Real creativity is limitless, and many artists and crafters have proven that by upcycling old materials into timeless pieces. Some have turned soot into pigment, while others reform old glass into sculptures.
Here are nine projects that showcase how art has no bounds.
1. Paper Flower Garden
Achieve a beautiful garden even without a green thumb by creating paper flowers. You can look through old magazines and cut them out to create different petals. Glue these pieces together to create a stunning blossom.
Old papers are also perfect materials for origami tutorials. There are many beautiful shapes to try out and fold, from the lotus to bluebells to tulips and so much more.
2. Plastic Exhibits
Plastic is a prominent material, often utilized for single-use items. Upcycling these into art pieces can tell a story to the public, and that’s what Portland’s Angela Haseltine Pozzi does. She creates large sculptures out of plastic beach trash to educate people about ocean pollution.
You can check out Pozzi’s creations at the Washed Shore Touring Exhibit. From sharks to seals and turtles, the larger-than-life structures are jaw-dropping and thought-provoking all at once.
3. Ink Pigment
Burning wood, coal, and other carbon-containing materials forms soot. Some artists collect pigment to create black ink, which people can use for painting and calligraphy. The powder creates a rich-coloured liquid.
Other people also use it as a dye. It blends well with scagliola, a plaster made from gypsum, glue and water. The result mimics the elegant appearance of marble and can be moulded into tables and other kinds of furniture.
4. Cardboard Art
Consider making art out of the excess corrugated cardboard from your delivery packaging. These materials handle paint well and make an ideal surface to create a practice piece before putting paint on canvas. The colour may appear different when sheer, considering you’re working with a brown base.
Try your hand at cardboard sculptures, too. Layering and cutting the material to create three-dimensional figures of people and animals requires vision, time and talent. You can start small by creating landscape portraits.
5. Glass Displays
Revive broken glass into new structural piece displays. Juli Bolanos-Durman in Edinburgh collects abandoned glass artifacts to create new sustainable sculptures. The materials are already made of vibrant colour, mimicking the appearance of stained-glass windows.
Glass fusing projects are also popular. This technique involves cutting and combining different glass shards to create coasters, bowls, frames and more. Some people use paint spray to alter the hues, but you’re welcome to look for already-coloured panes.
6. Metal Sculptures
Metal sculptures help integrate scraps into thoughtful sculptures, perfect for creating industrialist decor. You can use anything from steel to copper to aluminum. The size of your creations depends on the amount of material you have.
British Columbia metal sculptor Kevin Stone has been working on projects that span 55 feet long, utilizing welding machines, power hammers and other products. He built a 40-foot stainless steel eagle that weighed around 5,000 pounds.
7. Wooden Structures
Scrapwood also contains plenty of potential. You can carve out different structures from the thicker pieces of wood to build small figurines. You can also create intricate furniture and abstract art decor out of the materials.
When you have slimmer pieces or boards, consider combining them to create other structures. For example, a wooden trellis is a great centrepiece or entryway for your garden. It can also accommodate climbing plants and vegetables, which is ideal when growing food.
8. Bottle Cap Murals
Bottle caps come in all colours and sizes depending on the material, which opens up opportunities for grand displays. Visual artist Oscar Olivares used 400,000 bottle caps to create a mosaic in Venezuela, less than half of what the towns had collected for the project.
Olivares says he was able to educate residents about the importance of recycling and realized how fighting climate change is a community effort while creating the mural. From afar, it showcases parrots flying through the sky.
9. Comic Book Collage
There are numerous comic books out in the world, each one already showing a work of art and soul. However, you can repurpose the covers and pages to create collage art. The mix of these styles can celebrate the beauty of vintage art.
Others also like combining these collages to create a puzzle-like portrait of the comic book characters. Such reimagination adds a creative spin to the project.
Create Something New
Artists have the raw and beautiful talent to breathe new life into old materials and make them into delicate and thoughtful art pieces. All that’s left is to look at the world with a closer lens and think about what kind of message you want to send.
About The Author
Oscar Collins is the editor-in-chief at Modded, where he writes about cars, fitness, the outdoors and more. Check out @TModded for regular updates, and subscribe to Modded Minute for more!
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