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Recycled PET Plastic Bottle Plant And Animal Sculptures By Veronika Richterová 

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Recycled PET Plastic Bottle Plant And Animal Sculptures By Veronika Richterová 

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We already knew that you can make awesome recycled projects out of bottles, but Veronika Richterová has turned this into an art form!

Richterová, based in the Czech Republic, uses heat to twist, turn and cut up the bottles and give them natural forms. Soda and mineral water bottles become flowers, cacti, frogs, and even crocodiles! Over the years, she has used thousands of bottles, and has developed many ways of shaping them.

PET bottles are derived from oil and are notorious for not degrading in nature. This means that they have to be collected and recycled - into fiber for clothing, construction materials, other PET containers and so forth.

In addition to making PET art, she hosts a PET-ART museum, where she collects bottles from around the world. Currently, the museum hosts about 3000 pieces from 76 countries.

More info: veronikarichterova.com (h/t: colossal)

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recycled pet plastic bottle plant and animal sculptures by veronika richterová

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Recycled PET Plastic Bottle Plant And Animal Sculptures By Veronika Richterová (Bored Panda)

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We already knew that you can make awesome recycled projects out of bottles, but Veronika Richterová has turned this into an art form! Richterová, based in the Czech Republic, uses heat to twist, turn and cut up the bottles and give them natural forms. Soda and mineral water bottles become flowers, cacti, frogs, and even crocodiles!

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skill builder = size of your hand

WOW artwork = larger than a sheet of paper.

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Come up with your own idea!

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Recycled Crafts: How to Make a Cardboard Loom | Recycled Reads Blog

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Recycled Crafts: How to Make a Cardboard Loom | Recycled Reads Blog

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Recycled PET Plastic Bottle Plant Sculptures by Veronika Richterová | Plastic bottle art, Pet plastic bottles, Recycle plastic bottles

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Apr 6, 2015 - Colossal | Art, design, and visual culture

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Alrighty, so today is a big day...Earth Day and day one of KCW and somehow we managed to get in a lot of beautiful outside time, a recycled craft and an upcycled outfit!

Where to begin?

First, we painted some egg cartons. I cut the egg cartons into flower shapes yesterday and then we painted them with watercolors this morning. Once they were dry I strung them up to our ever present stick with butcher's twine. Violet wanted to bring back the birds, which we may do in a month or so, but for now I'm really liking the crafty flowers. (ps. check out some of the other things we've hung from our sticks here.)

Next, we left the beginning of my KCW day one project on pause... And headed out for a hike through the woods... Which also included a bonus bulldozer (ok, that's probably not what it's called, but that's what I call it...) digging and planting a tree! A fairy "construction sight", fiddle fern, and a mini library... After the hike, we found some tulips! And then it was time to finish my KCW project...an old button down of daddy's... Snipped across just under the arms, with a Geranium top for the top I actually squared the top off, you can see where I drew my line for that above. Here's the result...
Violet loves that it's one of daddy's old shirts. She chose which shirt she wanted (we have a few) and then helped me to choose the top fabric as well. Once she saw the fish, it was decided! I've had the fish fabric, Heather Ross Mendocino, since Violet was a baby. I bought it back before I really even knew who Heather Ross was and before I knew that I needed to hoard her fabric because it's hard to find once you use it all. I used the majority of the fabric in a little car seat quilt I made for a friend. I used the rest of the shirt placket that didn't get used in the skirt as the closure for the back of the dress... Violet really loves the dress! She wanted to keep it on, but today it's only in the 50s here so she will have to wait until another day.
So, that's it, day one complete! It's not perfect, but pretty good.

I think it might be a late night here...I've got to get some prep work done...

Oh, and I forgot to mention...that the flower mobile was inspired by this garland. And the dress was inspired by this dress.

And, one more thing...As it turns out, squaring the neck allows the neck opening to be just big enough for Violet to slip this dress over her head, super bonus! It's always nice when she can put something on all by herself!

You might also be interested in...

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Alrighty, so today is a big day...Earth Day and day one of KCW and somehow we managed to get in a lot of beautiful outside time, a recycled craft and an upcycled outfit! Where to begin? First, we painted some egg cartons. I cut the egg cartons into flower shapes...

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Introduction: Make a Basket Out of Plastic Bags

No knitting or crochet required, just some sewing and braiding. It's not the quickest project - it'll probably take you a couple days to make one, but the results are well worth it, I think!

