Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Stage 2: DIY Plastic Butterflies

Here we are. Stage 2 of our plan to fix the scar in our yard. Chain length fences are ugly. They are. It's a fact. The only thing you can do is tear them out or decorate them. So I've opted to decorate them. I used floral wire to attach butterflies made from plastic bottles and acrylic jewels to our fence. They catch the light so beautifully. I thought up this neat idea last week... But as my mother was so happy to point out, other people have already thought of this, Oh well. So I've posted below several links on how other people made their butterflies and how I made mine.
I cut the flat sides off of a water jug/milk jug (and recycled the rest). Any plastic container will do, this is just what I had on hand. 
Next, Draw your butterfly shapes.
Cut your shapes out and then use sand paper to rough them up a bit in circular motions. Whenever painting plastic it's a good idea to sand the plastic a bit first to give it a bit of grit for the paint to hold on to. 
Then paint your butterflies. I used acrylic paint and then sealed them with a thick diamond gloss finish.
That's it!
Below are some links to show how other people made theirs:
http://childcentralstation.com/2010/07/laundry-soap-bottle-butterflies.html
Sorry for the weird font and color thing. I was having a hard time fixing it with blogger. The last link has a neat 3D butterfly that I am tempted to make. I want to cover my whole fence with these. As for other people having this same idea.. Well I guess it's true what they say.. Great minds think alike. hehehe.
Have fun, Be well, and Shine on!

6 comments:

  1. It is perfect and looks lovely. Love them!

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  2. What a wonderful way to turn something ordinary into something extraordinary! Great work.

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    1. I love finding new ways to reuse things that would otherwise be thrown out. :)

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  3. They look great, and I'm sure they'll pretty up that fence. Have you ever tried melting plastic beads - that's another bright and cheerful way to create decorations, although probably your little one isn't at an age to enjoy helping with that yet - maybe when your beautiful butterflies are getting a bit battered!

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    1. I recently found instructions on how to do that (and a good thing to, I have a ton of Pony beads laying around). When I get around to it I will absolutely post my results.

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