Send The Pen Guy Your Dead Pens To Help With New Reclaimed Art Projects

Costas Schuler, aka <a href="http://www.penguyart.com/" target="_blank">The Pen Guy</a>, collects old dead pens like <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,961002,00.html">Imelda Marcos</a> collects shoes. Schuler, however, takes the pens and uses them for his recycled art projects. His most famous is the <a href="http://www.penguyart.com/p/mercedes-pens.html" target="_blank">Mercedes Pens</a> -- a 1981 300SD Mercedes Benz covered in over 10,000 reclaimed pens. When he's not driving his art car around to various festivals, he collects pens and works them into new art projects he calls <a href="http://www.penguyart.com/p/recycle-pen-art.html" target="_blank">Pentings</a>. He's always looking for more old pens, so send your useless, <a href="http://www.penguyart.com/p/recycle-pens-here_16.html" target="_blank">dead pens</a> to The Pen Guy instead of throwing them away.

For the past 7 years, Costas Schuler has been collecting old pens to add to his collection and cover his car in them.

The 1981 Mercedes Benz now has over 10,000 pens covering it and is still running with over 272k miles on it. Amazingly, the art car is Schuler's only car and he drives it everywhere.

The Pen Guy often takes the car to festivals, parades, and other events to show off his car and encourage people to send him more old pens.

Pens are donated from schools, business, thrift shops and by mail from all over the country and the world.

The idea for his project came out of the blue after he realized that millions of pens were being discarded into the landfill.

Rather than just throw them away, he's recycling them into new art projects.

And until there's a better solution for what to do with dead pens, he's going to keep collecting them.

He's hoping to collect 1 million pens and will use them to create new art projects, Pentings, and maybe even <a href="http://pen-guy.blogspot.com/2010/03/magical-pentopia-store-seeking.html" target="_blank">Pentopia</a>, a magical world of pens.

If you want to help The Pen Guy out, you can send him your <a href="http://www.penguyart.com/p/recycle-pens-here_16.html" target="_blank">dead pens via mail</a>, or drop them off at designated locations in the Santa Rosa, CA area.

Placard on the Mercedes Pens at Maker Faire.

Interior of the Mercedes Pens is covered in even more pens.

Children admiring the Mercedes Pens.

One of Schuler's new "Pentings" made from donated pens.