Home »Building a house» Do it yourself
Do it yourself
Vladimir Serchenko
4 comments
What can be made from plastic bottles
Sometimes it’s hard to believe how many useful things can be made from plastic bottles. It can be both interior elements and crafts that even a child can make. They can be used to make devices for working in the garden, in the garden, and much, much more.
Read also: 100% Using a Measuring Tape: 9 Secrets You Didn't Know About
Important advantages of crafts from plastic containers
A well-made souvenir or trinket will eventually grow into a hobby if there are no limits to imagination. Summer residents do not cease to admire, who have moved from simple hedges on a wire to buildings that delight in scope.
From the available material, which many throw away, someone constructs:
- greenhouse;
- carport;
- summer shower or bath;
- country toilet or shed;
- summer gazebo or sun shade;
- teremok for children or playground;
- sandbox with decorative bumpers;
- various temporary buildings on the site.
The main advantage of such structures is the available material. With reliable fastening of the elements, the walls of the building are aesthetic and completely reliable. It all depends on the way the plastic bottles are connected. If you approach the matter thoroughly, the desired result will impress even experienced builders.
Over time, plastic becomes a real environmental disaster - it is difficult to recycle it. But it is worth attracting everyone who is not indifferent to cleaning the territory, and there will be a whole mountain of empty PET bottles for the construction of a greenhouse, a cascade flower bed or vertical gardening. The only drawback is the long collection of the same container, since containers are produced in different colors and volumes.
Some manage to collect enough ornamental material in 1 season, others involve neighbors and friends in collecting plastic. Someone decides to clear the picnic area in order to improve the ecology on the way to the dacha and to collect material. As a result, both plastic bottles are in business, and the territory is clean.
Crafts from waste material: original ideas
Crafts from waste material: original ideas
Another advantage is that the plastic container is soft and pliable, it is easy to cut, no complicated tools are required. With little skills, the material itself "dictates" ideas.
To create an original jewelry you need:
- interesting idea;
- ready-made role model (illustration);
- material for crafts with tools;
- a step-by-step guide to the training plan.
In the hands of a real master, plastic bottles find a second life, becoming functional objects. Souvenirs are best done on a seasonal basis. For example, New Year's toys are made in the winter, practical summer cottages - in the summer, and in the spring and autumn it remains to build a "meadow of fairy tales" near the house for children.
Recycling plastic containers is fun for the family. It is easy to attract children to him, entrusting a simple part of the work. Do not forget to remind them that do not just make a firebird or "Chunga-Changa Island" with bottle palms, but take care of the environment. You can involve a courtyard or a school class in improving the territory.
Advantages and disadvantages of flower beds made of plastic bottles
The fencing for a flower bed made of bottles has many advantages, namely:
- solving the issue of recycling plastic waste;
- ease of manufacture;
- availability of material for work;
- maintaining the moisture level in the ground;
- an obstacle to the growth of plant roots in a flower bed;
- easy replacement in case of damage;
- the ability to choose any shape of the flower bed;
- durability.
At the same time, there are drawbacks to this method of creating flower beds, although there are much fewer of them:
- material for work will have to be collected for a long time and in large quantities;
- the hedge is not entirely strong, since plastic is a fragile material.
However, these disadvantages are absolutely insignificant, for example, families buy drinks in plastic containers very often, so they accumulate for a relatively short time. If the fence is correctly installed, strengthened (with sand or earth), then it will serve for a long time.
Furniture and interior items from plastic bottles
Furniture made from plastic bottles looks like a masterpiece that is not available to everyone. They will need a lot of plastic containers of the same sample. Sofas and poufs impress with their design and comfort, not inferior to real furniture. There is nothing complicated if the sofa is done in blocks - seat, back, sidewalls. If the container is not enough, the blocks of the sofa can be made one by one. Better when collecting bottles from under one drink, for example, two-liter kvass or lemonade.
The principle of "assembling" furniture from bottles is simple - they are laid out in layers and wrapped tightly with tape. To make the furniture softer and more springy, a little air is released from each bottle and screwed tightly. To the place where the lid is, cut a cap from another bottle and fasten it with tape. It turns out a block with a bottom on both sides - this is the basis of the furniture.
Then it all depends on the imagination, the type of furniture and the number of bottles available. We wound up with tape 7 containers of the same volume, it turns out the basis for the ottoman. What will be its appearance and style depends on the master. For a soft seat, you will need a round pillow or foam block to fit the top. The cover is cut out to the size of the ottoman in the form of a cylinder, and it is convenient to insert a zipper along the side seams, but it is easier to sew the upholstery tightly.
