DIY Recycled Garden Art – Dandelion Inspired Yard Art

I wanted to do a little recycling and I was inspired by the dandelion. A bunch of water bottles later and I ended up with this garden gem!

Yup! Dandelion Yard Art!

For a little non-backyard dandelion decor, I made a beautiful Dandelion Paperweight that was so easy and I think you will love it!

Supplies You Will Need for the Dandelion Yard Art

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  • Patience
  • Adult supervision – if you are young or can’t be trusted around an open flame  

Here is the Video Tutorial So You Can See Exactly How I Made It:

Lots of Yard Art!

I’ll walk you step by step through the dandelion-making process below. However, if you want more yard art ideas, I have a few other garden art projects that you will love!!!

Directions On How To Make The Dandelion Yard Art

1.  Take your dowel rod and insert it into the styrofoam ball. Remove it. Add glue and reinsert. Set it aside to dry.

2.  Take some old scissors and plastic bottles and carefully cut them into strips. See the video above to see how I cut them.

You will need a bunch! I suggest you either do it over time or recruit friends and family to help!

3.  Once you have them cut, light your candle.

Hold the plastic strips at either end. Hold above the candle and gently melt them.

Don’t hold them too close and DO NOT stick your fingers too close or in the flame!  

Then, hold at one end to melt the opposite end.

*The reason I melted the plastic strips is that the water bottles are very thin and flimsy. When you melt them, they become thicker and rigid – much like Shrinky Dinks. I didn’t think about it until later, but it’s possible it might work in the oven. If anyone tries it, be sure to report back and let me know how it went.  Otherwise, watch the video above to see the melting technique.

4.  Paint the styrofoam ball and dowel rod. I used an outdoor acrylic paint.

5.  Mix your glue and pigment powder – this is optional. Instead of pigment powder, you can mix it with just glitter too!

6.  Smear the glue mixture onto the styrofoam ball, one section at a time. Put it on pretty thick. Then, stick in your plastic pieces.

You do not want them all in a row. You want them staggered.  

Continue doing this until the whole ball is covered.  Allow to dry.  

TIP:  Keep a damp paper towel on hand to wipe your fingers.

7.  Once dry, take your glow-in-the-dark paint. Use whatever glow-in-the-dark paint you want to use.  With a small brush, dab the paint in the areas between the plastic bottle pieces. Also dab on the ends to the plastic bottle pieces. Allow it to dry.

8.  Mix up your resin. This step is optional. I used it because I really wanted it protected outside and I wanted it to have a shiny finished look. If you are not planning to put it outside, you can skip this step. I mixed some fine glitter into the resin…just for a little extra sparkle.

9.  If you are doing the resin, wrap the stem in a garbage bag and plastic wrap, so the resin won’t run down the stem and get stuck to anything. Also, put the stem in a garbage can, so it can stand upright and when it drips, the garbage can will catch it.

10.  Slowly, pour the resin onto all sides of the styrofoam ball, making sure it is covered. Also, take a disposable foam brush and dab it on the ends of the plastic pieces to protect the glow-in-the-dark paint there. Allow it to cure.

11.  Once cured, remove the garbage bag and plastic wrap. 

*I had little resin from another project I was working on and I painted the lower part of the dowel rod with the resin. I did that so when it is stuck in the ground, the water will not rot the wood dowel rod.

Once everything is dry and has cured, you will have a one-of-a-kind piece of dandelion yard art. It will brighten your garden day and night!

I used a dandelion as my inspiration and that is why I used green on the styrofoam ball. There is no reason it could not be pink, or yellow, or blue, or any other color! Doing it again, I think I would go with a bolder and brighter color.

I also think this would be awesome if instead of using a dowel rod, you used an eye screw and suspended it from the ceiling. I could be used a home decor accent piece. With a black light, it would really be awesome!! Do they make black solar spotlights? Hmmmm…

Be sure to PIN IT for later!

Recycled dandelion yard art. View by day and glow-in-the-dark by night.

So…I Love The Dandelion Yard Art, But…

This project is a little time-intensive, so you might prefer an alternative. Here are some great dandelion yard art options and other solar garden decor ideas:

Thanks for stopping by!

Remember: Life’s too short not to shimmer, so grab your glue gun and your glitter!™ Stay safe!

Mona

9 thoughts on “DIY Recycled Garden Art – Dandelion Inspired Yard Art”

  1. Wow so cool. I am interested in trying this. Just a few questions tho. Why do you put all the plastic in before painting the glow paint?Cant you do all the painting then insert your plastic with glue that pour on the resin to secure? Or am I missing something? Thanks! Therese Haas

    Reply
    • Thanks Therese. There could be many different ways this could be done. I used the glue to secure the plastic pieces in place. The resin gives it extra stability and strength, but I used that because I wanted to give it a shiny, more finished look. I painted the glow paint between the glue step and the resin step because if I mixed the glue with the paint, it would have been milky and I would have lost some of the glow. In hindsight, I probably would have dipped each end of the plastic pieces into the paint and let it dry and then inserted them in the ball. Hope that helps! Mona

      Reply
  2. HI! I love this! And I am in the process of creating a "Firecracker" version of your dandy lion for the 4th of July. I ended up using a heat gun on its low setting instead of a candle to melt the plastic though. The jar candle I was going to use had melted too low in the jar for the flame to be accessible.
    Had I known I was going to use the heat gun I would've painted the bottles before cutting and melting them because that would've been a LOT easier! But I've got the first row glued into the Styrofoam ball so it is sort of looking like a sputnik or something but I am excited to get it finished! When I do I will post a picture of it on your Facebook page.

    Thanks for sharing your idea!

    Oh and I found this chart online about how to craft with plastic safely & thought you might like to have the chart too: cutoutandkeep.net/projects/the-very-important-guide-of-plastic-safety

    Reply
  3. how many bottles would you guess we are looking at? I would like to make this but wasn't sure if I needed closer to 10 or 50 ?

    Reply

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