Recycle Craft: Reclaimed Floor Tile Trivets

Last weekend we here at Sine Metu Designs sponsored a free make-and-take demo at the 4th annual EcoChic Craftacular which featured local artists and artisans who have an eco-friendly spin to their art, crafts, and business practices.  The event is sponsored by Etsy Team Columbus, a collaboration of local indie artists, and of which I'm proud to be a member!  The Team worked very hard to bring the community this fantastic event and it was a huge success:  raising $1000 for the Whetstone Community Center, $250 for two local animal shelters, ADOPT Pet Rescue and Colony Cats and Dogs, and $100 for a local Arts foundation, all serving Columbus-area and Central Ohio.

In the spirit of being eco-friendly, we chose an arts & craft project that made use of reclaimed building materials--which are often in ready supply this time of year as folks get to work with home renovation projects. The reclaimed tile we used I found for free on FreeCycle, which I continue to mention often because it's such a great recycling resource.  

We transformed reclaimed ceramic floor tile (ours are 9-inch by 9-inch) into artsy trivets in a few easy steps, then showed all who cared to learn how to do the same; then we went wild with the enamel paints and produced some functional masterpieces!

Supplies:  Reclaimed tile, cork or felt, spray adhesive, thin quick-tack glue such as super glue or jewelry glue, wooden furniture buttons (optional), enamel acrylic paint for ceramic or "patio" grade acrylic and brushes, Sharpie or permanent marker (optional) and clear spay sealant (optional, but recommended).

First, we removed as much grout as possible from the tiles, using a pair of channel lock-style pliers to remove the line of grout along the edges.  The way these pliers "bite" provide a lot of torque, and it's very easy to snap the grout right off the edge, whereas it was impossible to do so with the bare hand.  Thanks to my hubby for always knowing which tool to use!

Next, I trimmed a pice of cork to the size of the tile.  I purchased a roll of thin cork with a self-adhesive sticker-back at Hobby Lobby for less than $5 and it was enough to make more than a half dozen trivets and several coasters.  If preferred, simple craft felt can be used and adhered to the back with spray adhesive.

To add "feet" to the trivet (optional) I used a thin layer of jewelry glue to adhere round-top wooden furniture buttons to the corners of my tile after I attached my cork.  You can find wooden furniture buttons in the woodworking aisle of craft stores such as Hobby Lobby or at the hardware store--they are used to cover cam-screw holes and are inexpensive.  I purchased a pack of 30 for $1.47 at Hobby Lobby.

Once the feet have dried, you can flip over and begin to paint! Because of the sealant glaze, I recommend ceramic paint or "patio" grade acrylic paint as it's more permanent than general-purpose craft paint.  If you plan to use the tile as a garden marker or step stone, or as an actual trivet for hot pots and pans, you want a more durable finish to take weathering and scratching.  If the tile is strictly decorative, it likely doesn't matter.

Get your inspiration and plan your painting.  If using enamel, you can't just "wipe-off" if you mess up, so draw carefully.  I outlined my images in Sharpie.  A couple layers of paint will cover the marker, or you can use permanent marker to add fine details over the dry painting.

With enamel, build your painting in layers. You can add light colors over dark colors if you let the bottom layer dry first.  It is better to apply two coats of thin layers to build up blocks of color than to try to glob on one thick coat.  You can also paint the sides of the tile for a more finished look.

When the paint is dry and you're finished with your design, spray with a clear glaze or sealant, let dry, and repeat.

Other ideas:  Make a bold geometric print by spraying with a textured spray paint (pictured, hammered copper) and paint acrylic lines in a complementary color when dry (I used cobalt blue enamel).

Make a chalk board server and tell your guests exactly what they're eating by painting several layers of chalkboard paint over the tile.

Let your kid go nuts with the paint for a recycled art experience!

Try some garden tile markers, like the below "Avi & Daddy's Garden" we made.

Quick Recycling Project: Girls' Bathroom Organizers

My 4 year old came home from a couple days away with a long time family friend, where she got to help decorate a mountain of cookies with her honorary big sis, a wonderful teen (yes, they exist) named Autumn.  She also came home with a large stash of girlie jewelry-- a big stack of plastic bangle bracelets, plastic beaded stretchy necklaces, princess lip gloss "watches" and the like, as well as a supply of little girlie hair stuff (to add to our growing collection of little girlie hair stuff).  This presented a minor organizational challenge: where to stash such goodies which are too small to toss in the toy box and too easily strewn around the house. Easy fix: make a pretty container for her to store her collections.

Recycle a cookie tin and a formula (or coffee) can into cute girls' hair and jewelry organizers
with scrapbook paper and spray adhesive, and easy word art labels. 

I just wanted to share this quick project with you--and I mean quick.  I grabbed some goodies from our Potential Craft Stuff tote (I've mentioned before that I save random things that would otherwise be household trash like boxes, tins, paper towel rolls, egg cartons, etc. and in a big plastic storage bin to raid for crafty recycling projects) which included a baby formula can and a cookie tin.  To spruce these up, I consulted the Big Box o' Scrapbook Paper and had Avi help choose some pretty prints.  To be honest, I steered her towards a carefully chosen selection of paper that a) at least somewhat goes with the whimsical garden-themed bathroom of hers, and b) wouldn't make me sad to chop it up (if you are a collector of papers too, you can relate, if not, well you'll have to take my word).

From here it's pretty straight forward:  trace the lid onto the back of the paper, cut, and adhere.  I used Scotch Super 77 spray adhesive, because I was gluing onto metal and because it is quick, bonds to practically anything, and lays down nicely...Super indeed.  I whipped up a label in a Word document and printed it on card stock, cut out, glue down.  I decided I didn't need to cover the sides of the tin as they were a solid color without any markings, but to break up the solid aluminum inside, I traced another circle in a plain sparkly green card stock to lay down in the bottom.  For the little pony tail holders and hair clips, I peeled the label off the formula can, and traced twice it onto another piece of scrapbook paper, sprayed adhesive to one piece, and carefully wrapped it around the can.  Then I used the other piece to line the interior.  I merely changed the word "jewelry" to "hair stuff" on my Word label and reprinted it, then glued this on too.

Total time: 20 minutes for two organizers.  Total cost: nothing--everything was recycled or was on hand. Tis' the season for cookie tins and to go through coffee canisters so set aside yours and turn them into something crafty.

Recycled Jet Pack--- Woosh!

I nicked this idea off Pinterest.  I don't know where it came from, because the link from Pinterest was to someone else who said she found the idea on Pinterest!  And I LOVE Pinterest! If you don't "do" Pinterest... well, what's wrong with you!? No seriously, you'll love it too, and probably spend an inordinate amount of time browsing through all the fabulous ideas you can glean from the collective "oh that's cool" findings from around the world.  I have ferreted away a plethora of good ideas for how to entertain my soon-to-be four-year-old:  educational, just for fun, seasonal artsy-crafty projects, rainy day projects and more.

Among these, The Jet Pack!  Two empty Coke 2-liter bottles (or any matching-shaped pair) painted silver (I just used a couple coats of a silver acrylic I had on hand, the version I saw was spray-painted), some ribbon for the straps (or you could maybe use lengths of duct tape, folded over on itself so the sticky part is internal), some craft felt for the flames (the idea I saw used crepe paper or streamer rolls, but I didn't have this, and I imagine Avi would tear the delicate paper fairly quickly zooming around) and hot glue.  The idea is to use things you have on hand, so improvise--it's a recycle craft!