Thought I must share a recycling project today. This is a simple project I had taught at my school.
It is a flower vase made out of plastic bottle. Pardon me as I don't have a step by step picture, but will make sure I give you a good explanation. Lets start off!!
Materials required-
- Plastic bottle- I have used a small pet bottle.
- Blade- for cutting the top part of the bottle
- Soft sand- Beach sand is the best as it is really fine and gives a finished look. If you have access only to normal sand, use a sieve to make it finer. (Make sure not to use the sieve again for cooking purposes!! You don't want sand in your food!!)
- Bowl- to mix glue and water
- Brush- decent size flat brush is preferred to apply glue to the bottle
- Water colours/ sponge/brush
- old newspaper
- Decorative shells, plastic mirrors, rhinestones for decoration
- Super strong white glue/ Fevicol
Method-
- Cut the top portion of the bottle with blade. Make sure you cut it out evenly without any plastic protruding.
- Carry out the whole project on a n old newspaper, so that it is easy to clean and re-store the sand falling off for next projects.
- Mix glue with water. Consistency should be 2:1, glue:water ratio. Apply glue on one side of the bottle. Make sure it is evenly spread. Sprinkle sand all over the area where glue was applied, keeping the bottle over the news paper.
- Leave it to dry.
- Once it is dry, do the same for the other side as well. You can proceed with this step, if you can handle when the other side is bit damp.
- After both the sides have dried completely, tap the bottle gently so that the excess sand falls off and you can re apply on areas where the bottle is not covered with sand. Leave to dry completely.
- I you desire, you can apply a second coat of sand by repeating step 3, 4, 5. This gives a more finished look.
- Now for the fun part. Colouring!! Mix water colour to a very watery consistency with the help of brush and with the help of a sponge, apply colour to the sand coated bottle.
- Sponge is easier than brush as it absorbs more colour and can be applied to a wide area as well.
- You can apply any number of colours,but make sure you keep it bright and beautiful.
- Gradient technique- You can also use the gradient technique, where for example you apply orange colour to the bottom half and yellow to the top half, when orange is still wet. This helps the colours to merge in the centre, giving a beautiful effect. Make sure you apply the yellow colour from the top to the centre to maintain a fresh look.
- Leave to dry completely.
- Embellish your vase by gluing decorative mirrors or shells of your choice. Once it is dry, it is ready to decorate your table with this cute little vase with flowers.
Tip- Put in some sand into the vase before you ppour water and place flowers as this helps the vase stand better without tipping off. ;-)
Below is a variation.
I have coverd up most of the bottle with jute rope, by applying glue on the bottle first. Then applied sand for the rest of the areas, painted everything and embellished. Make sure the rope is stuck really tight.
That's it for today!! Hope you learnt something simple, useful and innovative.
Meet you in the next article with a small tip for this project!!
..Exploring..
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