Category: Pentings

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Amazing Recycle Pen Art Showing at the Greentivities Exhibit

Recycle Pen Art by The Pen Guy - Time Warp
Recycle Pen Art by The Pen Guy – Time Warp

I just completed my second recycle pen art project in time to be shown at the Sonoma County Fair exhibit called “Greentivities“. “Greentivities”, is a new, fun, interactive, and exciting venue for both kids and adults to showcase examples to the community with ways to approach recycling, reuse and conservation through art and hands on demos.

How I got there was a text book case of convergence. Last Wednesday I was walking around down town Santa Rosa and I run into Rebecca at the Share Exchange Coop who knew Anita at the Greentivities booth at the faire and suggested I contact her about a speaking gig. I then got a call from Anita and went down to see her Saturday to find out more and sign up to speak. I asked about submitting a pen art piece and she said “yes”… if I could get it to her within 48 hours. Needless to say I met the deadline and my second piece proudly hanging at the fair along with some great recycle art including a few art car chairs made by Patrick Amiot of Sebastopol, and amazing scrap metal drummset.

What I love the most about this piece as opposed to my other one called “The Giving Tree” is that due to time constraints I didn’t have time to over think it too much so I just went with the flow and worked as quickly as I could to get-r-done. When I showed my wife for the time it has this amazing effect on her as if she was being pulled into it and experiencing a time warp as well. On this particular piece I got to reuse 448 donated pens.

I also got to use some of my favorite pens donated from all over like the world. I have a Mummy pen, an etch-a-sketch, a french fry, pen again and the operation pen. I love it when things line up, especially all the pens.

Recycle Pen Art by The Pen Guy - Time Warp
Recycle Pen Art by The Pen Guy – Time Warp

Recycle Pen Art by The Pen Guy - Time Warp
Recycle Pen Art by The Pen Guy – Time Warp – At the Greentivities Exchibit

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Sushi Pen Review by The Pen Guy – Something Smells Fishy


One of the many perks as the pen guy when I am no out back creating pen art out of donated pens is doing the odd pen review here and there. Today’s pen is brought to you by the Prank Place who sent me this pretty raw looking “Sushi” pen. If you love sushi, then you need one (or all!) of these great Sushi Pens! Each ballpoint pen writes with black ink, comes with its own ballpoint cover, and has a delicious sushi at the other end of the pen!

On the pro side, its a great looking pen and does well for short notes and sushi phone orders. I would say a great addition to your pen collection or super duper deal if you owned a sushi shop.

On the other hand its not really a good pen if you like to journal or write long notes. It doesn’t glide over the paper that well and the fact that the barrel is narrow makes it hard to handle and your hand will eventually cramp up. The sushi pen is unbalanced, top heavy and awkward to write with.

I am sorry but I have to give the sushi pen a three out of five dead fish rating.

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The Pen Guy Launches Recycled Pen Art Project on IndieGoGo

I am happy to announce the creation of my very first art piece  called “Giving Tree” a 48″x48″ piece covered with about 500 sharpies. I am also launching my Indiegogo fundraising campaign to raise  $8250 to help me create another seven “pentings”.

I have been collecting pens ever since I started the Mercedes Pens Art Car with the idea that I was going to create more art with used pens.

At the beginning of the year I had about 30,000 pens piling up and overflowing out of my pen bin in the back yard as seen here. Then I got a giant boost from TerraCycle who partnered with me by giving me a giant pallet of about 30,000 more used pens and then commissioned me to create two pentings.

I took the opportunity from this first piece to launch a fundraising campaign and step out believing that this crazy pen art dream could really happen in the next 60 days. I have been thinking about this for many years and the timing was finally right to take the plunge and put my big dream out there.

With the support of my family and close friends I take the step into what I believe to be an appointment with destiny and to go on to create some of my best work ever in the coming years.
The only way I could possible image doing this is with your help and support and it can be done in four significant ways:

  1. Contribute financially to my campaign
  2. Tell your friends about it on facebook, twitter, email and the rest.
  3. Donate all your pens to: The Pen Guy POBox #994 Forestville Ca 95436
  4. Send your good thoughts my way.

Its simple and beautiful.

I would love to hear back from you so please leave your comments

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Pen Guy to Collect a Million Used Pens to Make Art

PRESS RELEASE

PEN GUY TO COLLECT A MILLION USED PENS TO MAKE ART
The Pen Guy has a goal to collect a million used pens of all kinds, to create giant art murals called “Pen-tingsä.” He hopes to redirect the flow of some of the millions of used pens that end up in landfills every year into a reusable art medium.
Santa Rosa, CA – July 26, 2009
Every year millions of discarded, used pens end up in landfills. So far no one has come up with a possible eco-friendly solution to this problem until now. Costas Schuler, a.k.a. the “Pen Guy”, from Forestville, CA, is asking for used pen donations to create art- namely giant murals called “Pen-tingsä.” A few years ago Costas started gluing pens to his 1981 Mercedes Benz, creating an art car he dubs the “Mercedes Pens”, which now has approximately 10,000 pens on it and is a regular feature at community events around the Bay Area. Costas is now embarking on a more ambitious project to collect and reuse a million pens for his “Pen-tings”: The plan is to partner with individuals, businesses, organizations and schools to establish regular collection sites, or to help by hosting a donation drive, where Costas would appear with the Mercedes Pens to talk about the project. Contact Costas at [email protected] or join his Facebook group RecyclePens.
The Pen Guy and the Mercedes Pens are regular attendees of events such as the Maker Faire, Art Car Fest, Harmony Festival, City Kids Festival, as well as local grade schools and senior centers, where he encourages people to pursue their talents and dreams in life. He goes about his normal day asking for used pen donations, and there are several schools and businesses which participate regularly in collecting pens for his cause: the Forestville Water District, O’Reilly Media, Sutter Hospice Thrift in Sebastopol, Pick of the Litter in Santa Rosa, and Goodwill Industries in Santa Rosa.

The Mercedes Pens Art Car is a globally recognized art car, with features on TV, print and the internet: NBC, ABC, the Science Channel, Smithsonian Channel, Wealth TV, and Mag Rack, The Press Democrat, Sonoma West Times, Today’s Vintage, Forbes.com, PC Magazine, Neatorama, Green Living Tips and countless blogs from around the world.

“Thank you for bringing your pen car and being part of this years’ Maker Faire again. Both kids and adults went nuts over your car.” –Sherry Huss, Director of Maker Faire

“Pen Guy, we loved your car! Your presentation was fantastic, engaging, funny, and personable. We can’t decide who liked the experience more – the kids or us! Thanks so much for sharing your amazing project with us. We want you to come to our class EVERY year for Earth Day!” –Mariah M. (1st Grade Teacher)

Costas Schuler was born in Athens, Greece to a Greek mother and English father who met in Australia. He lived in Greece and England and in 1985 emigrated to California. He met his wife Sandy in San Jose 13 years ago and now lives in Forestville, CA with their three daughters Emma, Sophia and Giovanna. Costas has been a professional graphic designer for over 15 years, but hopes to make this “Pen thing” a full-time gig: collecting pens, creating works of art, speaking, making videos, appearing at events, maybe writing a book about his adventures and saving a few million pens from the dump. He wants to see an entire industry that further explores other pen possibilities.