Recycle Your Plastic Bags To Create The Most Stunning Floral Lamps

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Plastic bags are an environmental scourge, but at least they're extremely reusable. However, a lot of bags only get one further use before heading to the trash. Save a good number of bags from becoming waste by forming them into an ethereal LED flower lamp to hang anywhere. Plastic bag petals glow when lit by a center made from warm fairy lights. We were inspired by the warm light made from a DIY paper flower lamp, but we thought this could be a creative way to repurpose plastic grocery bags or nearly any type of plastic bags.

Gather up a collection of white plastic bags that have minimal to no printing on them. If you can find colorful plastic bags, even ones that once held frozen vegetables, bread, or a mailed package, why not use them for even more eye-catching flowers? Stuck with only ugly bags or clear, boring ones? Purchase a can of spray paint that's formulated for plastic! Give your materials a good coating before shaping the bags into petals.

Grab scissors, a spool of jewelry wire that's between 14 and 20 gauge, and some wire cutters. Lastly, pick up a set of battery-operated LED string lights; ones with a remote like these BXROIU Fairy Lights are cool to the touch and easy to operate.

To make your own stunning DIY pendant lamp, start by cutting open your bags. If they have handles, don't bother removing them; you can hide them easily. Snip the open bags in half along the seam at their base, and crumple up each half so that they are wrinkly when you spread them open again. Create a set of wire loops in the shape of an infinity symbol that's about 4 inches long. If you're painting the plastic, do that before moving forward. Give both sides of the plastic a coating, and let it dry.

Twist up one edge of two plastic bag halves. For bags with handles or more text than you'd like, bundling that area can make those features less visible. Let the twist uncoil, and place the wire shape on the material that you twisted so that only one loop touches the plastic. Set another twisted bag on top of the bag and loop, twist the material together again, and secure the ends with a generous twisting of wire. Repeat this process with three more bags so that you end up with four sets of petals. You can also make fuller flowers if you have lots of bags to use up. Using a good amount of wire, attach all of the petals together by their wire bundles, and bend one end of the wire into a loop for hanging. You can also loop it around a metal or plastic ring to make a sturdier hanger.

Hang your flower from a spot that allows it to hang without touching other objects; a table or counter edge could work. Rearrange the petals from the underside in a way that all of the wire loops come together. Gently twist them together so that they become one multi-strand loop, reforming the loops if necessary. You'll be using this to hang your coiled string lights and battery pack. Gently roll the edges of your petals up and out to form a sort of lip. If the plastic doesn't hold to your liking, try adding a quick spritz of spray adhesive to the area that will be the interior of the lip before rerolling each petal's edge.

Fit your fairy light string with batteries; earn extra points for going with more eco-friendly rechargeable ones. Loop the string of lights around your hand until you have a compact bundle. Fasten it together with a bit of wire that's long enough to have some excess to use for hanging the light bundle. Send the excess wire through the wire hoop at the center of the petals, and give the results a test. You don't want the battery pack to hang down below the petals, so you may need to either coil the lights in a tighter loop, adjust the size of the central hanging loop, or both. Once you've worked out the perfect arrangement for the lights, wire, and battery pack, find the perfect spot to hang and enjoy the newest addition to your sustainable interior decor