RECYCLING JUNK INTO ART: May 2013

You can see I used all sorts of colors, like greens, amber, yellows, pinks, red, grey, and
black Adirondack Alcohol Inks. This I do with my Essential Tremors (ET). These inks
naturally blend/bleed into one another so it leaves great room for error. Lucky me,
as my ET has me shaking all day long, but I still love to be creative. I paint when I can.

I am not sure if the title is quite appropriate for my bouquets, as the flower alone could withstand time. but not sure about the dried branches. The branches might break in time but can be replaced with more dried branches, and leafs easily found at your local craft store. If your blessed with access to free twigs and branches, then good for you:)

I am getting ready for Mother's Day and hope to get some orders. LOL, hey, I need to find a way to keep this blog, "Recycling Junk Into Art" alive right? So yes, you can make money off these pretty flowers, and yes they make great gifts.

Another shot of the bouquet and how simple it is to
put together with assorted dried twigs.

These are some of the bouquets I made today. I am sharing just to give some of you crafters ideas as to what to do with the plastic bottles that you cut, mold, and paint with "our" favorite paints, Adirondack Alcohol Inks. These inks make my flowers come alive don't you think? They inks come in packs of three bottles of three beautiful vibrant colors. These three colors compliment each other which makes it more convenient as you don't have to search and buy separate paints. What I like about these colors is that you can mix and match (not together) any of their alcohol inks and they still compliment each other. Just a few drops goes a long way. They are transparent and work great on glass, metal or plastic. I enjoy seeing the finished product on my work whether it is for my recycled plastic bottles, or my glass bottles and vases. If not, I just add a few more drops of the color I want. It's all good in the end. Actually the more ink you use, the more the flower will come out looking like blown glass or stained glass. The best part of all is that you don't have to be an artist to use these inks to get beautiful effects.

OK, another secret that I recently let out of the bag on one of my other blogs at, www.maryhelentremors.blogspot.com. I was born with Essential Tremors, aka ET. I hve a full body tremor which makes it difficult to have a steady hand while I am awake. Three years ago I had brain surgery where the neurosurgeon implanted a DBS stimulator which help to control most of my tremors. I still tremor, just not as severe. Anyway, I love to paint and be creative but am unable to do any real detail work that requires a steady hand. However, with these paints, tremors can help to an extent. They leave a lot of room for trial and error. So I finally found my "happy place". Thank God.

There are no errors with these inks. Lol. I have to work with what I have, and I am not going to let some tremors get in the way as long as they are not major. Today I can paint, perhaps tomorrow I cannot. I just work with it. It's what I've been given.

Anyway, back to business. I've searched high and low, and so far I found a great price for these inks at www.samsclub.com. The link to purchase these inks is down below for your convenience if you are unable to purchase these Adirondack Alcohol Inks in your area.

Here I used greens, yellows, blues, and grey
Adirondack Alcohol Inks.

I used a glue gun to attach the glitter filled bottle caps to each flower giving it a little sparkle. I had previously spent one evening putting silicone putty glue to a few dozen bottle caps. I found the silicone putty at my local hardware store. Yes, it's what you would use for caulking, but works great here. Besides, it's a lot cheaper. While the glue is wet I added glitter. Wait for it to dry overnight to be safe. The next morning, I gently flaked off any loose glitter on the bottle cap, and attached a pre-made resin cap and glued the cap to the flower. I glued the flower to a tall bamboo stick to accommodate the length of my twigs for my bouquet. Voila, I put them together and now I have a simple flower bouquet. It sort of reminds me of a Japanese floral arrangement.

Here's a close up shot, giving you a better view of how pretty the flowers come out using
just any colors of these inks. Don't forget these flowers were once, plastic water bottles.

I thought I'd share, because that's what I do right. If you like this post please feel free to share with me or others your work, or my work for that matter. I would be so happy to know that someone is actually attempting to recycle plastic bottles into up-cycled art that can beautify your surroundings. So far I have used hundreds of plastic bottles big and small. From ketchup bottles to peanut butter jars and long as they were plastic, and with some good tin cutters, a candle, and my Adirondack Alcohol Inks, I was able to make pretty flowers.

Well, thanks for dropping by. That's about it for now. Till the next time...stay safe and many blessings.

Sincerely,

Mary Helen.