Bottle Up - Art from Plastic Rubbish

Plastic is a growing issue today. Let's turn that issue into something beautiful.

We were approached by the Student Association at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University (SAWSA) to help them with their “Give it A Go” event. 

The simple idea: for Students from across the University to construct an Art Installation made from Plastic Bottles.

The event was inspired by current campaigns urging supermarkets to cut down on their plastic use, whilst also creating a unique art piece from what is considered to be ugly rubbish.

Grigory Ivanov, SAWSA Creative Department, explains “We wanted to promote recycling and show how our daily rubbish can be used in a new, creative and engaging way to reuse what our students would have otherwise simply binned.”

The problem: Most paints don’t easily stick to plastic without the addition of smelly adhesives, PVA Glue or binders. There are very few environmentally friendly water based paints with low VOCs that would suit the job. An event about recycling needed a paint that fitted with the ethos of the day.

The solution: Eicó eco-friendly paint. Over to Grigory and his team: “We wanted to add an element of colour to our project, whilst keeping the entire event as environmentally-friendly as possible, as we know many traditional acrylic paint products hold many components which go against this. Additionally, the 5 different shades of green which we used continued the theme of recycling, green being the traditional colour, used to represent our environment and protecting it.”

The team chose Whisper, Wedgwood Green, Folly, Turtle and Wood stock colours in the Eicó Alterior Eggshell finish.

Eicó paint is a water based Acrylic Paint made using 100% pure acrylic. This means that  it adheres very easily to plastic and, when dry, flexes without cracking of flaking off. Read about the environmentally-friendly qualities of the Eicó paint range.

How to paint plastic bottles

Using the eicó paint, painting plastic bottles is very easy. There are two methods to try:

Technique 1

1. Clean and dry the bottle
2. Pour the Eicó paint into the bottle and put the lid back on
3. Swirl the paint around the inside of the plastic bottle
4. Pour the excess paint out of the bottle
5. Leave to dry

Advantages: Creates a clean finish.

Technique 2

1. Clean and dry the bottle
2. Lightly sand the surface to create a key for the paint (optional)
3. Apply a primer (optional)
4. Paint the outside of the plastic bottle
5. Leave to dry
6. Apply a second coat if necessary

Advantages: Easier to decorate the bottle with a specific design.

How the Cardiff Students created their Recycled Plastic Bottle Art Installation

SAWSA joined with the Arts Society for the event. Grigory elaborates:

“In the traditional subdivision of the Arts into 7 Architecture is one of them, though now as in the past it blends the poetic and the spiritual with the physical and practical challenge of erecting a structure. Therefore, us joining forces with Art Society was a natural fit, as we have our way of thinking about an endeavour such as this and they have a different viewpoint which encompasses all of the Arts which led to a very interesting discussion as we were setting up the entire event. Additionally, our society is course-based, whilst theirs has members who study in all courses of our University with whom we wanted to engage as much as possible from the moment we decided to run this event.

“We painted the bottles on the day as half of the experience was attendees being able to paint their bottles themselves and express their creativity completely. We split the day in two, with our morning session dedicated to painting and drying, the lunch break facilitating the latter as well and, in the afternoon, we dedicated our time to putting the structures together.

So what was the Eicó paint like to use?

“Our experience with the paint was very positive, there was some smell but compared to traditional paint, which would have made the entire place smell like a chemical plant, the smell was almost non-existent.”

Where can the Plastic Bottle Art Installation be found?

The Bottle Up Installation can be found in the grounds of the Grange Pavilion, a Cardiff University Community Gateway Venue.

Many thanks to Grigory for the photographs from the event.