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Writer's pictureketaki haldipurkar

Toys from trash: bedside lamp

Updated: Mar 13, 2020

Imagine a fun quirky animal out of trashed bottles. And let's turn it into a lamp.


Where: Meetup 'To-Do with Bubu'

Open: Click to see the next Meetup

Visited: Sunday, October 14, 2018 | 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM


It's quick 15 mins craft for constructing the main animal body and then the kids spend 1 - 1.5 hours decorating it. Great activity to keep them busy and creative.

This DIY was conducted for my Meetup which is dedicated to Recycle + Reuse waste aka toys from trash. We make something useful out of waste that kids will appreciate.

Today's toys from trash is inspired by the design studio Bno Design lighting by creative director Steven J. Wine who makes these and the sell for $185/each.

We all collect so many bottles by using products like laundry detergent, dish liquid soap, hand wash, disinfecting sprays, shampoos, lotion, water, etc. Let's make a quirky cute animal and turn them into something useful like a bedside lamp. This same DIY can be used to make a piggy bank or a planter too just skip the light and add a slit instead.

Let's make it

You will need

  1. Empty bottle of your choice

  2. Foam paper(colors of your choice)

  3. Feather Boa, Gloves, pompom, pipe cleaners (get creative it will make the animal interesting)

  4. Googly eyes

  5. 4 carriage bolts with nuts

  6. LED String lights

  7. X-acto Knife

  8. Quick-dry glue

  9. Hot glue

  10. Scissors

  11. Pencil and scrap paper to trace


Process

  • In advance rinse your bottle clean inside-out and dry it thoroughly for 2-3 days.

  • Body Trace the bottle’s side label on a piece of scrap paper. Place it on a foam sheet to trace and cut. Glue all labels with quick-dry glue on to your bottle. Decorate and make it your own! You can add a boa for hair, pompoms, feathers, cut up foam/felt/gloves on its foam side. Glue on googly eyes.

  • Ears Cut some ears with foam sheets with any color of your choice. Make a small 'x' incision on either side for ears on the bottle and tuck the foam ears in with the help of a pencil back.

  • Legs Flip your bottle over and make 4 'x' incisions for legs snug enough to push in the screws. See to it that they are roughly equidistant 4 corners so it balances. I have tried 2 and 3 legs it doesn't work out due to the weight of the bottle. Screw bolts about a ¼ inch down the screw. Push in the ¼ inch into the 'x' with bolt on outside and hot glue it in place.

  • Turn it into a Lamp Make one last 'x' incision on the the underside and feed the led string light cord through the bottle with the plug and desired length of chord remaining out to plug into a socket. It’s very important to use LED lights because it will not get hot and melt the plastic of the bottle.

It took me 15 mins to make one all by myself but with a kid it will take you 2 hours max. I will take pictures of every step next DIY onwards, I missed it this time but.

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