Recycle, Reuse, Remake, Repurpose... Upcycle!

The original upcycled bottle cap mosaic

A repurposed blog post about upcycling upcycled art!  I just had some fun with photos of my upcycled bottle cap mosaic. See directions on my original post about  bottle cap art to make one of these yourself!



I took a bunch of photos and got this blurred one that is perfect for the background on my Tumblr blog! I am lucky I have a mac and just used iphoto to increase the saturation and reduce the noise to get an interesting effect.

The cool thing about 3-d art  you can take pictures at different angles that can be reused for various things or you can just frame it and hang it!

This one I used Gimp, a free photo editing program similar to photoshop, to posterize and play with the hues.  I really like how it looks but I am not sure where I'm going to use it yet!

So, whether it is a blog post, art or photo it is okay to upcycle or repurpose! How do you reuse or repurpose? Please share you ideas here!

DIY Quick Easy Wall Art For Bathroom

DIY Quick Easy Wall Art For Bathroom. Here is a quick and simple way to get some wall art up fast!  I like the idea of fabric but in a humid bathroom or kitchen it is not very easy to keep clean so this works great! All you need is a frame and some scrap fabric that is about 1 1/2" bigger on all sides of your frame.  I love this Michael Miller damask.  I  ironed the fabric and just taped it on the back of the cardboard (you may want to add a piece of white paper  underneath if you have a light colored fabric) and slid it back into the frame! Now my husband has a stylish bathroom!

Here is my bathroom wall art:  

How to Make an Upcycled Plastic Bottle Cap Mosaic

DIY Upcycled Plastic Bottle Cap Mosaic.  I've seen similar colorful paper coiled art on Pinterest but it seems very time consuming to coil papers so I thought bottle caps would make it an easier project. With the help a a few friends,  I saved up enough caps in just a few months!

Materials : canvas, caps, large bottle of matte Collage Pouge (found in the decoupage section of craft stores), plastic glue ( I just used my E-6000 glue) and acrylic paints.

Tools: X-Acto knife, course sandpaper and an old paint or glue bottle with a pointy tip or you could just use a plastic baggy.

 

First,  I sanded the top of the lids and roughed them up with an X-Acto knife to help the caps stick to the canvas. Next, I used a generous portion of the Collage Pouge so it oozed out the sides. You may want to put stack of newspapers under the canvas to prop it up so the canvas wont sag under the weight of the caps. I had a large cap from a jug of protein powder that I just glued underneath for support.

I started gluing at the center and worked out. I then filled an old paint bottle that has a pointy tip with the Collage Pouge and squirted the Pouge in all of the spaces to make sure these caps will stay put! (Not sure if this step is totally necessary) You can just fill a plastic baggy with the Pouge and cut a little hole if you don't have a bottle with a pointy tip! If you want to add caps inside of larger caps, use a plastic glue or E-6000.  Finally, I filled some of the caps with acrylic paint, the little bottles of paint from craft stores are the right consistency for this. Then I let dry flat for a few days; and I  now have a colorful, textured piece of upcycled wall art!

Comments welcome!  Be sure to check out my eco friendly magnets made from bottle caps!

How to Easily Create Texture in Acrylic Paintings

How to Easily Create Texture in Acrylic Paintings.
Being a jeweler I am always thinking of textures to add to my paintings for more of a 3-D effect and interest. All you need is a lot of Gesso or an acid free "glue" like Collage Pouge found at craft stores in the decoupage section to glue various things like bubble wrap, string, hole punch paper, plastic bags, fabric, etc.

First, you want to glue your texture with the Collage Pouge or other acid free glue;  some people just use Gesso for this step but glue is much easier for string because you can just dunk the string in the glue.

Another way (a cheaper alternative to stuff you buy in the art store)  to add texture is to mix some Collage Pouge into some spackle until it is the consistency of frosting, then you can create an endless amount of textures with your hands, fork, stamps etc. Let this dry then add at least a couple coats of Gesso; letting it dry between coats.

Then you can add color! I chose a medium tone for this. After this is dry,  I did a wash of a darker blue and dabbed off the excess color to give more depth. After this was dry,  I used my finger to highlight areas with a lighter shade and then last,  I used a silver metallic powder for even more highlights.

For more tips and ideas for texture check out this website AristTerms.com http://www.artistterms.com/texturegallery.htm

DIY Simple Textured Wall Art with String!

DIY Simple Textured Wall Art with String!  

 

 This is a simple project, easy enough for kids.  All you need is a canvas, string, some sort of acid free glue, ( I used Collage Pauge decoupage glue I got at Joann's) Gesso and acrylic paint. Tools: large paint brush & scissors.

I  first thinned the Collage Pauge with a little water  in a container to make it drippy enough so it would run off the string, then dunked about a yard of string at a time into the Pauge, squished out the excess and then added the string to my canvas. Oh yes, it is good to wear some rubber gloves because this stuff is hard to get off of the hands!

When dry add 1-2 coats of Gesso. Let this dry.

 Then add color!

                    Simple wall art to brighten our dark corner of our new townhouse

Like this idea? Comments welcomed!