A festive recycled plastic bottle cascading flower mobile can be yours with just some simple supplies, lots of recycled soda bottles, a bit of crafting! The flowers are quite simple to make and connecting them is even simpler. Of course if you'd like to cover a whole wall for a photo backdrop, that would be fantastic, just start saving those bottles, and work on making flowers say ten or so at a time. After the event you can make individual mobiles as souvenirs of the event or even give guests strings of flowers to take home with them!
- recycled plastic soda bottles
- white glue
- tissue paper
- aluminum foil duct tape
- large plastic beads, like the kinds given to toddlers to string
- a piece of thick yarn, or cotton rope or the string of your choice
- a branch or dowel, or embroidery hoop as a base for hanging.
How To:
Make flowers according to instructions here. Cover necks of bottles with aluminum duct tape, as well as the tips of some flowers. Now for the assembly, which you'll do from the bottom up, for each string of flowers. Tie a knot in the yarn, slip on a large plastic bead and then thread the yarn through the neck of the bottle from the bottom up. Simple as that. Decide where you'd like the next flower to be, tie a knot in the yarn, and string on another bead, and then a flower.
Got it? The beads hold the flower in place. You can use something else, or even make holes in the caps from the bottles if you have the time, just the bead trick is so quick and simple, and looks good if the mobile will be viewed from underneath.
Hang strands of flowers from a painted white branch, as I did, or use a dowel or two crossed dowels or an embroidery hoop for a round as opposed to flat mobile. Here's a shot of the top of mine, hung in the succah:
I used heavy weight blue yarn as the string, because that's what I had on hand, and crafting my style is using what I have on hand! However, since you'll be making this with just a bit of forethought, I'd think white yarn or string with with a white branch might look just a bit more polished, you decide!
Enjoy!