Garden Art

I have been at it again... Dumpster diving for treasures... in the form of plastic bottles, cups and aluminum cans.  I used to volunteer at the Depot's transfer station at the recycling center out in Benicia... I HATED to see the amount of plastic and aluminum that they trucked in every day...  I think plastic food containers should be outlawed...  everywhere.  But since it probably won't be, I am trying to think up more creative ways to use it to brighten up our lives, rather than cause more blight. 

I am also trying to create some art for my garden with no money...  OK, so I splurged on a few cans of spray paint... But a lot of it I got for free at the HazMat facility in Martinez on my last visit there.  You can use left over house paint, acrylic paint, glass paint, whatever you have laying around...  I like the way the spray paint looks.  But be sure to wear a mask if you will be spraying a lot...  It is hard on the lungs... 


I made these flowers by cutting the top of the can off like this

then I trimmed the rough edges off the cans and bottles like this

Using the pattern on the bottom of the plastic bottles, and by creating my own patterns, I cut strips down the side of the can, bent them out, and then cut petal shapes on the tips.

I layed them all out and spray painted them.  Once they were dry, I layered them on top of one another

punched a hole through the middle, ran some wire through and tied it on to a small piece of doweling.

They make a really bright addition to my garden.  I can't stop making them, it's addictive!

Vintage Luggage Redux

I collect old suitcases... Unfortunately, it is getting harder and harder to find the really cool ones. Once in a while I come across old hard sided train cases and larger luggage pieces at garage sales. They are usually really ugly and beat up and have very little personality. These three pieces were Navy blue, yellow and burgundy. I wanted a matching 3 piece luggage set that I could use for hauling my art stuff around.

Spray paint is the great equalizer. I LOVE spray paint. Gather up your stencils and anything else you can spray a pattern through, scrapbook laser cuts, lace, plastic tablecloths, paper doilies, rubber rug mats... really think outside the box with this...

I started with white, and layered the stencil down, spritzing the white over the suitcase in random patterns. Then I added pale green, aqua, pink and yellow. The colors seemed a little muted, so I then used a bright royal blue metallic and purple spritzed lightly to make the stencils really pop. The secret to this is the layers. You really need to keep layering one stencil over another to get the depth. If you don't like something, let it dry for a bit, and then spry over it again. Using metallic silver or pearl paint will give you a cool damask effect.

So drag out those old suitcases from the garage, go to the hazardous waste materials restore in your area and pick up spray paint for free, and go to town with all the cool colors and designs and see what you come up with!

The train case in the front left was painted by my daughter Kayleigh.  It started life as a black textured leather case.  She went for a more goth rock kind of look... she keeps her makeup in it.  Next time you see one of these at a yard sale or thrift store, POUNCE on it...  they are very cool when done up.