So, I am in the process of working on an amazing project for next week, the big 5th week of my 30x30x3 project. But, in the meantime, I have to have a 4th project before I can have my 5th, so I decided to bust out a quick little project I’ve been thinking about doing for a while now. Plastic Bag Flower Magnets!
After experimenting with shredded plastic bags to make an awesome light (that I’ll showcase later) I had been wanting to try it out on a smaller scale for some time. Then last week when I went to Janovic Plaza to get paint for my rescued bookshelf, I came away with two nice quality red and white plastic bags that I knew would be PERFECT for my project.
First, I took some extra bottle caps that I had lying around, and spray painted them black. I only bothered to paint the top side, because I knew the plastic bags would be filling the interior. Then I took my nice plastic bags, and cut them up into little strips, about 3″ long and 3/4″ wide. These measurements can be rough estimates though, there’s no need for each strip to be prefect.
Then you gather a bunch of strips together, sort of in a rough bundle, and I took a piece of thin 0.3 mm wire and wrapped it tightly around the middle of the bundle. Then you just fluff the two sides, and you’ll get a sense if one side is slightly longer than the other and wants to lay flatter. That side will be the bottom, and the other side will be the top. You fold the bottom pieces over towards the top, so you have a nub exposed which is where the wire is in the middle, with bag pulled over it. Add a good size dollop of hot glue into your bottle cap, press the nub of plastic bag down into it, and then turn it over and fluff.
Lastly, I took some little Super Strong Rare Earth magnets and glued them to the backs (the top side of the painted bottle caps) with some strong household cement glue. This was a little tricky because the magnets will leap to the bottle caps and stick magnetically, so you have to watch that they don’t smack down and spray the glue around. But, a little practice and you can prevent this from happening. Let them dry, and then stick them to your fridge!
I can’t wait to try some other colorful plastic bags. I’d love to see your results if you try out this simple little project at home! And if you think they are adorable but don’t have the time to try the project yourself, come visit my Etsy store and buy some of mine for yourself!
Ciao, Allison
the 3 R's blog 