Handmade Upcycled Plastic Kinetic Mobile: Sustainable Art from Recycled Materials

I’ve been making jewellery, mobiles and home decocorations out of upcycled plastic for almost 30 years now. Plastic that I’ve either collected on beach cleans, or empty shampoo etc bottles donated to me by friendsand family. Cutting out the shapes I’ve needed has always created lots of interesting left-over ‘snippets’ of plastic, which I’ve generally kept for a few years then thrown away. For several years I’ve expedimented with heating these up with an iron to form new sheets of plastic -this was very boring and smelly. I finally found what I needed on facebook marketplace – a panini press that someone had no more use for.

I’ve finally been able to create new elements out of ‘waste’ plastic for my mobiles. I’m also experimenting sith making elements for jewellery. I hope to exhibit some of my new work at MAKE Southwest as part of the 2026 Member Makers show in the summer. Insoired by the wonderful dapples created on a summers day by sunshine filtering through trees.

here are some snaps of what I’ve been up to:

This handmade upcycled plastic kinetic mobile transforms discarded plastic into a moving sculpture. Combining kinetic art, sustainable design, and contemporary home decor, each piece is crafted from reclaimed materials

After School Art Club starting Monday 2nd March 2026…

I’m very excitied to be running a NEW After School Art Club for the rest of this term, starting on Monday 2nd March. Running at Art House South Brent, from 3:30 – 4:45

For more details and booking, please go to the listing HERE

We will be doing a range of mixed media projects, with the emphasis on playfulness and fun.

Aimed at children aged 6 – 12.

I am DBS checked and insured 🙂

Grown-Up Art Club

We’ve just come to the end of a really enjoyable block of grown up art club. Participants learnt how to let go of expectations and treat art playfully. Some of the activities covered were gelli printing, collograph, journal making, creative drawing and more.

And what have I learnt? That adults are definitely better behaved than children at the end of a school day! Also, it’s good to push people gently out of their comfort zones. Also that sometimes the weather gets in the way and it’s ok to just wing it at times – I think most of us do winging our way through life!

In January I’m starting up an extra grown up art club – In addtition to Tuesday evenings 7 – 9 at the Rusty Tractor Cafe, I’ll also be at the Ermington Store and More Hub on Thursdays 11 – 1. For booking, go to the workshops section in my wesite shop.

Below are a few pictures of just some of the activites we’ve done this term…

Grown-up Art Club

I can’t believe we are already halfway through my first Art Club for adults! I’ve been ABSOLUTELY loving it – I mean, REALLY REALLY loving it. Some of the participants are ‘creative’ in some way (in ” marks because of course everyone is creative in one way or another), others feel quite unsure and unconfident with creativity and have been pushed right out of their comfort zones!

Last night was my favourite session so far. It was also the one I was most anxious about – because even though I’d planned a couple of things to do, I was a bit unsure about it, plus it was meant to be a session setting up forfuture projects and someone had just let me know they weren’t coming… I arrived slightly late, then opened my car boot and some of the things I’d taken with me fell out and smashed, shattering glass all over the dark car park which added to my anxiety. Instead, my planned session morphed into something quite different and unexpected, and utterly wonderful (well I thought so anyway 🙂 )

I’d planned a 15 minute fun drawing excersize to loosen everyone up and get creative juices flowing. I’d taken along a selection of very different shaped and textured objects, some man made, some natural, some man made but altered by nature.

They each chose what they wanted to draw first off, and I set a timer for 5 minutes. Their task was to draw what was in front of them for 5 minutes, looking at just the shapes. Then 5 minutes drawing just the negative spaces (the bits between the bits!) Then, 5 minutes drawing without looking at the paper – we all loved that one so much that we did ity twice! Then, 5 minutes using our non dominant hand.

The results we re really interesting!

