Project: Make Your Own Bottle

M.Y.O.B: Make Your Own Bottle

This is to motivate visitors- adults and children alike- to add to the visual narrative in their own pictures. Be it photo montages, paintings, doodles, cartoons, typographic art or mixed media collages, Sea Speak Sphere would like nothing more than to see your thoughts drawn out on PET!

Materials Used to create the Original Installation:

PET bottles/containers, acrylic paints, sponges, gauche, permanent paint markers, Golden 200 GAC primer, sandpaper, ink markers, colored pencils, discarded office paper (from recycling bins), brown paper bags, card stock, walnut ink, gesso, spray paints, old magazines, newspapers, brushes, plastic bags, glue/pulp paste, X-Acto knives, scissors, cutting board, recycled paper, buttons, stickers, fabric scraps, found litter, construction papers, prints of research materials.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Try not to buy any raw materials to complete this assignment, use what you already have in your household, and creatively repurpose materials as much as possible. If you really need to buy supplies, keep it to a bare minimum. The goal of this project is to ensure a low carbon and ecological footprint. Your main intention is to reduce, reuse, repurpose, upcycle and recycle waste. Whatever you do, do not forget to smile, and enjoy making your bottle!

STEP 1

Run a collection drive in your zip-code to acquire PET bottles from friends, family and neighbors. The bottles can be any size, shape or color and could have contained any beverage within them (water, soda, juice etc). Be sure to learn some fun statistics and facts about plastic, as running a collection drive offers an excellent opportunity for you to engage in conversations with people in your immediate environment about plastic consumption. You can seed change by presenting alternatives to them, or asking people for solutions and/or suggestions about reducing, reusing, repurposing and recycling plastic. Getting people to reduce plastic in their lives should be your primary agenda.

Facts About Plastic

Plastic is Forever
Plastic creates toxic pollution at every stage of its existence: manufacture, use, and disposal. Plastic is a material that the Earth cannot digest. Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists, including the small amount that has been incinerated and has become toxic particulate matter.

Plastic poisons our food chain

In the environment, plastic breaks down into small particles that attract toxic chemicals. These particles are ingested by wildlife on land and in the ocean, contaminating the food chain.

Plastic Affects Human Health
Harmful chemicals leached by plastics are present in the bloodstream and tissues of almost every one of us, including newborns.

Disposable Plastics Are The Main Source of Plastic Pollution
Consumption of disposable plastics—bags, bottles, straws and so forth—has spiraled out of control. These items are used for seconds, hours or days, but their remains last forever.

Plastic Recycling Is Not A Solution To The Crisis
Most of our plastic waste is landfilled, downcycled, incinerated or exported to other countries. Recycling of plastic is costly and does not stem the production of virgin plastic product.

Plastic Pollution Is Not Only In The Ocean
The amount of plastic pollution in the ocean is expanding at a catastrophic rate, but there are similar concentrations of plastic in the desert, in every community around the world, in our homes and in us.

Source: PLASTIC POLLUTION COALITION (Asher Jay is an honorary Artist of the coalition.)

STEP 2
Clean out the bottles, keep the caps aside safely as you will need them later and stack the bottle upside down so it can dry on top of a towel.

STEP 3
Materials

• Waste paper (can be any or all of the following types, so long as you are sure you will no longer require them and have the permission (from parental units) to rip them apart): Magazines, old newspapers, bills/receipts, bank statements, junk mail, catalogs, instruction manuals, brown paper bags, paper sleeves, faxes, drafts, blue prints, notes, old sketchbooks etc.
• Cleaned out PET bottles
• Medium sized bowl of water
• Homemade wheat/rice paste or store bought PH Neutral, nontoxic, glue
• Paper or Cloth Towels

Rip the paper into pieces. They need not be perfect along the edges or equally sized, just have fun ripping the sheets into different sizes, keep some scraps large and some small, so you can go over the shape of the bottle. Bear in mind that the paper might crinkle when you paste it up improperly but such imperfections add texture so don’t be bothered if the scraps don’t all lay flat on the bottle. Use every flaw and mistake to your advantage.
Soak some of the ripped up paper bits in the bowl of water. Let it sit for five minutes.

Now there are two quick ways to decoupage the bottle, you can choose the one that seems most efficient to you:

Method 1
You pull out a few wet pieces of paper at a time, lay them down in a line on the towel, place a few dabs of glue onto each piece then begin applying them to the bottle. Remember that you do not require a lot of adhesive to get the pieces to adhere to the bottle or to one another as they are wet; a little glue goes a long way.
Note: Ensure you overlap the edges of each scrap to cover the entire surface of the plastic bottle. You are welcome to NOT cover the entire surface with paper; you can leave some of it exposed if that works with your design or lay out the paper pieces such that they simulate cracks on the surface, or arrange them to produce a tile, mosaic, jigsaw, or organic pattern.

Method 2
Apply quick thin lines of glue directly onto the bottle. Use your finger to spread out the glue, such that it covers the entire area you want to start placing the paper on. Position your bottle over the paper/cloth towel so you do not drip all over yourself and begin pulling out pieces of wet paper from the bowl, and placing them right onto the bottle. Since they are wet, they will layer up quickly.

