I’ve been on this research and development kick for a new book I’m working on.   It pretty much boils down to this: I’ve figured out a way to make a big giant mess at my house and get paid to do it.    It’s kinda like the time I was able to deduct a case of wine from my taxes because I was working on a sangria recipe for my entertaining book…. bit I digress.

On my regular trips to Goodwill, I could not help but notice the piles of cheap wicker baskets (from flower deliveries or fruit baskets I suspect) and plastic bag filled with ugly silk flowers for around a $1 a bag. This is stuff nobody was fighting over and everyone is happy to give.   There had to be a way to upcycle this in an interesting, easy and CHEAP way.

I bought a box of plaster (brand name Faster Plaster from my Michael’s craft store) for about $2 and followed the package instructions: 2 parts plaster, 1 part water.    I actually used a bit less plaster so the consistency would be runnier; this stuff dries pretty quickly, so even if it’s too runny, waiting a few minutes will let it thicken up to the desired consistency without wasting any plaster powder!   You might be wondering, what on Earth am I doing with plaster…. well…

Victim #1: silk flower.  Snipped and ready to be dipped.   I have a theory I can turn these ugly flower into a ceramic flower….

I was going to handpaint the plaster onto each petal, one-by-one, then I realized what time it was (midnight) and thought, just dunk it.   Dunk, dunk, dunk….

30 minutes later, the plaster is set (that’s why it’s faster plaster!) and the flower looks like this.  Hard as  rock, looks like ceramic and I think it looks pretty cool!

I also did a silk rose (so many of those at the Goodwill store) and love how it came out.   Some flowers were not successful, and many were surprisingly beautiful.   But with hundreds of those bags of silk flowers for sale at Goodwill, the experimentation is affordable and fun. 

I ended up doing a whole bouquet of flowers and even painted one of the ugly wicker baskets with plaster to make it look like ceramic, too.   Today, we’re doing a photo shoot of the finished arrangement and I must say: for $5 in supplies and 20 minutes of time, this project is definitely a keeper for my upcoming book.

Tags: crafts, Goodwill, upcycling

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