Create sculpture out of old aluminum cans by cutting them open, flattening them with a hammer and bending them into your desired shape. You can make large sculptures by attaching many cans together with a chemical welder or by punching holes in the cans and binding them together with strips of other cans. For a colorful structure, leave the outside of the cans visible, or for a simpler, shiny look, use the cans inside out. From model airplanes to Christmas ornaments to life-sized statues, aluminum cans are a free, recyclable art material.
Used paper is a plentiful recyclable resource and can be turned into eye-catching collages in two ways. First, you can cut writing, patterns or images directly out of used paper and glue them to a background. Second, you can make new paper by cutting up and pulping the old recyclable paper and forming it back into sheets. This new paper is then cut into shapes and used to create abstract scenes or representational collage art. The two methods here can also be combined, either by using some of the homemade paper in a collage, or by embedding saved image or word clippings into the homemade paper before it has dried.
Plastic bags are often not allowed in home pick-up recyclables and must instead be brought to a special plastic bag collection spot. Additionally, they are littered everywhere, and often find a way into waterways and the ocean. For these reasons, plastic bags are a particularly good item to recycle at home. Making plastic bag cloth is an artistic and useful way of reusing plastic bags. There are two methods for this. First, you can iron layers of plastic bags together in various color combinations to end up with a thick, waterproof plastic fabric, which can then be sewn into jackets, bike bags, or any other item requiring a thick cloth. Second, the plastic bags can be cut into strips and woven, knitted or crocheted into cloth. This cloth will be thick and knobby, and can be used for making hats, shopping bags or sculptural works.
Create plastic bottle terrarium scenes. Remove the label from a two-liter soda bottle and cut the top off it. Cut up smaller plastic bottles into the shapes of people, animals, building structures or anything else you'd like to depict in your terrarium. Use permanent markers to color on the plastic and add detail to your figurines and miniature terrarium items. Stick the plastic pieces into a flat circle of clay the diameter of the soda bottle. Cover with the soda bottle and you'll have a miniature scene made entirely out of recyclable plastic bottles. You can use this medium to send a political message or just to create something fun to look at.