Be Forewarned: The bottle will DRIP paste water once you are done, so place it upside down on a flat towel for it to dry! I prefer this method, because I am a messy creative.
As you try to cover the top and the bottom of your PET bottle you will need to switch to smaller pieces of paper as this will help you to smoothly wrap around the curved silhouette of your bottle. If the paper wrinkles or rips as you shape it along angles, let it be, as this will add texture to your canvas.

Your end product will look like this now:

Once the bottle has dried out, you can screw the cap back onto the bottle. You may now begin on the ocean illustration but first there is some ground work you need to do! You need a Message for your bottle!

Step 4
Guidelines for the Message/Quote:

• Author: It can be written by you or by someone you consider a role model who is deeply concerned about Marine Conservation. (It has to be conveyed in your/the person’s own words.)
• Content: 2-6 lines on any ocean topic: can pertain to an ecosystem, a species, solution, problem, threat, theme, or idea. The focus is entirely up to you.
• Format: It does not have to be literary masterpiece; it can be written out simply, it just has to be true, and relevant to marine conservation. It can be based on facts or personal experience. Some people have sent in poems, haikus and limericks. Feel free to express your thoughts any which way you prefer.
• Do credit yourself in the following format: Name, Designation or occupation, company school or organization, publications authored and or campaign affiliations!
• EXAMPLE The quote I wrote for the bottle in the display that represents my voice:
  “I hear the ocean in my conch as I rest it by my ear. It once had life within it. If we are not careful and we do not come together to revive the blue’s breath and beat, I fear the earth too shall hollow out like this empty shell and be filled with nothing but the memory of the pulse it once contained.”
  – Asher Jay, Art Activist, designer, writer, conservation advocate and public speaker

  For more examples look at what other ocean voices had to say, just make sure you say something different. Your voice matters, and it is unique, do not be afraid to use it.

The next step is to illustrate the gist of the message you came up with or acquired from a person you know.

Step 5
Arts and Crafts materials: (This is merely a list of suggestions; you can use some, all or find yet other ways to fabricate and render your bottle. The more inventive you get the more your work will stand apart from the other bottles that have been sent in!)
Pencils, buttons, ribbons, magazines, construction paper, felt, pens, ink, pastels, paints (acrylic, oils, water color, gauche), markers, fabric, gift wrap, packaging materials, shells, calendars, newspapers, crayons, color pencils, sharpies, zippers, trims, glitter, spray paint, sequins, stickers, colored tape, nail polish, old makeup, fixative, sponges, tubes, wire…

Let your creative juices flow free and Make Your Own Bottle! The work can be abstract, figurative, a mix of both, a blind drawing, a mosaic, it can be a tonal image, a silk screened print… it can be anything so long as it pertains to the ocean and conveys the essence of the message you intend to place within it! Don’t forget to paint the cap of the bottle!

Step 6
A Note to Young Adults: Seek the help of a parent or teacher if you need it, do not hurt yourself trying to do this step!

Once you are done painting, unscrew the cap off the bottle, place it on a flat stable surface, and using a sharp small scissor make a hole at the center of the bottle cap. This will help suspend your bottle from the ceiling.

Step 7

To append your piece to the ceiling:

Materials:
3M hooks (they come with double sided tape)
Plastic Shopping Bags

Cut open shopping bags along one of the side seams and along the bottom of the bag, this will give you the longest, uninterrupted surface area to work with. Cut out horizontal strips of plastic and place them aside. If you have ever made a friendship bracelet or had a fascination for dolls as a child you will be able to execute the next step: braiding! Take three long strips and knot them together at the top. Braid the strips to the length you desire (you can always add strips along the way, by weaving or knotting them into place. Alternatively, you can knit or crochet your plastic bag rope, it’s entirely up to you!

Step 8
You also need to make a copy of your “message” on a piece of paper that must be mounted onto either construction paper or card-stock. You need to mail this in with your bottle, so that it can be suspended on the Blue Wall. It should look like a hangtag, in that it should have a hole punched out on the top of a vertical rectangle that is approximately 3” x 7” long and the quote should be written legibly within its specified dimensions. You are welcome to decorate this wall hanging such that it corresponds to your bottle.

The Blue Wall: is a vertical frame that can be installed as part of the exhibit. It creates an opportunity for viewers to suspend messages they want to convey about the blue onto pre-cut rectangles of cardstock. The cardstock will bear a hole-punch. Cords made out of waste fabric/plastic will be looped through the hole-punch to help hang them from the wall. This will allow people to part take in the campaign in real time, and the blue wall’s hangtags can be read by others who visit the display stirring a dialogue about the blue between strangers who care. The wall can also showcase the existing archive of quotes from the “Ocean Voices” directory accompanied by serial numbers that facilitate cross references between the wall, catalog and online gallery.

Step 9
Once you have your bottle and quote tag ready: kindly contact us here so we can assist you with an address to ship the items to. Thank you for your interest and participation!

Step 10
Take pictures every step of the way to document your creative journey, and submit it to Aqualogue on Sea Speak Sphere.

Download the PDF instructions here
Make Your Own Bottle for Sea Speak Sphere PDF