Then I had a brief comfort break (basically I needed a wee) and on an A4 piece of paper we chose new objects, and drew for 10 minutes without taking the pen off the paper, for 10 minutes. Then another object-swop, and then we ‘drew’ these new objects with scissors, into our non-stop line drawings! We were then left with shapes with lines on.

On the backs of our big pieces of paper, we scribbled the outline of the cut out shapes, which made beautiful patterns. Some of us chose to stick our cut-out shapes onto here, others chose to scribble onto another A4 paper and stick them onto there. The results are all lovely.

It was lovely how everyone got quite meditative, the atmosphere was really calm and peaceful.

That’s just one of the amazing good things that drawing does for you!

Autumnal Wire Leaves Garland Workshop

Spend a fun morning learning the art of working with wire, to create your very own wire leaves garland, inspired by the falling autumn leaves with their wonderful variety of shapes and patterns.

Using pliers, snips and a variety of wires, you will go home with a seasonal home decoration to hang up every autumn, or even leave it hanging up all year round!

With local artist Becky Crawford, at the Ermington Store Hub on Thursday 23rd October 2025, 10 – 12. Click HERE to book

Family craft workshop at Make Southwest

Over the summer holidays, I had the pleasure of running a day of family workshops at Make Southwest in Bovey Tracey. Children and their adults came along to make some stunning tissue paper and wire flowers. Using pliers, snips, scissors, felt pen and water sprays they made some amazing collections of flowers, then they drilled holes in wood blocks to display them in.

As usual, I was blown away by the creativity and skill that some quite young children brought along with them; The flowers were quite tricky for young fingers to make, but as you can see from just a few of the resulting flowers below, they really outdid themselves!

A massive thank you to everyone who came along and made the day so enjoyable, and to Make Southwest for hosting me again.

Childrens lampmaking workshops

I’m teaming up again with Peter Lanyon in his barn workshop nestled between Battisborough Cross and Noss Mayo, to run a couple of childrens lampmaking workshops. This would make a brilliant Christmas present for a creative child who loves hands-on making. As you can see, the workshop we ran over the summer holidays produced some really creative lampshade designs, including one featuring woodworking tools, and one with cats chasing a mouse!
If you’d like to find out more, please click on THIS LINK… Please note, for insurance purposes, children must be aged 8 or above.

Devon Open Studios at waterside location alongside 13 other makers…

It’s that time of year again when artists and makers across the whole of Devon open up their houses and studios and invite the public in to show off their incredible talent. Devon Open Studios is now up and running and I’m excited to let you know that I’m taking part at Flameworks in Plymouth (7 Richmond Walk, Plymouth, PL1 4LL) 

In total there are 14 of us taking part at this waterside venue, so there is plenty to feast your eyes on. Our opening times are Saturdays and Sundays, 10 – 4. Here is a link to my Instagram reel, where you can see a taster of some of what’s on offer… CLICK HERE … For the first time you can see some of the watercolour painting I’ve been doing out on clifftops in Devon, Ireland and the Isle of Harris.. some close ups are pictured above. I’m also showing my silver jewellery, recycled plastic jewellery, wirework, cards and more. I’ll be there myself on Sunday 14th and Sunday 21st September.

Wire and Tissue Paper flowers workshop

Join me at Make South West in Bovey Tracey on Thursday 28 August to create your own forever flowers.

You will use tissue paper, wire, pliers and snips to make a fabulous bunch of flowers which you can leave plain or decorate with pen. All materials will be provided.

There are two workshop timeslots to choose from:

10.30am – 12.00pm

2.00pm – 3.30pm

This workshop is for children aged 7+ 

We ask that all participating children are accompanied by a parent, carer or guardian throughout the workshop duration.

Please purchase tickets for participating children only. Accompanying adults do not need to purchase a ticket.

This workshop has been generously funded by The Golsoncott Foundation.  

To book, please follow this link : https://makesouthwest.org.uk/all-activity/worksho-wire-sculputure-flowers-becky-crawford