Introduction: Handheld Water Bottle Brush and Dustpan

Welcome to my Instructable for creating a handheld brush and dustpan set out of water bottles! Here's what you'll need to get started:

  • 2 large SmartWater bottles
  • 2 large Fiji bottles
  • 20 regular-size water bottles (pictured)
  • 2 travel size plastic bottles
  • Kitchen scissors (and an exacto knife, if you have one)
  • Hot glue gun

Ready? Let's go!

Step 1: Creating the Fringe

  1. Cut the bottom and top of the regular-size water bottle off, leaving just a cylinder.
  2. Cut the down the center, creating two smaller cylinders. Then cut those cylinders in half, creating "half cylinders."
  3. Cut fringe out of the "half cylinders," leaving approximately a half an inch of the plastic connected at the top.
  4. Repeat with all of your regular-size water bottles.

Step 2: Assembling the Brush Bristles

  1. Glue the connected half inch sections of the fringed water bottles together, stacking them as you go. Repeat for half of the water bottle sections cut.
  2. Then, repeat for the other half.
  3. In total, you should have two equal-sized stacks of bristles.
  4. Face the concave ends of the two stacks towards each other. Coat one of the concave sides in hot glue, and attach the two stacks.
  5. Cut two long strips out of the SmartWater bottle. Wrap one strip around each side of the top of the bristles to hold them together.

Step 3: Adding the Brush Handle

  1. Cut a long oval out of a SmartWater bottle that matches the size of the top of the bristles.
  2. Cut a hole in the center of the oval, enough to fit the mouth of a travel-size bottle.
  3. Fit the travel size bottle into the hole, gluing around the connection.
  4. Glue the oval to the top of the bristles.
  5. Congrats - you've created your brush! Now onto the dustpan!

Step 4: Creating the Dustpan Frame

  1. Cut the top off of one Fiji bottle.
  2. Cut down two diagonally opposite edges of the remaining bottle.
  3. Cut diagonally across the bottom of the bottle, connecting the two previous cuts. Note that the bottom of Fiji water bottles are tough to cut, so you can make a curved cut if that's easier.
  4. You'll be left with two identical halves. Align them so the bottoms are facing away from each other.

Step 5: Adding the Dustpan Handle

  1. Cut a hole just left of center in the bottle half whose bottom is facing left. Make sure the hole will fit the mouth of the remaining travel-size bottle.
  2. Nestle this bottle half into the other. (They should somewhat interlock.) Trace the hole onto the uncut bottle half. Then cut out this hole.
  3. Re-stack the bottles, and fit the travel bottle into the hole. Glue the connection, and then glue the two layers of the dustpan together along the edges.

Step 6: You're Finished!

Congratulations - you did it! Enjoy your new handheld brush and dustpan!