We use plastic bottles all the time- be it aerated drinks or oil- but unfortunately, these also make up a big part of our garbage. But instead of throwing these away, if we knew how to use plastic bottles to decorate, say, your kitchen, it would be better for the environment. So here are some easy and totally do-able ideas that you can use to make your plastic bottles pretty and useful.
Colourful chandelier
You can make a chandelier of any size using this neat trick. For this piece of craft, you need:
- Colourless, small to medium sized, plastic bottles
- Sturdy wire mesh/old cooling rack/plastic grid mesh
- Nylon string
- White oil
- Oil-based food colouring
Instructions:
- Divide the oil in four to five bowls and color them using separate food colouring. Use just the right amount so that the oil is still quite transparent.
- Pour the oil into different bottles, filling about an inch.
- Tie the bottles containing different coloured oils onto the wire mesh. Space them evenly, it is best to tie them in such a way that when hanging, they are in contact with each other, so the wire mesh isn’t visible from below.
- From every alternate grid on the edge of the wire, tie a string connecting the diagonally opposite grid on the other edge. Once you are done, tie the strings together at the center. From a large hook in the ceiling (you can drill one in if you don’t have one already), hang the wire mesh using the tied center of the strings.
Vase
This is the easiest way to decorate your kitchen using plastic bottles. For this, you need:
- Colourful plastic bottles
- Large pair of scissors
- Glue, glitter, sequins, oil paint, brush (optional)
Instructions:
- Cut the tapered top end of the bottles using the scissors.
- Decorate the bottles using glitter and sequins or paint some pattern on them. For this step, you can invite the children in your home to show their creative side.
- Pour some water in, place some flowers and voila- you have a flower vase.
Candy stand
If you often host parties or like making candies yourself, this is a perfect little piece of craft for you. It is very easy to make and looks pretty as a centrepiece too. For this, you need,
- Large plastic bottles having the flower like bottom (e.g., soda bottles)
- Spray paint
- Circular cake board (or a wooden round)
- Cake dowel
- Plastic ping pong ball
- Drill and screws
- Super strength glue
Instructions:
- Cut the plastic bottles at the bottom where the tapering begins and cylindrical body ends, where you will usually find a uniform circular dent.
- Secure the dowel right in the middle of a cake board using the drill and screws.
- With glue, stick as many of the bottle cut-out you can on the cake board, close to each other.
- Next, drill a hole in the middle of a bottle cut-out and push it down the dowel, a few inches above the cutouts on the cake board. Secure this with sellotape below the cut-out. Continue this until you reach the top of the dowel.
- Drill a hole into the ping pong ball and push it down at the top of the dowel. This gives a lovely finish to the stand.
- Spray paint the whole thing with your favourite color- baby pink or powder blue look best. Make sure you cover every corner.
- (Optional) You can leave it at this or decorate further with ribbons if you wish.
- Fill the bottle cut-outs with candies and amaze your family and guests.
These innovative ways will allow you to use those plastic bottles that were piled up to go to the scrap. You can make them into beautiful showpieces to spruce up the look of your kitchen. So what are you waiting for? Unleash your creativity, and beautify your kitchen!