Introduction: Polar Ice Upcycle
So, this is my first Instructable, so bare with me... I was sitting at my desk and had finished my Polar Ice drink and had the empty cup sitting there, in the way. Well, I went to throw it away and thought, where is this going to go... to a landfill and maybe decompose after 20 years.... So I upcycled it. Upcycle UR Stuff is something I'm starting, to do my part in making a difference in the world.
So here is how to turn an entire Polar Ice cup into something decorative.
Step 1: Material and Tools and First Step
- Polar ice cup, (79 cents at circle k)
- Pen
- Scissors
- Exacto knife
- Hot Glue and Gun
- Heat source ( I used a soldering iron, because it was there and was already hot. but you can use a mini torch or lighter or something. Just be careful of the fumes, and don't catch fire.)
- Sand paper (any grit really, I just grabbed a piece next to me)
- time
Of course remember your safety and wear protection.
Start with cutting the bottom of the cup off, right around where the indention is. Save the bottom part for later. Take the upper portion, and cut one side so you can lay it out carefully. Take some scrap cardboard and make some patterns, doesn't have to be perfect. Cut them out, and flatten them, and use them to trace as many leaves as you want. The leaves can be any size this is where you can get creative. After cutting everything I realized that I really didn't a pattern. Make a few petals for the flower part of the plant also. Its all up to you.
SAVE the scrap pieces that you dont use, or cut out from the cup, they will be used as a filler later.
Step 2: Sanding and Sorting
After you make all the cut outs, what I did was take the sandpaper and sanded all the edges. I sanded the edges to give a little more rounded look. It's all up to you. This part is what takes the longest. I tried using my flex-shaft for the edges but the speed was too fast and just melted the styrofoam.
So after you sand everything and get them to your liking, arrange them how you want them to go.
Step 3: Hot Glue Time
Once you got an idea of where you want everything, start gluing. I started by gluing the straw to the inside bottom first, but it might be easier doing it last. This is my first Instructable and first time upcycling this cup like this.
For the lid I hot glued it together first, and then tried to heat up the plastic to give it a unique form. Yea, you might want to do each piece first, and once you have something you like then glue them together in the shape you want.
After you glue everything on and glued the flower together, I added a little square from the scrap pile to the top of the straw to add a little support to hold the flower. Then I glued the flower on last.
Step 4: HOT HOT HOT
After I glued everything together, i took my heat source, which was my soldering iron, and grabbed the tip of the leaf and lightly pulled down as I used the heat from the gun in my other hand to slowly heat up the leaves and flower to give them their unique shapes. This is where you have to be careful but be creative. None of this has to be perfect, every flower has their unique shape and style. Have fun with it.
Step 5: Finished and Paint
Lastly, once everything was glued and it sorta looked like a flower, I took all the scrap pieces from the beginning and throughout the project and then threw a little top soil in the bottom. This added the weight, so you can use whatever to weigh it down.
At this point, its time to paint. I left mine unpainted as to be an example. Here you can get creative also. You can even go as far as when your done painting, you can take the little hot glue balls, that leak from your gun when your not using it, and maybe glue them on the petals, to give it a wet look.... I dunno I'm just rambling now...
