Plastic Bottles

We are surrounded in plastic; phones, clothes, furniture, we store food and drink from it, plastic is very convenient, cheap and versatile but there are many negatives as well as positives in plastic.

Because we humans require 8 glasses of water every day, we carry water bottles with us on the go, this is very useful as the plastic bottle is lightweight and are easily carried. If the bottle gets empty we either throw it away or refill it. By throwing it away, we are contributing to waste that takes a long time to degrade (as plastic is not biodegradable) and this furthers pollution. So it is a better idea to refill or recycle the plastic bottle, by recycling the disposability becomes an advantage. It is recommended to wash out the bottle before refilling as it increases the chances of bacteria growing and so this can worsen your health. 

Jewellery

I have made lots of jewellery out of plastic bottles (lids/plastic rings/labels)

3 different kinds of necklaces made out of lots of bottle lids.

A very chunky bracelet. 

Wristbands. 

Plastic bottle rings necklaces.

Plastic bottle bracelet with red criss-cross weaving.

Research

For my Recycled Runway project I have decided to use bottles (lids and labels included). During my research I came across a blog which shows a flower that is made from bottle caps. http://abirdinthehandart.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/icc28-recycled-bottle-cap-flower.html

The craft maker called Jenny has included a step by step tutorial on her blogpage which will be very useful for my sampling. Although this is made out of metal bottle caps, I am going to try and copy Jenny's method on plastic bottle lids, if it will not work I will maybe cut a petal shape out of the lids...?

Designer Athanassios Babalis created a shopping bag and stool from recycled bottle caps for the Green Design Festival 2008 in Athens which starts this Wednesday. Babalis collected the caps from his workmates and an extended network of friends using 370 to make the bag and 1250 for the stool. I don't think I will make these products as they are time consuming and importantly I will need a lot of bottle lids! BUT I will use the inspiration for my other ideas, or maybe make something of a smaller size.

Heidi Borchers have created a lot of jewellery and home decor out of bottles. On the Fave Crafts website, there is a tutorial on how to make this pretty necklace she created. http://www.favecrafts.com/Green-Crafting/Water-Bottle-Jewelry

Heidi has made faux felted water bottle bracelet. Instead of felt I can use other materials or coat it in paint.

She has also made a pencil holder, this is very easy to make, only need to cut the bottle in half then decorate it. I am not going to follow Heidi's method exactly because she has made lots of pencil holders and then stuck them all onto a lazy susan. 

For my garment, I hope to make a dress out of plastic wallets, my inspiration is from Erdem's collection spring/summer 12/13, he uses sheer fabric with flowers stuck underneath, I hope to cut out bright coloured geometric flowers and insert it in the plastic wallets and then make a dress out of it. 

To keep with my recycled bottled theme, I hope to put bottle lids on my dress or maybe dangle it on the bottom hem.