And I already made all the assembly mistakes so you don't have to. HURRAH!

Don't have extra plastic bags laying around? You can use t-shirts instead! Check out my instructable on making a basket out of old tshirts. :D

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Step 1: What You'll Need:

sewing needles (sharps OR heavy duty will work best)

white thread (I chose polyester for added strength)

a thimble (I really recommend coin thimbles)

plastic bags of all types - grocery bags are easiest, but you can mix and match.

The thicker, more opaque bags will produce a thicker braid, while thin, more transparent bags will produce thinner ones. Try to get as many colors as you can - my basket is made almost entirely of white bags with very small amounts of color, and I think it would look even nicer with some full color bags mixed in.
I did lose track of how many bags I used to create this basket, but I'm guessing it was no more than 30. :)

SUPER FANCY BAGS TO LENGTH UPDATE: It took me 51 plastic bags to get 60 feet. Not too shabby. I completed my latest rope in less than 8 hours of work, too! The latest rope is picture 2.

Step 2: Cutting Your Bags Into Strips.

It is very important to cut these strips pretty wide. For most normal sized bags, it is possible to get three continuous strips about 4 inches wide. I never got out a ruler, but it's very useful to size up the side seam of the bag before you start cutting to determine how many strips you'll be able to cut.

Lay out a plastic bag, and fold in the sides as shown in picture two. Snip off the very top/handles and the very bottom. Then open the bag to its full width.

Turn the bag so a side seam is facing you, and cut up and to the right in a sweeping motion until you get at least four inches in, and then begin cutting in a straight line. When you get near the side seam, slip a hand in the bag and turn it so that the side seam is flat and you can start on the second strip.

Cut up and to the right again, mirroring the first time you did it, and then cut straight until you reach a point where you have one closed strip left. You're going to make another diagonal cut to the right, this time cutting to the very edge of the bag.

So essentially, just keep cutting towards the right and mirroring the original diagonal cut. The pictures will give you a better idea of how to do this. :)

You will need to do this to three bags to start your braid, though I suggest doing this whole process as you were a one person factory line - flatten all the bags you have, cut off the tops and bottoms, and then cut them all into strips, hanging the strips somewhere they won't get too tangled. Then begin your braiding.

Step 3: How to Get Braidin'

The strip from each bag will be doubled over, and the two parts will count as one part of the braid. You will have six strands, but each will have a mate.

It is easiest to secure the looped ends of your strips over something small and sturdy, like a nail. I happened to have one sticking out of my desk. (YAY!) I assume you could also tape the ends to a table with decent results.

Once your strips are looped over the nail, make sure they're divided properly into their pairs and get braiding.

It's important to not braid too loose or too tight - too tight will make you lose all the wonderful texture and the braid will become quite small, and if your braid is too loose you'll have problems sewing it into a basket later as the foundation will be pretty floppy.

Step 4: Braiding Methods.

There are two ways to do this, and one of them is undoubtedly more efficient. I'll give you both options, though... just in case you like repetition.

1. Process only three bags at a time, resulting in one 3-4 foot length of braid. You'll fold the strips in half so the ends are even, braid them together, and then trim and sew the ends. You will end up with lots of lengths of braid that you have to sew together... so lots of extra work, and you probably won't be able to feel your fingers after. :) Not to mention it goes slowly with all the extra steps.

2. Process tons of bags at a time by knotting new strips to the ends of the initial braid - no sewing required except for the very beginning and end of the braid. This does require more patience and a bigger work area, but goes very quick once you get the hang of it.

Step 5: The Wrong Way to Do This.

If you would like to take the hard road, do it this way:

1. cut three bags into strips.

2. double those strips in half, and braid as suggested in step 3.

3. sew both ends of the finished braid closed.

4. trim off the excess.

5. sew together multiple braids by folding the ends in (as shown in the last picture) and sewing around the edges.

6. repeat, repeat, repeat.

7. curse your needle.

8. curse your thread.

9. curse the plastic bag gods.

10. begin using your teeth to pull the needle through the doubled-over-already-sewn-braid-meeting-lumps.

11. call your dentist.

12. take a nap because you're now in Grumpytown and the WHOLE DAY IS RUINED

As you can see nothing good comes of this. Move along to a happier place by checking out the right way to do this!

Step 6: The Right Way, and the Best Way.

This will significantly cut down on your sewing time. Not only will you be a happy camper, you will be a sultan of efficiency!
(That's possibly not a real thing.)

