Landscape design "in Russian" is a special kind of decorating spaces. Everything is used: from plastic bottles to old car tires. You can see rubber swans and caterpillars assembled from car tires in summer cottages or in some city yards. Even old enameled basins, combined with the stumps left after the sawing of dried trees, turn into bright multi-colored mushrooms. Particularly skilled designers make figures from wood, logs and all kinds of stumps. Such materials make very cute giraffes or storks sitting on the remains of a sawn tree near the house.
Leader in the list of homemade art objects from scrap materials
In the list of exotic objects that can be found in the adjacent territories or summer cottages of Russians, the palm tree from plastic bottles is clearly in the lead. In addition to the fact that this piece of “bottle art” can fit into the landscape very well, it will also allow plastic bottles to be given a second life, and not sent to a landfill, where they will pollute the environment. Any person who does not even have outstanding skills in needlework can make a palm tree from plastic bottles. You can spend the evening creating such an art object with your children. Therefore, in this article we will look at how to make a palm tree from plastic bottles.
What you need to make a palm tree
First of all, you need to prepare materials. Obviously, when making palm trees from plastic bottles, it will not be possible to do without a large amount of this container. If you do not drink soda in unlimited quantities, then you may have to resort to the help of friends or relatives to donate "raw materials" for harvesting. Green and brown bottles are the best for this. But to show imagination and connect some other shades is not forbidden. The size of the container used is also important. Wide palm leaves will look most spectacular. Therefore, it is better to stock up on bottles of about two liters.
In addition to plastic bottles, for a palm tree you will need:
- The skeleton. Reinforcement, a plastic pipe, a wooden beam of sufficient length can act as this.
- Materials for fastening elements: glue, adhesive tape, wire, construction stapler, rope, metal cable, self-tapping screws.
- Piercing and cutting accessories: knife, scissors.
- Marker for marking.
Let's move on to how to make palm trees from plastic bottles step by step with our own hands.
Easy way to build a palm tree
If you have never had to buildof this kind of design, we recommend starting with the most straightforward version of a palm tree made of plastic bottles - for beginners. Step by step, the production of this art object can be divided into four stages:
- preparation of plastic elements;
- bonding leaves and crown formation;
- installation and design of the trunk;
- crown attachment.
On the bottles from which the stem will be made (it is best to take brown), cut off the bottom, about 3-4 centimeters.
We advise inexperienced designers to make leaves as follows: for green bottles, cut off the lower part by half (or a little less - at your discretion). You should get a long funnel. Further along the cut line, perpendicularly, you need to make deep enough cuts at a short distance to get something that looks like a fringe.
On a strong cable that holds its shape well, you need to put on green blanks: sequentially, necks in one direction, trying to insert them into each other as tightly as possible. Depending on the desired size of the future tree, it can take 15 funnels to make one branch of a palm tree. In total, you will need about six such branches. They need to be collected in a "bouquet" and fastened together with a rope or wire. The result of making a crown for a palm tree from plastic bottles is in the photo in the article.
In order for the palm tree to stand securely, it is recommended to dig the skeleton into the ground. the restat the top, the part must be completely decorated with blanks from brown bottles, simply by inserting the funnels into each other as tightly as possible.
When the trunk is ready, it must be crowned with a crown, which can be attached to the base using the same rope or wire.
So, the plastic bottle palm for beginners is ready.
Advanced palm crafting
Make a palm tree out of plastic bottles step by step in this case, following the four points described above. However, now the ways of cutting parts from bottles for both the trunk and the crown will become more complicated. You can choose any of the options you like, or even combine several at once.
How to cut bottles for the barrel
If you slightly modernize the method described in the “for beginners” paragraph, you can get a more spectacular palm tree. For long brown funnel blanks, you need to cut a fringe, like the leaves described in the same paragraph. When stringing bottles on the skeleton, the fringe can be “protruded”. This will give the barrel a rough effect
- Use for making the bottom of the bottle about 10-12 centimeters high. The cut of the bottle must be turned into a “fence”, making the edge jagged. Bend the resulting teeth about two centimeters high outward. Holes must be drilled in the bottom to allowwas to put the elements on the skeleton. This should be done upside down.
- The teeth on the cuts of the bottle can be made not sharp, but rounded. Then the assembled trunk will look like it is covered with scales.
- Only the bottom of brown bottles can be used to decorate the barrel. But for this, as a skeleton, you need to take either a thick wooden beam or a plastic pipe of sufficient diameter. You can attach plastic elements to the barrel using self-tapping screws and a screwdriver, placing the bottoms with the convex part outward and drilling them in the center. It is important to place them close to each other so that the skeleton does not shine through. To better fill the space, bottoms from bottles of different sizes are suitable.
How to shape the plastic elements for leaves
Cut off the bottom of the bottle. On the remaining long funnel, make four longitudinal cuts towards the neck, bend the resulting "petals". Make serrated or fringed cuts along the edge of each of them. Assemble several of these elements on a cable. For this version of palm trees from plastic bottles, you can take a container of a relatively small size. After assembling the required number of branches, fasten them together in the form of a bouquet
Cut out rectangles of the largest possible size from green bottles. Give them the shape of a leaf - cut the edge with cloves or fringe. The pieces should be fairly flat. To make a branch out of them, you need to sew them together with a stapler or wire. endsfasten and tie to the frame with a rope
Recommendations for assembling a palm tree from plastic bottles
The options for manufacturing elements indicated in the two previous paragraphs can be combined in any way you like. The main thing is that the end result pleases the eye. Particular attention in the manufacture of palm trees from plastic bottles with your own hands should be given to the assembly of the structure.
To prevent the crown from falling apart, in the case of using elements of bottles with necks, it is worth putting caps on the outer blanks. Pull the cable or rope through them, on which the fragments are strung, and tie good knots. On the side where the branch will be attached to the crown, it is recommended to leave a sufficiently long end of the cable (rope).
What else can be made from plastic bottles
Besides palm trees from plastic bottles, you can also make various fruits. For example, pineapples. In this case, they take a large five-liter container as a basis, stick cups from plastic disposable spoons on it so that the bottle is covered with “scales”. Then the spoons are painted with brown paint. Smaller green bottles are used to make leaves, as described in the “Palm tree for beginners” paragraph. The resulting tops just need to be inserted into the neck of a large bottle.
Also, using the fringed method of cutting bottle funnels, you can build swans. For the body, you need to take large five-liter bottles, and for the neck - a container with a volume of no more than one and a half liters. You can give a curved shape to the neck by stringing bottles on a thick wire or cable.
