Got a crafting urge all bottled up?

orange swan — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 21:20:52 -0800

Even though you recycle the plastic you discard, you sometimes feel guilty about how much you throw out and worry about where it's going. Would you like to be a little more hands on and proactive and recycle some of your plastics yourself? If so, I've got some ideas for you. Do those used plastic gift cards always seem too pretty to just throw away? You can make guitar picks or jewelry from them. You can make beads out of plastic and make even more jewelry. If you'd like to make some home furnishing and décor items, you can make lamps from milk jugs or water bottles. If you'd prefer a pendant light, that's an option too. If you've got the ceiling height and live near an ocean, you can make a “Tide Chandelier” like artist Stuart Haygarth, who made this chandelier from mostly plastic objects he found on the beach. If you've been ordering in a lot lately, you might make a chandelier like this one out of your plastic spoons. You could also make some interesting candlesticks and containers from plastic bottles, or a dish out of plastic bottles and aluminum cans. If you want extra green points, you could grow your own food in this self-watering plastic bottle planter. Or you could just make some plastic flowers that don't need watering at all. Your children might enjoy making butterflies or a bottle bank, making and racing “robottles”, or some of the plastic bottle top games and crafts listed on ehow. If you like to fish perhaps you could use a minnow bottle. More ideas for recycling plastic containers can be found here, and you can also check out this list of 12 practical ways to recycle plastic lids. If you're more of an artist than a crafter, you could take your cue from Heath Nash's plastic bottle designs or sculptures, or Aurora Robson's gallery of plastic bottle sculptures, or Kosuke Tsumura's “Bottle Armor” or “Bustle Style” works. And whatever recycled plastic craft or art project you undertake, rest assured that you're not at all likely to run out of supplies.

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Got a crafting urge all bottled up?