Plastic bottle topiary

February 6, 2016 Needlework techniques / Topiary 6 806 0

When decorating the interior, topiary is a great alternative to living plants. It does not need to be looked after, that is, watered and fed, it is only enough to periodically brush off dust with a whisk. An artificial tree will decorate even the darkest room in which not a single sun-loving plant will survive. You can make topiary from a variety of materials: cones, leaves, coffee beans, napkins, and even plastic bottles. It is the latter option that we will use in our work.

So for crafts from plastic bottles "Flowering Tree" you will need:
- green, brown plastic bottles
- yellow or pink plastic (for example, cups for cottage cheese desserts)
- candle (or matches, gas burner)
- scissors
- glue.

The size of the topiary will depend on the volume of bottles used. The central element of the craft becomes a ball glued from several plastic hoops. The width of the hoop strip is approximately 1 cm.

From the next brown bottle, we cut out squares, circles and rectangles with side sizes within 5-6 cm or a diameter of up to 6 cm. Scissors densely cut the edges of the finished geometric shapes and slightly melt them over the fire. Thin stripes are wrapped in different directions, forming a branching trunk of our flowering tree.

We begin gluing the branches from the top of the topiary. We periodically give the craft an opportunity to dry well. If in some places there are gaps between the parts, it's okay, against the general background they are not visible. Moreover, they can be hidden by bending part of the brown curls in the direction of the gaping hole. In principle, in our work there are no such noticeable holes. Just in the process of gluing, it is worthwhile carefully choosing the branches, collecting them into one, like a mosaic.

It is worth paying attention that we stick the branches to about half the ball. Then we begin to deal with the design of the trunk. To do this, cut out a rectangle with sides of about 4 by 10 cm from a plastic bottle. Next, we turn the plastic into a long round or profile tube. At the ends of the tube we make slots in order to be able to attach it to the ball.
After gluing the trunk, we continue to work on the branches.

Now you need to cover the topiary with greenery. We cut out the stars from the bottle, then traditionally we tear the edges with scissors and melt them over the fire. It remains to collect the leaves in a bud.

Lubricate each bud with glue and apply in the center of the round brown branches. Immediately cut flowers from yellow plastic. I like the round shape of the petals. The middle of each flower will be painted white.

Add colors to the tree, place flowers between green leaves.

Now we cut out the bowl from the plastic bottle. Glue the trunk to the bottom of the resulting flowerpot. From above we fill the roots with soil - the remnants of plastic bottles.