How did we do it?

 

Chihuly Project Explained  

Our project began with students collecting water bottles at snack times each day.  I also brought in other water bottles so we’d have larger bottles to work with. 

We removed labels, caps, and later cut the bottoms off each bottle using scissors.  The bottle crushes at the bottom at first, but once a hole is made, it’s easy to cut the rest.  We saved the caps and bottoms as well.  There are other ideas for their use as well. 

Painting the Bottles

Students painted the inside of bottles with acrylic craft paints or left over interior satin paint.  Both worked well.  I emphasized using a thin layer of paint to be sure it would dry over night.  (The reason for painting the inside was to get the shiny outside that looks more like glass.)

Cutting Spirals

As bottles dried, we started cutting them from bottom to top in spirals.  The closer the cut, the longer the “spring” or “slinky” we created.   I had to remind students not to cut too narrow as the larger bottles creating a very long spiral.  Too wide yields little change in bottle shape. 

Attaching each bottle with wire

The base structure was created from a 54-inch tomato cage wrapped in chicken wire. 

I attached bottles to the base structure with lightweight wire (floral wire).  It took several hours each afternoon attaching bottles.  The kids enjoyed seeing its progress each morning and were eager to prepare more bottles if needed. 

 






Before flipping it over

The children’s art show and performance took place at our high school performing arts center.  The kids were extremely proud of all their hard work! 

On Display at the Performing Arts Center