If there is not enough furniture for the summer, an ottoman for a summer residence is made from an old wadded blanket and a children's pillow, wrapped around a block of bottles. Old curtains or bedspreads will be used for sheathing. If the pouf should have a presentable look, a newer and more expensive fabric or eco-leather is chosen.
To build a coffee table, you will need 4 racks of plastic bottles and a plywood board as a table top, which can be hidden with a long tablecloth. In a similar way, they make a comfortable stand for a laptop or a portable table for a summer cottage. For large furniture (sofa, chaise longue or armchair) made from plastic bottles, it will take a lot of patience and raw material.
Organizers
Are you annoyed by the clutter in your workplace? Organizers from plastic bottles will come to the rescue.
Organizers for textiles
Using a utility knife, carefully cut off the throat. These items can serve as storage devices for newspapers, magazines, office supplies.
The choice of design and decoration is yours.
back to menu ↑
See also: Secrets of soundproofing walls in an apartment: we use modern materials and technologies (25+ Photos & Videos) + Reviews
Useful little things for home from plastic bottles
Flowers and vases
Decorating a student's bedroom or children's room with crafts from plastic containers is not difficult. You can build a whole bunch of artificial flowers.Put the resulting chrysanthemums, chamomile or roses in a vase of the same material, complementing the middle with diode bulbs on an insulated wire. This will look like a night light of extraordinary beauty, where a weak light shimmers in plastic petals.
Advice: To give the leaves a special shape, use heating the blanks and folding the corners with tongs!
To place a homemade bouquet, you need a suitable vessel, just cutting off part of the bottle is not aesthetically pleasing. The edges of the cut are marked with a ruler to make a cut, securing the result by heating the folds. A small transparent bottle is cut off to the very top, about half of a large container is cut off. Choose a material with a ribbed or “waist” in the middle for an interesting base.
Then we do it as our imagination allows, but bend the edges beautifully. The fringed cut is obtained from vertical or diagonal notches of the plastic base. The resulting stripes are bent evenly to the outside.
Note! It is important that all the notches and the depth of the slot are exactly the same, then the whole product will come out neat.
Depending on which edge is desired, the strips of the vase (the edges of any other product) are fixed in different ways:
- curly bend;
- staple staples;
- fusing;
- bonding with transparent polymers.
Planters, flower pots and seedling containers
Colored plastic containers in the form of bottles and bottles of different sizes are suitable as containers for growing live plants. It is very easy to make a fragrant balcony from 3-liter cisterns - a cascade of ampelous petunias. Fragrant flowers hanging from cut containers will help to realize the dream of a beautiful corner of paradise.
Large bottles and tanks, cut in half, are hung upside down and with a lid. It is recommended to lay large pebbles at the bottom for drainage. Excess water after watering will go to the plants in the lower rows. In the same containers, plants are grown without soil - hydroponically with the addition of fertilizers. Fresh greens and seedlings (in urban and suburban conditions) are also germinated in prepared plastic bottles.
Advice: Use the compact shape and the ability to hang vertical landscaping containers with automatic irrigation. In the absence of the owners, watering cans with water, immersed in the ground, will cope with the moisture of the plants.
Traps and feeders
Use plastic bottles to repel pests or attract birds to your area. For this, the tank is used as a feeder, and traps from bottles with chemicals are placed at the roots of fruit trees. From a double plastic container, craftsmen construct traps for wasps, where they fly into sweet water and cannot get out.
Suburban area equipment
At the dacha "hastily" it is easy to build handicrafts from plastic bottles in the form of an impromptu washbasin, hanging a full bottle upside down. Unscrew the lid a little, and a small stream of water will help wash your face and hands. It is also worth making a bench and organizing lighting with beautiful owls or gnomes from their plastic. Any garden decor for inspiration - in interesting illustrations.
Multifunctional items for the home
Make an original cosmetic bag from 2 bottoms of plastic bottles, sewing the edges with a zipper. This box can be used as a multifunctional item - a piggy bank, a case for large beads, hairpins or jewelry.
It is convenient to knit from a similar ball, suspended somewhere nearby, pulling the thread from the ball inserted inside. Nail polish or lipstick collection is easier to find in a makeshift zippered jewelry box.
