I’ve been making trays out of recycled materials including ALDI circulars, sweetener containers, corks, and recycled office paper. I use hot glue. ModPodge, and spray fixative to finish them off.
My first tray…
Some more … they take days to complete.
The last one I’ll show here will be the final one for a little while. Making these is tough on my hands.
I created Shebang (as in “the whole shebang”) to be the centerpiece of my back garden studio. It is made from recycled materials. I made all the components during the first 2020 lockdown between March and the end of June, continuing into July during our brief reprieve. Because the garden studio was being constructed some of the material was discarded from that project: PVC pipe, wire, tile spacers, etc. from the kitchen came sweetener boxes, soup boxes, a cocoa can and other trash. Grocery store circulars with slick paper and newspapers were used to cover the objects. Leftover paint provided the background and the canvas is a piece of Masonite packing material backed by leftover lumber.
It all starts with this can blowing off its lid.
It was Shebang that caught the attention of Reverend Mike O’Sullivan who invited me to do an outdoor collage for the Unitarian Church Cork. More on that later.
I refer to Shebang as my “masterpiece” because it makes me feel so good!