It's NO April Fool's Day

Today begins the first of 22 days in which I show how to rethink, re-invent, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, repurpose something that might end in the trash, or that was originally intended for other purposes.  It will culminate in a "bEARTHday" celebration on the 22nd, which is Earth day, as well as the day of my birth. Then, while looking for recycled projects I could make on my blog, I ran across a Flickr group called: 

Recycle Remake Redesign Re-craft Reuse Recreate Reclaim Reduce

That's even more "R" words.  I might even have to add the ones I missed to my list!  And let's not forget the other "R," which is respect: respect for our planet, respect for trash as art, and respect what you as an artist can achieve.

Today we begin with something simple.  I'm going to make some spray inks from LuminArt mica powders.  Now many of you probably know, these mica powders do not have a binder, like a different, albeit similar, product that does have a binder.  Since I purchased all these products on clearance at a local craft store, I never use them and have never found a good way to do so.  So, if you have a similar product and don't use it, let's repurpose it into something useful, like spray inks.

For this project, I am using distilled water, small reusable misters that have been cleaned, mica powders, and Elmer's Glue-All.  Don't use their school glue, it is too watered down already.

Begin by pouring distilled water into each of the spray bottles.  Don't fill over 2/3 of the way.  You'll need air in the bottles so the liquid can be shaken each time they are used.

As an aside, I was lucky that my friend Sally uses distilled water to clean her sleep machine.  When I asked for ONE CUP, she gave me an entire bottle.  I now have enough distilled water for many projects.

 

Add a bit of the glue.  I can't say how much, because I'm not even sure what I added will be enough binder.  But I squeezed and counted to five (5) in each of the bottles.  As you can see, some of the glue has already started to settle in the bottom of the containers.

Now use a stick or small spoon to add some mica powder to the container.  I have seen where Tim Holtz made something similar with his product that has the binder in it.  He suggested using no more than a tiny amount, but I'm actually hoping to make a dent in this product, so I used anywhere from two to three times what he would have used.

Talk about surprised.  The powder in the container looks NOTHING like the color in the water!!
 

Place the cap and mister on the container and shake, shake, shake.  Shake your booty oops, I mean container.  Keep shaking because it takes awhile for the mica powder and glue to assimilate into the distilled water. 

I guess you can tell I was a bit shocked by how much the mica powder color changed once it was out of its original container.

Next, it's time to test these misters.  And yes, it works!  I'm thrilled.  I hope you will try this, too.  I plan to allow these to dry awhile and spray a bit more.  I  don't want to muddy up the paper with too much water and spray mist.  I will also be able to tell if I got enough binder in the mists, too.

Once dry, I ran my hand over the two pages and noted the mica spray stayed perfectly in place.  The savvy reader will note I have rotated the pages 90 degrees and sprayed again, filling in any white spots.

These papers are now ready to use as backgrounds, cut into ATC or postcard sizes, or turned into tags.  You might even want to create a design using a mask or stencil with the mica sprays.  Of course, you can always use your imagination and make something special with your papers!

This is day 1 of 22 days of recycling, repurposing, reducing waste, and lots of other R words that add up to saving our planet.  Feel free to join me in this quest, and don't be an April Fool!!