Creative Recycling

What do you do with your used jam/glass jars? Throw away. Not any more,  after knowing how creatively you can use these jars. Here are some tips.

Wash the glass jar thoroughly and allow it to dry. The outer surface of jar has to be fully dried so that the paints or papers used for decoration doesn’t get wet by water. To decorate your glass jar , all you need is glue, like glossy Mod Podge, a cheap bristle brush (sold at Home Depot), a little water to moisten the brush from time to time, and some color papers and paints. The paper can be tissue paper, Unryu (Indian or Chinese) handmade paper, or printed paper depending on your choice of color. Also you can use plain paper and draw some creative designs over it

After choosing appropriate paper, Cut the paper to fit the body of the jar leaving the rim .Glue the back side of the paper and stick it gently on the outer surface of the jar. See to that the paper doesn’t shrink /twist while rolling on the surface of jar. Allow it to dry for 2 hours. To cover the mouth of jar , you can use glossy or contrasting papers or metal rims . Now , you have attractive flower vase.

If you don’t know what to do with a broken ceramic coffee mug , here are some tips, to make effective use of it.

If the handle of the coffee  mug is broken , you can carve the broken handle using a pen-knife and remove the projected handle as it may harm your fingers. If  the rim of the mug is broken you can cover it with thick tape to avoid further cracking and mask the broken rim. You can also use color papers or nylon ribbon to decorate the mug. Now the mug is ready to be used as pen stand or flower vase.

Your glass is broken ! No worries . You can do a lot of creative glass work using that .

Collect the glass pieces and spread it in a cardboard . Use gloves while working with glass . Take a big glass frame and draw your own design depending on the size of the frame and the broken glass pieces you have . Use a glass marker to draw over the glass frame for better visibility. Now over the glass frame , place the glass pieces . In order to make the glass pieces fit inside the boundaries, carve the edges of the glass and shape it . Use fevicol or any glue to stick the glass piece over the frame . Once the glass pieces are fitted , using glass colors or glass sprays you can shade the glass pieces. Can’t believe your eyes. Yes, you got a beautiful glass art.

If you have broken ceramic , marble or tile pieces , you can use it in similar way like glass art. You can collect the broken tiles from  bathroom , room floor , wash basin , coffee mug etc.

Clean the pieces and allow it to dry . polish the edges of the pieces and cut it into desired shape . over a thick glass or metal frame , glue these pieces into a decorative design . Allow the glue to dry . Then , you can paint the ceramics with desired colors. You , can also use shells , crystals with this to enhance the design work.