, 2011


Those are the ugliest damn shelves I've ever seen. And it must've taken forever to drill all those holes.
posted by echo target at 12:31 PM on March 29, 2011 [3 favorites]


One snap, and it all comes tumbling down.
posted by crunchland at 12:31 PM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]


One false move in the dark, and you won't be reading anything.
posted by hanoixan at 12:35 PM on March 29, 2011 [5 favorites]


The asthetics of a plinko board asside, I admire his creativity in finding a solution. Would you have it in your house, apparently not - but this guy does. If you don't like it, a more appropriate place for "yuck lolz" comments is on the youtube video itself.

Things of note: big heavy books get more chopsticks for support as well as minimal room for multiple books (duh). File folders and magazines had multiple entries per shelf, and allowed for greater room (also duh). Its good to see those principles in practice.

What I really liked though was that the shelves, although disheveled, were variable in size according to the books. Sure the fixture felt a bit more permanent than what it could have, the space savings and modularity could have been much larger than what he has done so far.
posted by Nanukthedog at 12:39 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


This should help deter the maids who keep sorting my books by color.
posted by StickyCarpet at 12:39 PM on March 29, 2011


They make shelves for book? Why not just pile them on every available horizontal surface like us normal people?

Agreed. I'm waiting until I have enough to build myself a book-fort to live in.

don't touch that! it's a load bearing Ballard!
posted by The Whelk at 12:43 PM on March 29, 2011 [9 favorites]


Agreed. I'm waiting until I have enough to build myself a book-fort to live in.

I did that. Have you ever tried putting up shelves in a book-fort?
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:45 PM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]


Or I could build a mighty throne and when people ask me what I'm sitting on I can announce:

I AM SITTING UPON A CONCRETE REPRESENTATION MY COLLECTIVE KNOWLEDGE.
posted by The Whelk at 12:48 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


They've reinveted pegboard. Genius!

They don't seem to have reinvented those clips that keep the pegs from always falling out though. Not so genius.
posted by bonehead at 12:49 PM on March 29, 2011


Please, respect Nanukthedog's call for only positive comments about the ugly shelves.
posted by found missing at 12:52 PM on March 29, 2011 [10 favorites]


Omg that is so cool! I just love ingenuity!

It's basically DIY pegboard.

Other people have thought about alternative uses for disposable chopsticks. (nsfw?)

The fruit basket is my fave. Other ideas.

And then you can always use leftovers to feed your kitten.
posted by nickyskye at 12:55 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


I suspect you could build a more sturdy and attractive shelf just using the sheet of pegboard.
posted by brightghost at 1:13 PM on March 29, 2011


this is great. i'm not going to do exactly this, but it gives me ideas. the use to me of other people's projects is to give me ideas. otherwise it's just somebody else's project. so this is good.

i'm in extended boring-opinion mode, and i am loving it.
posted by facetious at 1:20 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


They make shelves for book? Why not just pile them on every available horizontal surface like us normal people?

You say this like these things are mutually exclusive.
posted by aught at 1:37 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


Why not just pile them on every available horizontal surface like us normal people?

I have to point out that you can't depend upon normal people to remain horizontal, so the books may fall off.
posted by found missing at 1:42 PM on March 29, 2011 [11 favorites]


He made it out of chopsticks, not with them. Because I'm totally sure he stuck them in there with his hands, like some kind of animal, and NOT by using chopsticks.
posted by Eideteker at 1:53 PM on March 29, 2011


I've used melamine chopsticks to mix viscous fluids like epoxy resin. Melamine can be sharpened to a lasting chisel point that's more durable than bamboo, and thus becomes an effective scraper. When mixing epoxy the thick liquid sticking to the inside of the container should be periodically scraped. An outstanding resource for working with epoxy is Epoxyworks.

Melamine is also strong, and works an excellent stir-stick for small amounts of plaster or prosaically for mixing paint.

Chisel pointed melamine chop sticks are also effective scrapers in situations where a metallic scraper may damage the underlying surface.

Sticking chopsticks into a wall seems utterly foolish.
posted by Tube at 2:29 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


I suspect you could build a more sturdy and attractive shelf just using the sheet of pegboard.

the difference is that the holes are in a door, probably about 1 1/4 in. think. the genius of it is that books are really meant to be stacked horizontally, in piles, by interest and attention, unless you are a librarian or ocd or both.
posted by ennui.bz at 3:55 PM on March 29, 2011


What good are bookshelves if you can't read any books because you've poked your eyes out on a stupidly protruding piece of garbage?

Here's hoping they don't collapse on the baby heard cooing in the background.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:56 PM on March 29, 2011


with chopsticks != from chopsticks

I was sadly disappointed. I wanted to see a carpenter who used a saw, hammer, or drill while wielding just two slim pieces of bamboo.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 5:52 PM on March 29, 2011


Kill two birds with one stone: eat books after reading.

(Note, this does not solve the problem of excess doors that may be clogging your streets.)
posted by Jehan at 5:58 PM on March 29, 2011 [1 favorite]


Before watching the video I was thinking he maybe glued them together like a giant version of a toothpick house.

So yes, I was a bit disappointed in that mess.
posted by bwg at 6:10 PM on March 29, 2011 [2 favorites]


I wouldn't think this would be very safe for the smallish children you could hear in the background. Hmmm.
posted by garnetgirl at 6:32 PM on March 29, 2011


Agreed. I'm waiting until I have enough to build myself a book-fort to live in.

Books are not the best mass barrier between you and fallout but stack 'em deep enough, they'll do something. If they're half as effective as lumber, 22 inches of books will reduce your exposure by half.

/We now return you to the Ink Spots playing "Maybe"
posted by codswallop at 8:56 PM on March 29, 2011


most of my 'bookshelves' are just milkcrates
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:13 PM on March 29, 2011


I really love his accent. So all is forgiven in the style department.

You keep building crappy furniture, man. But make sure to TELL us about it!
posted by Splunge at 9:41 PM on March 29, 2011


What happens when the cat jumps on this kind of bookshelf?
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:14 AM on March 30, 2011


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