New Year's decor
Bright Christmas balls, garlands or toys from plastic bottles are worthy use for transparent containers. A transparent ball will come out of one bottle, cut into round strips. After securing the sphere with a stapler, decorate in any way:
- winding "rain";
- pasting with crumbled foam (snow);
- decoration with sequins, beads and stones.
Christmas decor made of white plastic bottles "with a waist" is suitable for snowmen or penguins. You can use black nail polish to paint eyes and other elements, cotton wool (snowball), sequins, small buttons, beads, and whatever is at hand. Funny caps for characters - made of colored socks without a pair, strips of jersey are used as a scarf.
Advice: From homemade winter characters, candles, ready-made tinsel and a couple of pine branches with cones, create an original New Year's composition so as not to buy a Christmas tree.
Curtains and artificial flowers
Light curtains and graceful partitions for dividing the space of a room into several zones can be made from plastic bottles.
Such decorative elements look quite impressive.
They form glare in the rays of the setting sun. This decor element will surprise and will be remembered by your guests for a long time.
back to menu ↑
See also: How to make flower pots with your own hands: outdoor, for home, hanging | Step by Step Diagrams (120+ Original Photo Ideas & Videos)
Curtains made of colored plastic caps and bottles
Space zoning is a popular design technique, where a self-made translucent curtain is often used. The original curtain can decorate any living space, cottage or covered terrace. Original hanging partitions made of unusual materials are widely used in the interior.
In modern decor, plastic is in demand, including bottles and caps for them. There are options for curtains:
- from scraps of the bottom of small containers - stripes on a thick fishing line, swaying when air moves;
- from colored lids - a fantasy panel of tightly strung elements;
- a garland of plastic and lights to give the curtain on the diodes more aesthetics.
How to make a stencil with your own hands - a master class, photo ideas
DIY polymer clay flowers: master classes, photo examples
Original all-season flower beds
The summer season is passing, and home-made plastic flowers, which are not inferior in beauty to the real ones, are replacing living flower beds. Their advantage is the ability to decorate the territory at any time. These flower gardens fade against the background of living plants, but in early spring and late autumn, only they attract rapturous glances.
For daisies, you need small plastic containers of white (petals), yellow (middle) and green (leaves). You will also need an awl and a candle (for warming up), "liquid nails", scissors and a stiff wire in green insulation.
Cut the base of the white bottle to the center, marking out 16 segments - these are the petals. We bend the neat edges over the candle flame, we also make 2-3 chamomile corollas, which we connect in the center with an awl. Here, a stem with leaves is fixed on a green wire, closing with a middle. We fill the center of the flower with a yellow basket with small cuts from 2 finely dissected circles with a fringe curved over the candle. We supplement the flower with green sepals from the bottom, collect all the parts and fix them together.
From the remaining pieces of green plastic, cut out leaves with a hole at the base (for stringing) and give the desired shape, warming up over a candle flame. We attach the leaves on the wire handle, they should slightly bend around it. It remains for the chamomile to make several "companions" and find a worthy place for the bouquet.
Using patterns and imagination, it's easy to build plastic lilies of the valley, roses, chrysanthemums or tulips. This requires plastic of a suitable color, from which several layers of petals are made to achieve the resemblance to natural flowers.
All-season flower beds include mosaic compositions from containers filled with earth. Wall panels are made from the covers."Butterfly" or "ladybug" - in different versions.
Crafts from plastic bottles for the playground
The incredibly beautiful bird with plastic plumage is a whole "meadow of fairy tales". These are peacocks or firebirds, swans, pigeons, bullfinches and parrots. They are all made from empty PET bottles according to the general principle:
- Design an aesthetic bird head with eyes and beak;
- Build the torso and neck;
- String on plastic plumage;
- Equip with wings and tail;
- Place on the legs or fasten to the selected surface.
Plastic swans can be fenced off by a blue "lake" of inverted plastic bottles. Outlandish birds will decorate the trees in the corner of the garden, which is reserved for children's games. You can choose themed décor, such as a desert island with palm trees and parrots.
Plastic animals, birds and insects, familiar to our latitudes, as well as favorite fairy-tale characters are complemented with other materials. Tires, wood and empty containers that are easy to paint will be used.
How to make shelves for flowers with your own hands: ideas, types, instructions
Crafts from leaves: new photo ideas, tips, instructions
How to make decorations from plastic bottles for cottages and gardens
An original garden decor made from scrap material is another way to add personality to the site while the young plants come into effect. Green plastic bottles are easy to make funny frogs at the edge of the pond, watching dragonflies and butterflies from the same material.
