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What To Do With An Empty Plastic Container…..?

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When you empty a plastic container first impulse is to throw it in a garbage. It’s a habit, you can’t change it easily. You did it thousand times before and you’ll do it even more time in the future. What if you decide to use it, instead of throw it on those mountains of wasted materials we’ve created so far? Lack of ideas could be easily solved thanks to countless pages and websites about recycling. So, consider this post my contribution to that topic.

#1 Just A Jewelry Holder

Some of you may say it looks cute, some of you might not be of that opinion, but allow me to assure you this jewelry holder is a way much better than it was. What did it look like before? Ta-dah:

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#2 Don’t judge, it will be beautiful

Yes, this is the very beginning of our cute ballet dress mannequin. It was born as an empty plastic container predestined to be thrown in to the garbage. But luckily, it happened when I came to an idea for a nice birthday gift for my sister in law, who is very fancy to my DIY trinkets and toys.

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  1. I have little containers fashioned repurposed from plastic bottles hanging from my craft stands to hold scissors, crochet hooks, and other tools. I like the clear ones so I can see what is in them.

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#3 Plastic, Paper, Scissors….

Shape of a container is very important, but in order to get softer texture and "body" lines, I covered it with several layers of paper (newspaper came as an ideal material). Something that always annoys me is that I need to wait until glue and paper get completely dry, to put another layer. I am a person of many virtues, but patience is not one of them. 😀

When all layers of glue and paper are completely dry, it's time to finish by gluing paper towel all over the figurine you are making. And wait to dry, again.

P.S. I didn't colored the container, just have several types in different stages of creation, because it turned my friends like them. 

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#4 Dance, Ballerina

For this particular mannequin jewelry holder I used some wire, in order to hang earrings. Also, to look like a real mannequin, it is posted on a wooden stick with a paper straw roll on the foot. All of those are also covered with paper to be firm and last longer, as well as to look like it is made from one piece of material and be more like a sculpture. Then I had to ask my daughter to paint it in that beautiful old gold with black patina.

At the end, it was left to make this ballet dress from some lace, tulle and organdy scraps and some satin ribbons. 

  

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Written by Zaklina Maca Miljkovic

30 Comments

  1. So cute. I like to do that sort of thing too. Once I covered a figure that I formed with paper mache pressed over a statue and then dried with rose petals. I wanted to immortalize that flower!

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    • It doesn’t have to look cheap, only because it’s made of cheap materials. There are many real artists in the world who create masterpieces out of wasted materials. Imagination and skill shape material, not the opposite.

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