I have a tendency to hold onto items that I think I can make into something else. For instance, when I ran out of shampoo and conditioner, I thought I'd hang onto the empty bottles to use for a future sculpture project. I started out making cat sculptures from them.
Here's the Up-cycled couple next to similar bottles used to make them.
Hello to my blogging fans. Thanks to all of you who participated in my blog giveaway. I plan on doing some more giveaways this year, so stay tuned. I asked you to answer the question about what UpCycled item I used for my Susan sculpture. As most of you guessed, it is in fact a light bulb.
I also have used the smaller, itty, bitty burned out halogens to make mini sculptures. I named these 2 mini ones after my nieces, Kristin & Katrina. The one in pink is Kristin, who happens to have a similar hairstyle as the sculpture. The one in yellow is Katrina.
The exact Petite Purse will be a surprise. Here's a sampling of some of my Petite Purses, which come in a small & a large size. The small size is perfect for giving a small gift in like a pin, magnet or necklace, the larger size is the perfect size to hold a gift card or a small trinket/treasure. This giveaway will be for the smaller size Petite Purse.
Now it's quiz time! Shown below is a photo of one my sculptures named Susan (after one of my sisters). She likes the dress and said she would wear a dress like that one, so when I was thinking of a name for her, I decided to name her Susan. Anyway, my question to you is.....what did I use for the structure of this sculpture? Clue: It's an object that I UpCycled. Another way to get a clue is to visit my store and look in my UpCycled sculpture section and find out what I used for some of those pieces.
"Green" Penguins Playing in the Snow. Here are my UpCycled Sculptures made with burned out light bulbs.
My Recyc-a-lite Penguin holding a snowflake.
I make these penguin sculptures using burned out light bulbs and Apoxie Sculpt. After I'm done sculpting them, I paint them with acrylic paint. Prior to covering the bulb with Apoxie Sculpt, I decide what the penguin will be holding or doing. Once I decide what the penguin will be doing, I begin to form the wing structure with wire mesh and masking tape. Depending on what the penguin is holding, the wing sculpting process can be tricky because once I cover it with Apoxie Sculpt, it can be difficult to make additional changes.
I try to vary what my penguins hold in their wings and what they do, to keep things from becoming stagnent. After I had a large stash of burned out bulbs from a local recycling center, I tried to sketch out a variety of penguin "activities" to help me figure out how to begin sculpting each penguin.
If you'd like to learn more about how I make my Playful Penguin sculptures, click the following:
Playful Penguin Process, Part 1
Playful Penguin Process, Part 2
Stop by my Etsy shop to see my line of Upcycled Sculptures.
I have a habit of collecting things that are unwanted in hopes of making them into something wanted. Some people may call these "unwanted items" trash, junk, or garbage; but I call them objects of potential and possiblities. Empty shampoo bottles and other misc plastic bottles have been one of my current "possibility" projects. And yes, you can see even my cat Tiggy opened one eye to catch the exciting transformation of a shampoo bottle turning into a cat. :-)
When I come to the point of throwing away an empty container or some type of object destined to be tossed away; I think, "What can I make this into? How can I use this item for any of my projects?" Sometimes a "garbage" item makes a useful aid/tool for working on my projects and others play a vital role in the object itself. This is an important role for my cat sculpture. Without the empty bottle, where would my cat sculpture be? It wouldn't be, is the point.