Palm trees are a popular garden decor, consisting of trunks (up to 15 brown bottles) and palm leaves (green plastic 5-10 pcs.). This is a simple process that even children are willing to participate in.
Prepared brown cups with notches are strung on a thick steel rod (bamboo rod), after piercing the base. It is better to use brown containers (1.5-2 liters) whole, cutting in half, then you will have to punch only the bottom.
We leave green bottles without a bottom and a neck, with the exception of the last one with a neck, which is needed as a loop. We cut these containers lengthwise into 3 parts to a loop and cut like leaves. If longer leaves are required, attach the other half of the leaf with a stapler. All parts of the stem are strung on the base and attached to the top, connecting with a common loop. It remains to reliably install on the site "exotic guests" with a lush crown.
How to paint plastic bottles for a flower bed
To make the flower bed bright, pleasing to the eye, the bottles are painted. This can be done in different ways - cover the containers with paint from the inside or outside. In order for the finished material to look impressive, not to fade in the sun, it is important to take a serious approach to the choice of paint.
The choice of paint for decoration
The following types of paints are best for covering plastic garden decorations:
- acrylic. Lay down quickly and evenly. For extra shine, it is recommended to apply a transparent varnish to the paint;
- colored varnishes based on acrylic. An excellent tool for getting results after one coat;
- aerosols. The main plus is ease of use, however, a finishing varnish coating is required;
- enamels. Ideal for large areas. You can buy white enamel and use your knee to give the desired shade;
- automobile. The most durable. They look especially bright in the sun;
- stained glass. The most expensive ones. They are best used for painting small parts in original compositions.
Inside and outside staining methods
There are various ways to paint plastic bottles. The easiest way to paint on the outside is using:
- brush - will provide a smooth surface;
- spray can - ideal for working with stencils;
- sponge - will give the coating texture.
To paint the containers from the inside, you need acrylic paint. There are several steps to follow:
- pour a little paint inside the bottle;
- shake the container so that the coloring composition is evenly distributed along the inner walls;
- pour white sand into the bottle when the paint dries.
When using any of these techniques, it is important to process the material - wash and degrease the surface.
Useful Tips
The material is collected for a whole year, but it is easier to connect neighbors and acquaintances to the idea of "ecological" cleaning. There are special containers for plastic in the yards - it's much easier to type.
Preparation for work - removing labels and glue residues from plastic bottles, it is important to rinse well and discard deformed material.
If vertical fences are being built, they need to be filled. Depending on the idea, sand, stone chips or dry soil are poured into PET bottles, burying 1/3 with the neck down.
For selected purposes, plastic of different elasticity is used. Heat treatment is required for filigree work (flowers). It is important not to overheat the slices cut into strips.
For fairy-tale characters, additional painting is sometimes required. For example, it is better to cover pink piglets for a playground with an aerosol from a spray can, securing it with transparent acrylic paint.
Plastic bottles are great stuff in the right hands. Using them as a basis, it is easy to teach children a lesson in environmental education and fill a house or lot with practical things. With a creative approach, the color, volume and shape of plastic bottles will themselves suggest new ideas for an exciting creative process.
Horizontal placement of bottles
You can also arrange curbs on the site using the horizontal arrangement of plastic bottles. This method is slightly more complex and more time consuming than vertical installation. The fencing trench is dug at a shallower depth than in the previous method. There is no need to cut the neck of the bottles.
In this way, multi-tiered fences are folded, looking aesthetically pleasing and original. The necks of the bottles of the lower tier, after dropping in, are fastened with a net and buried in the ground. The containers are selected in the same size and shape.
You can also fix the bottles horizontally with cement mortar on any substrate - for example, a barrel or tires. The flower bed should be formed from the bottom up, applying the solution to small areas, and fixing the containers. It is not necessary to apply the solution to the entire area - the cement will quickly harden. Each lower layer serves as a support for the next.
You can disguise the attachment points with small stones. Such a large flowerpot is installed without a bottom, so water will not stagnate in it. If the barrel has a bottom, several drainage holes are pre-drilled in it. The advantage of a flower bed is its mobility. With little effort, it can be moved around the site.
There are many options for using plastic bottles for fencing garden beds. Large containers are cut, turning into miniature flower beds. Flower beds of any shape and size will turn out if you dig vertically installed bottles around the perimeter. Horizontal mounting is more difficult. So you can build high or multi-tiered flower beds.