How to transform rubbish into art!

I have never realised how cool a disposable cup carry thingo is – have you? I was about to throw a couple in the rubbish the other day (coz we have been doing ALOT of takeaway coffee around here!) and stopped to admire its design. I love its 3D quality, its symmetry, the fact it has positive and negative space – and looks interesting from the font and back.

I decided to think of a couple simple ways we could transform them into works of art!

Monochrome Tribal vibe – working with just a marker and some white paint I worked at creating a symmetrical design – it was hard to stop once I got started, and felt like making a Mandala design, and was super relaxing and meditative. I then painted with a few blocks of white paint.

I then created a ‘tail’ from some newspaper that I rolled up and fringed with scissors – and pipecleaners. If you have a few buttons or beads thread them on also. I then assembled together – which was super easy – just pierce a small hole in the base corner, and thread pipecleaner through, and twist into a small knot so that it won’t fall out. You will also need to thread a pipecleaner at the top so you can mount it on your wall. I love how these look like an indigenous/ islander style of wallhanging.

You can always add in extra colour – perhaps embellish with a POSCA paint pen, or make your tail quite colourful with strips of coloured paper/ wool/ fabric.

Colourful Abstract vibe – I love colour, and I love abstraction, so this was also fun to make – I worked on the back side of a cup holder, so it has a different form to the other design. I started by painting the whole thing white. I then used a couple of other colours to splotch on some colour here and there, and finished with a little black. To gloss it up, and add a bit of texture, I also squirted a bit of PVA glue all over.

I also LOVE fringing (my creative mantra – when in doubt FRINGE!)  I used some old brown kraft card, that already had remnants from another project – I cut to size, spread on a little blue paint, then cut long fringing. PVA glue onto the underside of the tray. Pipe cleaner at the top for a hanger – pierce with scissors thread and twist.

There we go – two entirely different approaches to turning rubbish into art!!

Would love to see your cup holder ideas too!! Tag us and share us you creative upcycle ideas.

Until next time – happy creating!

Tracy xx