Plastic Bottle Box

greenupgrader Soda Bottle Coin Purse

Yesterday we cut a plastic bottle to make a knitting loom, today we can make a box from the cut off bottom of the bottle.
It’s not a real instruction, but when you look closely at the photos you can see that the plastic bottoms are perforated at the edge and that a zipper is sewn into the holes.
Fantastic!

Addendum: There are instructions now, you can find the English ones here (thanks, Nina).


Links:
Plastic Bottle Box (recycled box/Recycling Box)
English instructions
German instructions

I’ve seen the photo and found it time-consuming to find the source:
I found the link to the plastic bottle box:
via Need More Fiber,
via Dollar Store Crafts (they have more great ideas!),
via greenUPGRADER,
via Superuse.org
I thought that I’d never reach an end ;-))

By the way I suggest to take a look a the flickr group TRASHION NATION, they also have great ideas!

Papier-mâché Faux Bois

poopscape Papier-mache Faux Bois

I’ve seen several paper maché objects, but jars looking like stumps are still something special to me.
Something especially cute ;-))

I’m not totally sure that I should make them myself ;-), but I liked them so much that I wanted to present them here.

Furthermore I didn’t know this paper maché preparation, I really like to give a try some day.


Links:
Papier-mâché Faux Bois
via One Pretty Thing

Mosaic Table Light

bastelfanatiker Window Colour Mosaic

I found an instruction on how to make glass table lights with translucent mosaic. They are made in an interesting and easy way with Window Colours*, but of course you can do this with translucent polymer clay as well.

* Window Colours are those glass paints that come in plastic bottles and can be used on acetate, I don’t know the exact English name.

 

That’s how they do it:
(see images on instruction site for better understanding)

  • You make from the glass paint a layer of about 1 mm on plastic foil and let it dry thoroughly.
  • When dry and not sticky anymore (after about 3 days), you cut it in mosaic pieces.
  • You can glue now the pieces on glass (with Modpodge e.g.).
  • Fill the little gaps between the mosaic tile with tile filler (follow the instructions).
  • Afterwards you can cover your glass with varnish to make it shine.

One day then… Sigh.
;-))


Links:
Mosaik mit WindowColour (German)
votive

Recycled Magazine Rollups

PattieWack Magazine Rollups

I found a really nice decoration for cylindrical containers, the tutorial on how to make a vase from recycled magazine paper tutorial on how to make a vase from recycled magazine paper. You need a glass or a can, but for other containers that don’t have to be watertight a cardboard tube will suffice.
I like it, especially because it is often difficult to make watertight containers from paper.

 


Links:
Recycled Magazine Rollups
The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive: Recycled Magazine Rollups

See also here at unikatissima: Entries with the tag ‘paper maché’

Paper Mache Bowl

unikatissima Papermache Bowl

Again I found a tutorial for making paper bowls. I found the bowls nice but not the way I wanted them.
Therefore I glued three, four layers of white tissue paper on using wallpaper glue – the ‘quite normal’ paper mache technique.
I really like this bowl, although I should possibly paint it.


Links:
(another) tutorial on how to make paper bowls (magazine bowl)

Here at unikatissima:

 

Box from woven PET stripes

Square Box from PET

On a brasilian recycling website I found a good tutorial on how to make a box from PET bottles (click there on ‘Tutorial – How to make a square box’).

I won’t do this because we don’t buy so many PET bottles and if we do we can give them back.
But I think that the tutorial can be used with other materials, too, I will once take a look.

 

Links:
Utsumi – Crafts with PET plastic, click there on ‘Tutorial – How to make a square box’

Coil a Basket

unikatissima Basket Coiling.jpg

I find another interesting technique basket coiling, where a long thread from (nearly ;-)) any material is to be wound around a curled up thread (also from nearly any material).
It is similar to the clothesline crochet that I presented before, but the thread is to be wound, not crocheted.
On the photo you see my first attempt: I wound plastic raffia around package string.
Actually it should have become a basket, but then I lost my patience ;-)

I followed two tutorials that I find very good, not least because they are heavily illustrated: Pine Needle Baskets (there is also a second part (for the new links see the links below) (and How to coil a basket. In a second entry: More coiling fun… she presents pendants made with the same technique – and which are muuuch more faster;-))


Links:
Pine Needle Baskets – part I
Pine Needle Baskets – part II
The original site doesn’t exist any more and is now available through webarchive (I’m not sure whether some of the illustrations have disappeared?!):
Pine Needle Baskets – part I
Pine Needle Baskets – part II
or here:
Pine Needle Baskets – part I
Pine Needle Baskets – part II

How to coil a basket
More coiling fun…

Here at unikatissima:
Clothesline crochet

Coiled Paper Basket

espritcabane Coiled Paper Basket

I wanted to present a tutorial on how to make a paper bowl from paper stripes, there are lots of them.
With such a craft you can do with my tutorial on how to fold paper strips of equal width ;-))

Have fun rolling and glueing!


Links:
Tutorial on how to make a paper bowl from paper stripes – Coiled Paper Basket
Another tutorial on how to make a paper bowl from paper stripes – Magazine Bowl

unikatissima’s tutorial on how to fold paper strips of equal width