Tutorial: Crab Nuggets!

I was greatly honored to be chosen to create a living art installation made completely from upcycled objects for the 5th annual Art All Night at the Roebling Wire Works in Trenton. This is the greatest event ever dedicated to ALL of the arts: performance and visual. It started on Saturday, June 18th at 3 pm... and lasted a full 24 hours until 3 pm on Sunday! (And believe me, the party got even better as the sun went down with body painting and djs playing house music to dance to through the wee hours of morning!)

As a matter of fact, here are a couple of links to other articles written about this event.... http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2011/06/17/news/doc4dfb6a86cad01036885352.txt (lists the bands that played and summaries of the various events! The name of the piece I did was "Pollution Evolution")http://www.trentonian.com/articles/2011/06/19/entertainment/doc4dfe236ca4060605929329.txt (Check out the picture of my mermaid and 2-liter jellyfish hanging behind her!)

I highly suggest becomming a member of the Art Works group that sponsors this event. They have classes and events that support both art and the community. (Their website is http://www.artworkstrenton.org/)

Anyway, throughout the event I had countless people stop and stare, both at the beautiful mermaids adorned in fashions I created from upcycled material including juice pouches, bubble wrap, and caution tape, but to also look in awe at the multitude of fantastical sea creatures I created from plastic bottles, yogurt containers, and laundry detergent bottles. It was just my intention to have people stop and wonder, how did she do that? So here it is... a tutorial for "how I did it". Make your own Crab Nuggets from upcycled PET plastic containers and plastic bottle caps.

Supplies:
Plastic screw type plastic bottle caps
PET round plastic containers like yogurt, cool whip, tub of butter, sour cream, etc.
Scissors
Pen
Glue gun (and glue stick)

Cut the plastic container in half and remove the bottom "circle".

Trace around the plastic bottle cap on the inside curve of the container. The container will become the 6 legs and two crab claws for the crab.

Draw six triangles attached to the round body of the crab, three on either side, to form the legs. The legs should be drawn on the "east" and "west" side of the circles with the top of the container in the "north" (or upright) position. This will allow the crab to stand on its own legs once the body is cut out because of the curvature of the plastic container. Also draw the outline of two claws at the "top" of the circle. I always try to make the claws as big as possible within the size of the container being used. The length of the legs and the curvature of the plastic container being used will determine the height of the crab. The size of the plastic bottle cap will determine the overall size as the legs and claws should be drawn in proportion to the size of the bottle cap.

Cut out the crab legs and body from the plastic container. (HINT - Cut on the inside of the lines that were drawn as a guide to elimitate any pen marks from showing. Any remaining pen marks can be removed from the back with a q-tip and some nail polish.)

The circular body should fit snugly inside the plastic bottle cap in order to have the appearance of the crab coming out of the shell (just the six legs and two claws should appear from the shell). You may need to trim the edges of the circular body or deepen the cuts between the legs in order to achieve the "perfect" fit. Using the glue gun, add a small line of hot glue the length of the bottle cap where the three legs will be attached of each side of the crab.

That's it. Your own little crab nugget! Now go forth and make a whole colony of crabs. Feel free to add eyes, glitter, paint... whatever your own creativity compels you. Here's a few more pictures to inspire you...

Tutorial: Upcycled Wine Cork Wreath

After picking yet another chewed and still slightly damp wine cork off of the floor (the Great Dane puppy is in the chewing stage and keeps stealing my wine corks!)... I decided this was the perfect place to start the official Upcycled Earth blog. My intention is to inspire you to create innovative, beautiful, useful items from objects that would typically be looked at as waste and tossed out into our already overcrowded landfills. And... looking at my bin filled with over 300 wine corks, I've got plenty to get started with! So here goes.... the very first post... the very first tutorial! Stay tuned! Plenty more ideas will be coming... waste is in endless supply.

Although not a new idea, the wine cork wreath is an awesome decoration that is fairly quick (about 3 hours) and extremely simple to make. I have seen these wreaths being sold at craft shows and online for $55 to $85 depending upon what bow or other "finishing" items are put on it! Although I personally like the wreaths "naked" this random style wreath is a great foundation for any embelleshiment you can think of. Add fake grapes, a wine colored bow, variety of nuts, feathers, whatever adds your personal flair and fits in to your decor.

Materials:

• 12" Straw wreath base - $3


• Glue gun


• Glue sticks


• Ribbon (about 8")


• Wine Corks (200-250 depending upon pattern and size of wreath)

Remove the plastic wrapping from the straw wreath base and gently tap and shake the wreath while over the garbage can in order to shake out any loose pieces of straw. (DO NOT remove the clear fishing line that is wrapped around the wreath as this is what is actually holding the straw into the circular wreath shape.) Trim off any straggler pieces of straw that are sticking out and away from the round form. Loop and knot the piece of ribbon around the wreath form in order to hang the wreath once it has been completed. You've got to remember to do this step first because the finished wreath will be somewhat heavy and impossible to hang otherwise.

Choose which corks you want to use for the first layer - I typically pick the corks I have the most of or don't have pretty or unique graphics since this is the base of the wine cork wreath and will only slightly show through the second "random" layer of corks. Apply a generous amount of hot glue to the wine cork and starting from the inside circle of the wreath form, firmly press and hold the wine cork to the straw base. Glue each wine cork end to end around the circle changing the position of the glue and the direction of the font (upside down verus rightside up) as you add the wine corks to the form. Place each wine cork as close as possible to the one next to it so that the straw from the wreath form is not showing through.

Because the wreath form is round, and the wine corks are not flexible, straw WILL show through and the corks WILL NOT fit perfectly as a ring around the wreath. It doesn't matter. No seriously... it doesn't. Don't panic, don't worry... it will turn out exactly the way it's supposed to in the way that strategically random always does. "A beautiful thing is never perfect."

Since the wreath will be hanging flush against a door or wall, only the inside, top, and sides of the form need to be covered with the corks. Once the entire form has been covered, choose which corks are the "showstoppers" and will make up the second layer of the wreath. Strategically place the second layer of corks to cover the gaps that were left in the first layer. Choose which side of the cork has the better image and glue the back side of the cork to the first layer. A long squiggly line will not work this time around though as the first layer of corks provide an uneven surface. You will have to place the cork and then determine where the glue should go on the back of it in order to have it stay securely in place. (Usually, I have a large dab of glue at one end and about 1/3 of the way down the back side of the cork for the second layer.) Firmly press and hold the cork onto the first layer.

The second layer of corks should be placed at all different angles... some to the left, some to the right, some at a 45 degree angle, some at a 90 degree angle... etc. Make sure to add the second layer of corks to the inside ring, top, and around the sides of the wreath form. This is the layer to hide the gaps and spaces which resulted from the first layer. And... Ta-Daaaaaaaaa!! A beautiful wreath made from upcycled wine corks. Perfect for a Tuscan themed kitchen... a great excuse to open a bottle to share with friends! And all the while, an innovative idea to keep these items out of our landfills. Did you know... 13 BILLION natural corks end up in the world's landfills each year? (That's a lot of wine!)