Hey kids,

Most of us have a lot of junk lying around knowingly or unknowingly in our homes. I’m talking about the empty bottles, cans, various plastic jars that come with fast food and many more similar stuff. So this week we will use empty plastic bottles to make a flower vase — an unbreakable vase which looks just like any delicate glass vase. The craft will be done in two parts; first we will make the vase and in our next craft section, I will tell you how to make the flowers!

Things you need:

1. Bottles (of any size, any shape, any colour)

2. Scissors

Directions:

1. Wash the bottle, leaving the narrow neck of the bottle, mark the area which is even smooth and not shaped, which will be used for the vase opening, see pic 2.

2. Cut the marked area (neck) from the bottle pics 3 and 4.

3. Make straight, evenly spaced cuts all the way around the bottle: pic 5 and 6; Note: if you are using a small bottle than the length for these thin strips would be 2 ½ half inch, but if you are using the large bottle (like a litre or more, as in the picture) the length would be 3 ½ inch while the width for both sizes of the bottle will be a bit less than a centimetre. These strips are the main step for making the beautifully patterned opening of a vase.

4. Now carefully press and fold all the strips outward to make a levelled edge all the way around, as in pics 7 and 8.

1. Press the bottle upside down on a flat surface to make an even edge as in pic 9.

2. We will start the main steps of ‘weaving’, by turning the tip of one strip diagonally towards the left ‘over’ the next two strips and then carefully pressing it ‘under’ the third strip. Fold and crease it so that the tip remains in place as in pic 10.

3. Continue around the bottle in this pattern until all the strips are woven completely as in pics 11 and 12.

Important: If you are using a small bottle for making the vase, when you reach step 6, all you have to do is fold only ‘one strip’ in the same manner (as we did for the large bottle towards the left), over only ‘one’ and ‘under’ the second strip. The green small bottle is done doing ‘the one strip over and under the second strip’ as in pic 13.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 26th, 2016