1. fold over three strips, so the ends are slightly off center and don't meet exactly. (you'll see why in a moment.)

2. loop these over a nail or tape them to a surface and begin the braid.

3. continue braiding until you near the ends of the strips.

4. make sure your strips all end at slightly different lengths, trimming if necessary.

5. now you'll tie on additional strips to each of the six original strands as shown in photos 3-8. if you don't do the previous step, you could wind up with all your knots in one place, which will make for an ugly braid.

6. make sure not to pull too hard while knotting, or you could rip the bags.

7. also make sure not to knot too many times - two knots is more than sufficient.

8. once you have all six strands extended, match them up into their proper pairs and keep braiding, trying to tuck the recently created knots into the braid, untangling your work every once in a while.

Once you get past the first round of bag extensions, you will most likely need to find a new place to braid. As you can see in the first couple pictures, it works best to find somewhere to tie it off so that you can stand and do it comfortably.
If you sit and try to braid, you'll find yourself being very tangled very quickly.

Once you have 20-30 feet worth of braided plastic bag, you should have enough to start your basket. Sew and trim the ends as shown in step 5.

Step 7: Starting the Basket.

Coil the rope tightly, skinny side up, until you reach a base size you're happy with. Secure this with a pin or another sewing needle. Now, pick the uglier side of the round - it'll be side you sew through to secure it.

You're going sew to four separate lines into the bottom - one vertically, one horizontally, and two diagonals going through the center.

Here's the protocol for each line:

1. thread your needle with doubled thread, and make sure the knot at the end is quite large - otherwise it could pull through.

2. anchor the thread at one edge by pushing through the first round, and then going back over and through it again.

3. push your needle through every other round, pulling/keeping the thread taut as you go.

4. once you reach the other side, make sure the thread is nice and taut, and that your base is good and flat, and then anchor the thread in the outside round and knot a few times.

Once you've finished all your lines, bend the base a bit to see how stable it is. There will be shifting, but none of the rounds should fall totally out of place. Larger bases might require additional lines... so keep that in mind!

Step 8: Building Up!

Get yourself another loooooooooooong length of doubled over thread and knot it several times.

Grab the tail of the braid that you pinned into the base, and bring it up diagonally to form the bottom row of the basket. Push your needle down through the base as shown in the first picture, and then bring it over the braid and back down through the base to secure the bottom row. Do this every 1-2 inches, keeping the thread diagonal and tight and the braids upright and straight, until you're left with 3-4 inches of thread.

Then, anchor the two layers of braids together as shown in pictures 8-11, and knot on the inside of the basket as shown in the last picture.

You'll keep repeating this process until you get close to the end of the braid, or until you reach a size you like.

Step 9: Finishing the Basket.

Keep doing those diagonal up and over stitches until you come to the end of the braid.

Then, tuck the very end of the braid behind the top row and stitch into place as shown. You can trim or fold over the end of the braid to make it look neater if you like. :)

Step 10: You're Done!

YAY!

At this point I double checked the strength of the bottom, added a few stitches through the outside two rounds for extra stability, and then decided I was finished.

Rachel also discovered that it makes an excellent head covering while I was gone from the office for a little while. :D

Step 11: Additional Hints and Tips:

a thimble will probably be your best friend through this project. Pushing the needle through the plastic bags can sometimes get tricky.

if you don't have a thimble, try to vary the fingers you use to push/pull the needle through the braids.

if you're not excited about the plastic bags, I'm sure braided t-shirts or other fabric would work just as well. I'm thinking about trying that next.

make sure that you're always pulling the thread tight when building the basket - it'll keep the braids in the right position and keep them from shifting as you add extra layers.

depending on how tight/loose you pull the braids as you sew, you can create curves in your basket.

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Make a Basket Out of Plastic Bags: No knitting or crochet required, just some sewing and braiding. It's not the quickest project - it'll probably take you a couple days to make one, but the results are well worth it, I think! And I already made all the assembly mistakes so you don't...

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Use plastic bags to make your own flowers | Silly Simple Living

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Use plastic bags to make your own flowers | Silly Simple Living

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How to Make Plarn - Plastic Yarn Tutorial

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How to Make Plarn - Plastic Yarn Tutorial

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Join the Plarn Strips

To join the strips, you will perform a basic larks head knot. This is a really easy knot that I've broken down into steps in the above photo.

Overlap two loops. I've used two different bag colors to make this easier on the eyes. You can combine colors for a variegated yarn, or stick to one color.

