The first thing that comes to mind is a lamp shade with cutouts for the negatives so the light shines through. That would be sooooo cool, especially if the light would project the images on the wall :)

I’ve seen old colour negatives used for artwork, but they seem to fade quite quickly in sunlight. Old black-and-white negatives are more stable, and would look lovely in a lampshade, although they might be imflammable, so check first.

I don’t know if it counts as recycling, but I have seen old black-and-white negatives used for cyanotype printing of fabrics. This produces a sort of “photograph” on the fabric in a beautiful blue.

The holes that run along both sides of each negative strip allow them to be whipstiched together. Get a lamp spider by taking apart an old lampshade and whipstich one row of negative strips horizontally around the edge. Follow with several more rows attached to the bottom of the previous row. Use a low wattage bulb.

You can also create a lampshade cover by using the negatives vertically and attaching them together in in the top hole on each side with jump rings. When you have strung enough together create a ring and place over a plain lampshade. Attaching them together only at the top allows them to spread out along the cone shaped lamp shade,

This is probably a less likely use of negatives, but fully exposed negative film (ie. the black bits) acts as a visible light filter - it is however, transparent to infrared light. You can use this property to convert webcams and digital cameras to primitive IR cameras.

I’ve see a tote bag made out of old negatives. It was really great. I would like to make iy for myself. It’s artsy and trendy in the fashion world. This is the site http://forum.threadbanger.com/showthread.php?t=1779
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

hope its not too late to post, but maybe you could make a curtain for a window. stitch the sides together and put some grommets on the top row and hang them from hooks. I like this idea so much i think im going to makeum for my art room:) thanks for the post!

I made a lampshade from old negatives and gave it to my Father in Law for his birthday a couple years ago. He loves it and it was very cool. He only turns it on occasionally, but he’s never had a problem with it. It’s neato, too. I had negatives from a Blue Angels Air Show & also from the birth of his grandson in it.

how did you make the lampshade

It would be great to make braided or woven basket (or bag) out of it just like how it’s used on old newspaper which is what I usually do.

These look amazing pasted or rubber cemented to the edges of journals, photo albums/books/scrapbooks, and cards (if you still send them). They’re a beautiful, artful, and interesting touch to anything (other than bills) with paper.