Breathing life into old toys
I get so triggered by . . . honestly . . . capitalism, and materialism, and the need for NEW SHINY EXPENSIVE THINGS all the time. On behalf of mother earth, it sends me into an incredibly mild panic.
Conversely, I get giddily excited with the prospect of rescuing something old that lays discarded in a forgotten corner.
My method for upcycling is very . . .experimental. Using very basic materials (glue, paint, items that have been sitting in the kitchen junk drawer for an age etc), I keep fiddling, and playing around, and trying new things until I reach a point where I'm happy to hand it over to Rafiki to test that he will play with it.
Also, I am so objectively bad at traditional art that my art teacher very candidly told me not to attempt it for GCSE. So really, if I can muck in and make things that are half decent then you definitely can!
The Playmobile Barn
The old barn had been gathering dust in the garage for far too long. It was way overdue an upcycling. I wanted to try something a little steam-punky on it, and I also wanted to not spend anything in the process.
The Globe
This old plastic globe had been sitting in pieces for over a year, so I decided to revive it using paper mache and paint. Now it's a thing of beauty.
Secret Treasure House
At 20p, this little house was a bargain, but it needed to be shown a little love before it was ready to be played with by a boisterous 5 year old. This is how I upcycled it using paper mache and paint.
Fisher Price Garage
The old Fisher Price toys are so robust. Mine had been gathering dust in the garage for decades, ready for us to scrub it clean, and paint it up, to become a special Police Land garage. It would have been a lot quicker, and produced a much smoother result with spray paint, but I wanted Rafiki to do the bulk of hte work, so we dug out the paint brushes and Acrylic paint instead. Maybe it'll get another makeover with some grandkids in another 30 years.
The Hut
My sister has the most beautiful old hut at the end of her garden, next to the sea. It hadn't been used for years, the woodlice had completely taken over control. So, I raided through her garage to see what old tins of paint etc I could find, ordered a little bit of window film and fake foliage, and voila!
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