Plastic Bottle Lid Art

Even plastic bottle lids can be recycled for fantastic art projects like this one from Heidi Borchers of Inspired at Home. Turn the lids into a contemporary art canvas that's sophisticated but easy enough for kids to do!

Materials:

• Canvas – 8” x 8” (or 4” x 8” or any desired size)
• Plastic bottle lids (from water bottles) – on the 8” canvas art we used 16 lids – on the smaller canvas, we layered lots of lids)
• Paint brush- ½” flat
• Acrylic paints- black and other assorted bright colors
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Aleene’s® Super Thick Tacky Glue ™
• Assorted jewels, flat marbles, small glass mosaic tiles

Instructions

1. Use pencil and ruler to measure and mark sections on canvas. On the 8” canvas, we divided into 16 - 2” squares. On the 4” x 8” canvas, we measured 3” x 3” for the center, flanked with two 2” x 3” sections.
    
2. Glue one plastic bottle lid into the center of each section. On the 8” canvas, we glued every other lid reversed. One up, one down, one up, one down. On the small canvas, we layered all sorts of sizes and shapes. Let glue dry.
    
3. Paint the entire canvas and plastic lids with black paint. Let dry.
    
4. Using photo as guide, paint each section with a different color. Note that some of the black paint is left to show through the color. Paint each plastic lid with a different color. Let dry.
    
5. Glue a jewel, flat marble, or tile into the center of each plastic lid. Let glue dry.

Heidi’s Designer Tips: To transform this into an affordable kid’s group project, use a cardboard cereal box instead of the art canvas for the base. Just tape the box closed with masking tape before gluing and painting. The kids will enjoy seeing how they can turn trash into an artistic treasure!

Find out what other cool projects you can make from recycled plastic by checking out our list of 14 Easy to Make Water Bottle Crafts.