Recycled Bottle Organizer
Everybody collects plastic bottles of all sizes. Here’s a way for kids with the help of an adult can recycle those bottles into a useable Recycled Bottle Organizer. Just another way to turn trash into something useful. This craft is the perfect project for kids and adults to work together. Some of the tools need to be used by adults.
Supplies
1 - Plastic lazy susan – mine was 10” at the diameter
1 – 13-1/2” disc cut from luan wood
1 – Large coffee can
9 – One liter plastic bottles (I used seltzer bottles)
10- ¾” sheet metal screws
20– ¾” nuts
20- ¾” washers
Permanent marker
Ruler
White craft glue (I used Elmers Glue All, but Tacky Glue would be good as well)
½” Flat paint brush
Glue stick
Printed tissue paper – I used several patterns that I liked – or scrap booking paper
Cheese Cloth
Acrylic fabric paint (I used burnt umber)
X-acto knife with sharp blade
Sharp scissors
Electric Drill
Screwdriver
Instructions
Remove the labels from coffee can and bottles.
Wash the can and bottles and allow to dry.
Mix some of the paint with enough water to make it the consistency of stain, about 2 parts paint to 3 parts water, and brush onto the best side of the luan wood and allow to dry. Two coats will be good. I used paint to stain the wood only because I don’t like the smell of stain.
Decide how tall you would like your bottles to be. I used several heights (6-1/2”, 5”, 4-1/2” and 2-1/2”) that worked well for storing paint brushes, pencils, pens and even a very short one for erasers, rubber bands, etc.
Set the bottles on a flat surface and, using a ruler, mark the height that you want each bottle to be. I made several marks, with a permanent marker, around each bottle and ‘connected the dots’ for easy cutting. No alterations will be made to the coffee can.
Use the X-acto knife to pierce the bottle and to make a slit above the line you drew, that you can use to start cutting with your scissors.
Cut along the line you drew to remove the top of the bottle and throw away the excess plastic.
Measure your chosen paper from the very bottom of the bottle to ½” above the cut edge. The extra half inch will be folded over and glued to the inside for a nice finished look. Add an extra ¼” or so to the width so the paper will overlap.
When you’ve cut your bottles to the desired size, and measured your paper to fit, coat them, one at a time, with a thick layer of white glue. I used Elmers, but I think Tacky Glue would be as good. Do the same with the coffee can.
Lay the paper that you’ve cut face down on a flat surface and position the bottle’s bottom edge at the edge of the paper and roll until the paper completely covers the bottles and can. Add a stripe of glue to the edge and press the extra ¼” of the width down to make a neat seam. Do the same with the coffee can.
Press the bottom of the paper into the little indentations around the bottom of the bottle.
When all of the bottles and the can are covered, allow them to dry completely.
When the bottles and the can are all dry, cut pieces of cheese cloth to fit each bottle, adding ½” to the top and bottom of the height. So the cheese cloth will be 1” longer than the paper that you cut.
Again coat the bottles with glue. You don’t need a very heavy coat this time, because cheese cloth won’t absorb the glue. Fold the bottom of the cheese cloth ½” (you may want to use a glue stick to keep the ½” fold in place) and, again, roll the bottle onto the cheese cloth and press in on the indentations at the bottom of each bottle. Glue the inside of the bottle ½” from the top and fold the top ½” of cheese cloth inside the bottle.
Cut cheese cloth 1” longer than the area between the top and bottom edges and about ¼” wider than needed for overlap. You won’t have to fold the top ½” over the top edge, but you will want to fold both the top and bottom edges of the cheese cloth to make a neat edge.
Allow the bottles and the can to dry completely. Find and mark the exact center of the lazy susan, the coffee can and the wooden disc. Drill through all 3 pieces at the center mark you made on each. Using a ¾” metal screw, and a washer, attach the 3 pieces, turn the project over and using a nut, tighten it down. Make sure the lazy susan still spins freely.
Position your bottles close to the outer edge of the wooden disc. Drill a hole through each bottle and another hole through the wooden disc where each bottle will be placed. Put a washer on each screw and insert it through the hole in the bottle and the hole in the disc. Turn the project over and with another washer and a nut, tighten each bottle.
When all of the bottles are attached, your supply spinner is ready to use.
Contributor
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