The first thing that most of us do when faced with a shelf crammed full of outdated books is load them into a cardboard box and drive them off to the nearest donation center.

It's a shame, though, because we're failing to use them in the best way possible.

Known for his sculptural work with old books, Atlanta artist Brian Dettmer painstakingly carves pages out of various texts (encyclopedias included) to create these awe-inspiring examples of artistic upcycling.

But Sir Dettmer is not a one-trick pony...he has another remarkable upcycling trick up his sleeve involving nothing but cassette tapes, heat, a few tools, brute strength and on occasion, wet hands to smooth things out.

His series of cassette tape skeletons were on exhibit at Chicago's International Museum of Surgical Science.

The impetus for Dettmer's foray into melted cassette artistry came in 2005 following his realization that analog media was on its last legs thanks to the advent of digital technologies.

He considered how cassette tapes were once a very vibrant part of our culture, and now, they just collect dust in our garages and attics...remaining a solid, unwanted material.

Linking the life and consequent death of a cassette tape to that of a bird, he began assembing skeletons of animals (and later humans) out of hundreds of unwanted melted tape cases.

Each piece in his series has a different musical theme, such as punk, heavy metal or rock.

The poor bird in these photos seems awfully realistic thanks to cassette tape entrails streaming from within its withered plastic carcass.

Dettmer won't reveal his artistic technique, only to say that no materials other than old cassettes were used -- sssshhhh, propietary secret.

Once again, this artistic adventure just demonstrates that we're only limited by the span of our imagination.

If there's a way to recycle used cat litter into an oddly surreal thing of beauty, leave it to an artist to figure it all out!