Archive for the "art & crafts using recycled stuff" category

Recycling bottle tops, caps and that sort of thing

bottle-cap-art1.jpgFollowing my post at the start of the month about Jan turning pop bottles into flowers, Jennifer Houck got in touch about some art she’s made out of old rubbish.

I have made quite a few things out of plastic bottles and caps. Our recycler only comes once a month, and will not take bottle caps. So with overflowing amounts of caps and bottles, I decided to see what I could do with this surplus.

This picture she says is playing with colour and texture of the original bottles but in other photos she sent, she painted the bottoms of clear bottles with marble-effect paint – which I think highlighted the cool, and often pretty shapes, of the bases themselves.

She’s also made these really fun figures out of old bottles – using the curved shape of the bottles to full advantage on the bug’s wings and chicken’s tail – and papier mache from old magazines. I like them a lot and am very tempted to give it a go myself.

bottle-cap-art2.jpg


(Are you, or anyone you know, making art by reusing/recycling random old stuff? If so, let me know and I’ll feature it here.)


Recycling pop and water bottles into flowers

Flowers from pop bottlesNot a usual “How Can I…” post but I had an email from Jan (who comments as twinks) yesterday about the flowers she makes from old plastic drinks bottles and I thought it was worth a mention.

She says:

These were among the first flowers I made from all those plastic bottles that accumulate in and around our lives. They have become much more sophisticated over time with subtle colouring and more shaping, and they LAST for at least 7 years even outside (that’s how long mine have been outside even through brutal Canadian winters).

She’s written about them on her blog and in case anyone fancies giving it a go themselves, I’ve put some instructions from Jan in the comments section (below).

(Are you, or anyone you know, making art by reusing/recycling random old stuff? If so, let me know and I’ll feature it here.)