recycled craft – ReCreations

3 July 20233 July 2023

Paperbark birds

Walking along the river I found a long strip of bark from a paperbark tree (Melaleuca). The layered papery bark is very pliable and I’ve been experimenting with creating little birds from it. They are very ‘raggedy’ birds, but I liked the natural look and the colours and markings of the bark, so left it in its rough appearance. However, I have used a matt sealant to the surfaces to strengthen them. I also needed tiny thin wires between some of the layers to help hold their shape.

I’ve mounted the birds on branches, but instead of a traditional frame, I’ve cut into a frame to build the frame around the branch, so the branch extends beyond. Although they’re somewhat fragile as they’re not behind glass, I’m quite pleased with the effect.

9 October 20229 October 2022

Voyage

This new project is one of the most ambitious I’ve crafted. I was unsure of where to categorize it in my ‘gallery’ as it includes papercraft, recycled materials and woodcraft. It’s also the largest piece I’ve made – the frame is 50cm square.

The body of the ship and the seagulls are moulded with paper clay, and the waves formed from torn sheets of paper painted with watercolours. The masts are cut with a scroll saw from scraps of wood and jointed together. The sails are recycled cotton, cut from an old sheet. I tried different experiments to shape the sails as though a strong wind was blowing, before finally using a heavy starch, together with shaped paper supports behind them. The rigging ropes are made from unraveled cotton cord.

The frame is only 4cm deep, so once again I had to massage and adapt my original concept to fit, without losing its 3D perspective. (The original design was a 3-masted ship!)

While I can always identify aspects that could be better, overall I’m quite happy with the final project.

[Click near the top of the pictures to enlarge]

8 August 20224 July 2023

Poppies

I made this little vase of poppies during a demonstration to show how the layered paper sculptures are constructed and how the recycled diffuser film is used.

Once again, it’s all made of shaped paper and I’ve used three layers to give depth, with the diffuser sheet cut to the shape of water in the vase. I decided to back the picture with glass, which allows light to shine through the vase and water. I’m quite pleased with this effect. Unfortunately, all the glass, film and acrylic reflections make photographing these incredibly difficult when all the layers are together!

16 March 202217 March 2022

Regatta

I admit I’ve been a bit obsessed creating ‘underwater’ themes for my paper sculptures!
I picked up this 3 panel frame in an op-shop some time ago and decided to see what I could re-create with it. Although I’m not quite as pleased with the finished product as my previous underwater pictures, I had fun creating patterns for the 3D yachts and racing them! The fish are painted with an opal sheen to give a silvery appearance; unfortunately it doesn’t show up in the photos. (Click the top half of the photos to enlarge)
A particular challenge with this piece was the shallow depth of the frame – just 25mm to create and construct multiple layers.

28 February 202228 February 2022

Coral Reef

This is my third paper sculpture project using LCD backlight diffuser film to create an underwater effect. Just like Lily Pond and Fish Bowl, this piece is constructed in layers, using a transparent acrylic sheet to ‘float’ the objects in the centre.
Most of the structure is a collage of photographs, cut and shaped into 3D images together with paper models of coral, fish and the yacht.
These pieces are very difficult to photograph due to the film picking up the smallest reflections, but the images below of the construction will give a clearer view. [Click the top half of the photos to enlarge.] I hope I have an opportunity to exhibit these 3 pieces at some stage as they look quite different “in the flesh”!

16 January 202216 January 2022

Fish Bowl

This is the sequel to “Lily Pond’.
It’s my second experiment using an LCD backlight diffuser sheet from an old laptop which blurs objects directly behind it, giving it an underwater effect. The artwork is constructed from cut and sculptured paper and put together in 3 layers with a clear acetate sheet in the centre. This time I’ve made the fish 3 dimensional, although they are somewhat hidden by the ‘underwater’ blurring.

9 January 2022

Lily Pond

I’ve been digging through my salvaged materials to ReCreate a new art ‘sculpture’.

‘Lily Pond’ is made predominantly from ring-folder dividers (see picture below). It incorporates paper cutting and shaping, constructed in three layers, with the centre layer supported on a piece of clear overhead projector film.

The ‘secret ingredient’ that creates the underwater effect? An LCD backlight diffuser sheet that comes from behind an old dismantled laptop screen! This film is mirror-like on one side, but the other side warps, magnifies and blurs objects directly behind it, making the layered art look underwater. (Click on the close-ups above to enlarge)

It’s weird, because viewing it from the side you can see nothing behind the film – you have to view it front-on, but that makes it very unusual and a bit mysterious. I’m planning to explore the possibilities further with more ‘underwater’ experiments. Stay tuned!

26 November 20214 July 2023

The Recycled Paper Boutique

This ‘boutique’ shop window was inspired by memories of dressing paper dolls as a child, together with my love of op-shops and sewing, although creating paper clothing is much more challenging than fabric!

The mannequins are shaped with a scroll saw from offcuts of mdf (medium density fibreboard). While mannequins don’t usually have hair, I’ve used wood shavings as hair made their hats look and fit so much better.

Paper scraps from office stationery, wrapping paper, craft offcuts etc, are shredded and mulched into paper pulp. The clothing is then constructed by experimenting with a variety of paper sculpture techniques; cast paper formed in plaster moulds (to give shape to the bodices and accessories), fluting and shaping the skirts by gently pulling wet pulp sheets onto fabric pieces and leaving them to dry, and by layering sheets of different coloured pulps together.

I’ve used mirror paper in the background to give the impression of a shop window, and also to show off the back of the models.

This piece was created for a Fringe exhibition in 2022 at Gallery 1855 called “Fashion – Make a Statement”.

12 October 202025 November 2020

ReCreating for Christmas – A white Christmas

Recycled Plastic milk cartons are the basis of these white Christmas designs.

After completing my Angels scrollsaw projects, I made a variation to the designs by adding wings, halos and hymn sheet cut from the plastic. It gives a delicate and slightly transparent effect.

A heat gun is used to shape the cut out pieces, either by hand (with thick gloves!) or by bending the warmed plastic around a piece of dowel.

One of the biggest challenges of working with plastic milk cartons is that food grade 2 plastic is virtually impervious to gluing. After many experiments with different glues, a hot glue gun was the most successful, however, the slight transparency of the plastic means that any glue used can be seen.

With this in mind I created two designs that slot together, rather than glue.
1. An entire “heavenly host” of small angels for table decoration. The heads are cut from pine. These require just one dob of glue to join the head / body / wings.
2. A slice-form Christmas tree, no glue at all!
Both of these decorations ‘glow’ as they stand above flameless tea lights.