1. Where the loops intersect, reach over the yellow circle, under the white circle, and grab the other side of the yellow plastic.

2. Pull the yellow strip through the white loop.

3. Pull the yellow to the right so that it overlaps the white loop.

4. Keep pulling!

5. The knot will form.

6. Tug to tighten, but don't pull too hard, as some bags will rip at this point.

This is actually a very quick and common knot to make and when you've made it once, you'll never forget how to do it.

Now, keep joining pieces to form a ball.

See Plarn Creations and Patterns

More Ways to Reuse Plastic Bags

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How to Make Plarn - Plastic Yarn Tutorial

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To join the strips, you will perform a basic larks head knot. This is a really easy knot that I've broken down into steps in the above photo. Overlap two loops. I've used two different bag colors to make this easier on the eyes.

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What else can you make into a mobile?

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Rainbow Trees From Up-cycled Plastics • Recyclart

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Rainbow Trees From Up-cycled Plastics • Recyclart

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As an artist and educator, much of my work is site-responsive. I like to with both the community from the area my job is based on and use recycled materials from the site too.

Recently I worked with children from a local primary school to create this beautiful installation of rainbow trees. Initially, I asked the children and staff to bring in any non-recyclable plastics they had at home or in school.

From my experience as a parent, I know the inevitability of finding broken and discarded plastic toys taking up space in cupboards, let alone plastic milk carton tops and other items it is hard to dispose of sustainably.

When enough plastic had been collected, I sorted it in color order and drilled holes into some of the pieces to enable the children and myself to attach the plastics to chicken wire. Then, I worked with each class on a different colored tree, using cable ties and wire to connect them.

I talked to the children about the importance of thinking about what happens to an object after it has been used and whether we need many of the plastic items that seem to break so easily. We also discussed different trees, their shape, and size, looking at those near the school which influenced me in my original designs for the installation.

My input depended on the age and ability of the children, with their ages ranging from 5 to 11. All in all, it took about two weeks to complete.

The resulting installation is even better than I had hoped; it is sited on one of the school's perimeter fences, and when the sun is shining it illuminates the plastics, so they almost look like stained glass!

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Rainbow Trees From Up-cycled Plastics * Recyclart

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As an artist and educator, much of my work is site-responsive. I like to with both the community from the area my job is based on and use recycled materials from the site too. Recently I worked with children from a local primary school to create this beautiful installation of rainbow trees.

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Om att bygga trädgårdsland och väva avskärmare i bakkant . Om att vara fröjdefull och nöjd på något sätt. Om att vara liten och sätta st...

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Recycled plastic bags - what else can you use??

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Recycled plastic bags - what else can you use??

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Objects found on the beach...what do you find in the school? Outside? at home?

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Objects found on the beach...what do you find in the school? Outside? at home?

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Recycled Plastic Bag Mandalas- made by middle school students!

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Recycled Plastic Bag Mandalas- made by middle school students!

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Louise Nevelson - Beautiful boxes of random things...

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Louise Nevelson - Beautiful boxes of random things...

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An art club project at Horizon Middle School doubled as a new chandelier for the school and an environment-friendly piece of art.

Club members were inspired by glass artist Dale Chihuly, who makes colorful glass sculptures.

"We knew we couldn't use glass," Lori Riehl, art instructor said. "We have these big tubs of recyclable plastic bottles ... so I thought why not use those resources."

Since the school tries to encourage "reduce, reuse, recycle," Riehl thought this would be a good way to incorporate art with environment.

The club consists of 27 students in seventh through ninth grades. Kaleb Mogard, a ninth grade club member, enjoyed doing this project because it was big and different. He says projects like this normally don't come around too often.

Students decided what colors would be involved and where they would be placed on the sculpture. After collecting bottles, members spent weeks coloring them with permanent markers.

"We started to realize it was a bigger job than we anticipated," Riehl said.

After all the bottles were colored, students cut and melted them onto the wire armature Riehl made out of wire hangers and chicken wire.

"Every single person would take a bottle and do each of the steps," Sommer Wilmeth, an eighth grade club member said. "It kept everyone really busy."

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Art club makes sculpture out of recycled material

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An art club project at Horizon Middle School doubled as a new chandelier for the school and an environment-friendly piece of art. Club members were inspired by glass artist Dale Chihuly, who makes colorful glass sculptures. "We knew we couldn't use glass," Lori Riehl, art instructor said.