Plastic is one of the most versatile materials on earth and can be turned into thousands of applications. One of the better features of plastic is its ability to live second and even third lives as something it was never intended to be.
Craft items certainly fit this bill. It’s fun to turn plastic bottles that had soda in them into items that actually have a useful function in your home. Or, you can have new plastic cut into any shape you want to achieve your particular craft goal.
Want some ideas? Explore some color crafting tips and hacks with plastics.
Piggy Bank
Are you tired of all the loose change that finds its way all over your house, under couch cushions, on the floor, or on top of the fridge? You can make a plastic bottle piggy bank to hold all those nickels, dimes, and quarters.
This one is relatively simple. You’ll need
- Plastic bottles (for each piggy bank you plan to make)
- Five bottle caps (4 for the legs, 1 for the nose)
- Pink acrylic paint
- Two plastic eyes
- Marker
- Craft knife or scissors
- Glue
Paint your bottle and your bottle caps pink. Wait until the paint dries. Screw one of the bottle caps onto the mouth of the bottle, creating the nose. You can use the marker to draw in the pig’s nostrils. Use glue to attach the other four bottle caps as legs.
Use the craft scissors or knife to cut a slot for the loose change to be put into the piggy bank. Use another bottle to cut out and shape a tail and ears for the pig. Don’t forget to paint them. Wait for them to dry, then attach them to your pig.
Greenhouse
Plastic isn’t just for small projects like your piggy bank. If you’re a gardener, your ultimate dream is probably building a greenhouse so that you can have those plants in your garden that won’t grow any other way.
You’ve probably dismissed the idea as being too expensive. However, another type of plastic, polycarbonate, might make this possible for you. All you need to do is go to a company that Shapes Plastics into clear panels; you will need to start assembling the walls of your greenhouse.
You can draw up your plans for your greenhouse yourself, or you can purchase plans and build your greenhouse based on that model. Once you have your plans for the greenhouse, you have to prepare the spot your greenhouse is going in. It’s important that the greenhouse be oriented properly in order for it to work properly.
After this, you get into the process of actually putting up your frame and then placing the polycarbonate sheets in them. Lastly, you build a roof for your greenhouse.
Hair Accessories
Back to smaller crafts, do you love hair clips and barrettes, or know someone who does? Delight them with some unique designs made with plastic bottles and a little ingenuity.
For these clips, you’ll need the bottle caps, but attractive accessories can be made with just about any part of the plastic bottle.
You’ll need:
- Plastic bottle caps (as many as you want)
- Hairpins
- Glue
- Tulle
- Decorative ribbon flowers
- ¼ of ribbon (any color of your choice)
- Black spray paint
- Cardboard
- Pencils
- Stencil
Draw a circle that is wider than the bottle cap on the cardboard using the stencil. Cut it out and attach it to the bottom of your bottle cap. You should have something looking like a little hat. Spray paint the hat and allow it to dry.
Once dry, cut a strip of the ¼ inch of ribbon and glue it to the bottle cap base to make a band for your hat. Glue the ribbon flower to your hatband. You may also make a little fan decoration with the tulle to glue close to the flower. Finally, glue the hairpins to the back of your hat. You now have a cute, custom-made hair clip that you can show off to friends. You may even get requests to make these for your friends once they see how chic they are.
Bubble Dispenser
This one is a great project to make with the children in your life. Take a single-serve soda bottle and cut it in half. Take some wire mesh and fit it into the bottom half of the bottle. Fill the bottom half of the bottle with a soap solution. All you need now for hours of fun is to dip the wire mesh into the soap solution and blow.
We bet you’re looking at your plastic bottles and plastics in general with new eyes now. Go out and experiment with all the things you can make with plastics.
