What do you Know?

Q: What does a Slinky, a PET bottle and ribbon have in common?


A: A YARD SPINNER

Click to enlarge

I had all those PET Beads...Not exactly charm bracelet material. I thought maybe the art teacher could use them for the younger kids at school for embellishing...I mean How many times Have you seen macaroni used as beads, right? But in the mean time I thought this would be a good use for a few for me.

My youngest grandson had a metal slinky that lasted all of 6 hours ( If that) My daughter asked me If I wanted it after it was all twisted and tangled and at first i said NO. But after about an hour I had this nagging feeling to go rescue it, ( Ah the packrat on my shoulder) so we ripped open the trash bag and fished out this tangled mess of wire. I took my heavy duty metal snips and snipped it down to a few coils at a time, discarding the stuff that could not be saved ( not a lot). I have tons of ribbon and ribbon remnants that my craft store was selling...A bag of remnants for a dollar...yup a whole buck $1.00 Cha-ching!

After drilling holes in the ends with my NEW hole punch for metal I took E-6000 ( the one with the small metal nose) and stuck the nose into the bead and gave it a small squirt to hold the bead in place. I did this around the coil. Then I took some ribbons ( about 6) and gave them a small tack with needle and thread to hold them together.

I wrapped some silver copper wire around the end and came up with a loop.

I attached Fishing spinners to each end.

Attached the ribbon.

Used 30 LB test fishing line to attach the other end to the tree limb and .....

VIOLA SPINNER!

Plastic Beads Tut

I did a Tut for my PET Posies ( here) I used the bottom of my bottle. The rest of my bottle I cut into strips ( cut around the bottle not lengthwise) I wrapped them around a pair of needle nose pliers and hit them with a heat gun. This has been done by others by dipping them in boiling water as well, although I never tried that method.

For color I used transparency paint, & nail polish ( left it dry before rolling it and heating it) I also used scrap book paper and photos that I ran thru my shredder and made into strips that I cut down to size and layed them in the middle before rolling.

PET Posies TUT

OK I video taped 4 ( 3 actually, I blew the lights the first time ) times how to do make these and BLOGGER in their Usual way WON'T upload the video. I even went as far as downloading a converter and changing it from .MOV to .MPEG and that didn't work either...Of course Blogger in their usual Ascineine selves don't have any help available and the user group on GOOGLE is just as USELESS!....SO I will attempt to do this with Pictures....
I hop you understand this....Meanwhile I am trying to figure out the video crap, and no i do not want to use you tube.. I hate them worse then blogger.

Tools:
Needle nose pliers
Scissors
Heat Gun
Empty PET bottle ( of course)
Transparency paint or nail polish
Embellishments if you want
and patience


Take your PET water bottle and cut the bottom off, about 2 ribs from the bottom. Then cut into the 5 long ( my bottle has long and short ribs on the bottom, most only have 5 ) ribs.

You see them Long Lines leading to the center? Thats what you cut. VVVV

This is the side that gets heated ^^^^^

After this position the center with the with the curve away from heat gun (point heat on the outside bottom center). DO NOT put bottle to close or it will MELT too fast. You are sculpting the plastic, so you need to be slow going.

You will start to see the bottom curl a little. Keep bringing it close and pulling it away as you turn the piece. Then take your pliers and pull it taut to melt out the rest of the soft stuff and decrease the wrinkling from the lines in the bottle. Finally use your pliers to curl the top of the petal into a nice flower.

Paint with stained glass or transparency paint or enamel, or even nail polish and embellish.

I hope you understand, I suck at teaching..haha... Any questions leave them in the comments, or you can hunt me down on the web...I am everywhere.... Happy Sculpting...

Pocket Full O' posies...

Can you guess what these are from?

From My Water Bottles!

Grow your Own.

I'm Growing PET Bottles!

Actually We had freeze and frost warnings again, Yesterday for early this morning, (Someone please tell Mother Nature it is May 18, OK?) I was saving the bottles in hopes to maybe make a hothouse/lean-to for the garden, or maybe a chair. But I am also using some of them to make beads. Anyway they came in handy as an emergency cold frame for the plants. Covering each plant was a big pain in the ass, especially since I had to do this last week too. I had just put the bottles/frames away when I had to haul them back out.

Doncha love the debris? They flew off the Elder Tree. We used to call them Helicopters, or propellers. They fly off the tree like propellers. They all landed in the garden.

Anyway I promised a post on my trash can.

This was one of those paper/cardboard barrels, usually seen in the garment district and such. I inherited it when I took the excessive fabric remnants our school/church had left after a harvest fest one year. I have two of these. I decided to cut one down and make a waste can. This is the beginning. I coiled paper from the news and inserts as well as the magazines we get at xmas.
My attempt at being decorative...My square insert.

Finished with the coils. Now it is sitting there waiting for a topper. A band or something around the top. I tried folding the aluminum cans but it didn't work for me. I was thinking a copper band would look nice but I don't wanna pay an arm and a leg, it defeats the purpose of upcycle/ repurpose/ frugal. Try and try again I guess.