Urban Lace: Elegant Jewelry Made from Recycled Bike Inner Tubes

3 thoughts on “Urban Lace: Elegant Jewelry Made from Recycled Bike Inner Tubes”

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  srobin September 10, 2012 at 7:44 pm

  What type of vegetable based solution do you treat them with?

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  UrbanLace September 4, 2011 at 9:01 pm

  Hi I am sorry to hear about the black marks coming form your messenger bag. It is most likely a substance called carbon black used to color inner tubes and increase their strength. It is also used to color inks, leather, and crayons. The main ingredient in bicycle inner tube in Butyl rubber, a synthetic rubber created in WW2. Butyl rubber is often clear and odorless, chewable, absorbent and resistant to oxidization; it can be used in gum-based products. Butyl rubber has even been used in skin-care products because it has good adhesion properties. That said, the chemical compound manufactures use is a closely guarded secret. However acknowledging that this polymer is expensive it is save to assume that fillers are used. These fillers reinforce the polymers by adding strength and improved mechanical properties. These include silica, clay and the carbon black that was previously mentioned. We clean all of our products thoroughly and treat them with a vegetable based solution before we sell them to our consumers. We have tested our products extensively over the past five years and have nothing but fantastic feed back from our customers. Thanks for your feed back, Aaron Owner Urban Lace

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  j foss September 4, 2011 at 2:01 pm

  LOVE the concept... great way to draw attention to design that diverts waste from landfills... but, curious to learn if the products are fully safe considering their artificial ingredients... I've had an inner tube messenger bag for about 5 years now and it constantly leaves black smudges on my clothes... hope this line has taken this into consideration!