For some reason it came to me to make our next iteration of our solar powered Bubble Tower Sculpture a COFFEE Bubble Tower. See http://www.bubbletower.com/ and you’ll notice our COW BT, made from a reclaimed vinyl billboard.

The COFFEE BT is made from the burlap and jute bags that the raw coffee beans are packed in. Usually 100 – 150 pounds, although I have seen a bag about half that size. We also used reclaimed table cloths from the rental linen industry in the fabrication. All of the “color patches” that you see in the photos are former table cloths! Click on the photos to enlarge.

Our first performance with the COFFEE Bubble Tower was at the Peoples Fair. This is our fifth year entertaining at the Peoples Fair with our solar powered Bubble Tower Sculptures.

So far I have collected bags from over a dozen different countries. Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Mexico, Guatemala , including a decaffinated coffee that is shipped from Costa Rica to GERMANY to be decaffinated, then to Denver for us to drink!!!

Many of the bags are quite colorful and educational. Some bags are marked “bird safe”, or organic, or fair trade, grade 1, 2, or 4. Haven’t seen any grade 3 yet!

I’m getting these bags for the taking from coffee roasters. Easy enough to find on Google. The bags that are unsuitable for the sculpture will be used for garden mulch and sack races.
The jute bags make good “farmer’s doormats” for wiping your feet. They also work well between the garden rows as a walking surface.

Beyond that I have run out of ideas. As a general rule, there are dozens of bags available on a weekly basis.

Besides the landfill, any ideas for reuse, recycle, repurpose? There is a company, in Boulder I believe that sews them into stylish tote bags and such, but not all of the bags are suitable for that.

Fuel? Mushroom medium? or?