Recycled Flowers

Goodness! With a title like that one would almost expect to read an article on composting, or maybe confusion at the florist's, or good love gone bad, or maybe roses from the wrong man...Having tried pretty hard to come up with a better title, "recycled flowers" it remains.

The first time I saw these recycled plastic flowers I fell in love. They were a junior high school entry in Flagstaff's recycled art show, an annual art show and competition sponsored jointly by the Flagstaff Artists Coalition and Flagstaff Cultural Partners. The kids had made hundreds of them, and they were so beautiful that I came straight home and started playing with design.

Here's the process I came up with. First, you take an empty water bottle and cut off the top somewhere below the curve. The bottom goes back in the recycle bin, and the top (with the lid on) gets paint splattered and dripped and drizzled and puddled all over the inside. Inexpensive craft paint is fine...

Once the paint dries, cut petal shapes in the plastic using craft scissors (I also experimented with a large hole punch - excellent results), then embellish the petals with paint markers or alcohol markers - whatever. Hmmm...I think deckling scissors might look pretty cool, too! Next time!

The centers are formed by wadding up textured yarns then stuffing the resulting ball down into the neck of the bottle. Next, loosen the cap a bit, wrap a piece of floral wire around the neck, and re-tighten the cap firmly over the wire. Twist the ends together, and walah! Recycled flowers...

Aren't they beautiful?