Creativity Journal - Day 23 (Recycle)

Already a day behind on my new plan to post every day and I haven't even started! Oh well. Life is what it is.

According to the dates on the photos, I completed this challenge at the beginning of September. It's now almost the beginning of October. I have been creative in between, just not as disciplined or structured as I would like. I believe creativity begets creativity; that is, the more creative you are, the more creative you become. Instead of waiting for inspiration to strike, one must be activity seeking after it.

For this challenge I yet again abandoned my word and sewing themes. Although, there is a tenuous sewing connection.

I took a soft-drink bottle (soda/pop if you must) from the recycle box and cut the bottom off.

The edges are quite sharp, so I poked holes at even intervals around the top edge of the bottom. I blanket stitched with some scrap wool, and then wove more wool into the stitching. This creates a handy 'tub' for my desk.

The top half I cut into a spiral. To ensure an even spiral I marked the bottle in quarters. On one 'side', from the cut edge to the lid, mark every inch; turn the bottle a quarter and mark every 3/4 inch mark; turn another quarter and mark every 1/2 inch mark; turn the final quarter and mark every 1/4 inch mark. Starting at the side with the one inch marks, cut from the bottom edge to the first 1/4 inch mark, through to the first 1/2 inch mark, and then the first 3/4 inch mark. Continue cutting until you reach near the top.

The first bottle I cut was left undecorated:

The second one I decorated with Sharpies:

Their purpose? Don't really have one. I have them hanging in the garden at the moment. They just create movement and small flashes of light when the sun hit them.

I have continued to experiment with using soft drink bottles for containers though. They're free (if you're drinking the contents anyway), disposable if you find something better later, and really, really useful.

Bottom of a bigger bottle, not yet edged. It's a great size for chucking pins at while I'm sewing.

In this tray (a brand new, never-been-used, kitty litter tray, because it was the perfect size for my desk):

• the bottom of a 2l milk bottle, 
• a larger (1.25l) bottle cut in half for my scissors and rotary cutters
• a smaller (1l) bottle cut in half for my rulers.

I have found that cutting through the centre of the bottom is really hard. For the smaller bottle, with the rulers, I didn't bother.

I have also seen pictures of bottles with just a piece cut out of one side. These are used standing up for pencils and the like.