Projects so far

Saturday 5 March 2011

9th Project Completed - A polystyrene cup vase!

Well, I have had so much fun this week! 
I know you are going to love this project, it is so easy yet so effective so I will be expecting lots of photos of your efforts after this one to add to the reader's gallery on the website.


Well here we are, my 9th offering to you all is...........



A lovely little vase made from a polystyrene cup and yes it does hold water!

Materials needed:

  1. A used polystyrene cup
  2. A rubber band
  3. A large pot of boiling water on the stove
  4. Something to weigh the cup down (I used an old set of keys)
  5. Water based Acrylic paints

Instructions:



1. Take your rubber band and place it around the cup where you would lie the lip of the vase to start (See the picture above)
2. Put your weights into the cup. I used an old set of keys but you could use stones or anything else that is close to hand just so long as they are heavy and small.
3. Using tongs lower your cup into boiling water, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.


4. After 10 minutes remove carefully from the water and remove the rubber band.


5. Now you are ready to decorate your vase. I painted mine with acrylic paints. Do not use anything solvent based as it may eat into the polystyrene!



Different shapes can be achieved by varying the number and placements of the rubber bands and trimming the lip of the vase into different shapes as shown above.

How much fun was that! Hope you enjoy having a go at this one. They would make lovely little gifts or Charity makes. I also thought that they would be great filled with chocolates or eggs for Easter.






3 comments:

MrsPB said...

Perfect! I was thinking of giving my mother in law a vase of knitted flowers (don't ask...) so this would be the perfect vase for Mother's Day.

Julie Williams said...

Knitted flowers sound perfect to me!

FeltByRae said...

Oh wow - that is so cool! I have never been able to think of anything to make out of polystyrene cups... I have got to give that a go!