Another attempt to recycle styrofoam trays

Those of you who joined me yesterday for part of the 22 days of recycled, repurposed, reused materials, saw I had a terrible time with styrofoam trays when I tried to shrink pieces of it.  Today I'm on a mission of another sort, but once again using a styrofoam tray.

I began by digging a few lines in the tray using a plastic fork. 

I remembered I had purchased a set of six cookie cutters a couple of years ago on clearance at WalMart.  I had never opened them.

Once open, I chose one of the sizes I wanted to use for the project.  I pressed into the styrofoam, but I realized I was in trouble because these were plastic, not metal cutters.

The cutters only left a deep impression, no matter how hard I pressed.  I even used my rubber hammer on the top one, but it didn't cut all the way through.  Oh well!  Now I understood why this styrofoam is so hard on the landfill.

Using both the smallest and same cutter as before, I pressed two hearts into the tray.  I thought it was best to press the small one first, then the larger one second.  You can do it the other way, but I felt this way was easier.

Back upstairs, I cut the pieces using scissors (remember, I'm a person who is craft knife challenged).  I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go to use these as stamps, so I got out both my clear tape and Wacky Tac, a wonderful product given to me by my QVC loving friend, Sally.  It is repositionable glue and I assure you, it works, at least once the glue is dry.

For the first one, I chose the tape, but of course my camera is so puny, it barely shows.  What you are looking at is the back side of the heart and the tape.  I cut a piece of tape about twice the length of the heart, then squeezed a "handle" together in about the middle of the tape.  Once the handle was created, I pressed the other two sides of the tape to the styrofoam.

Here it is in another nearly illegible photo, but I suspect you now get the picture, even though it may be horribly fuzzy.

Finally, I turned the other hearts over and applied a decent amount of Wacky Tac.  When dry, I can put them on an acrylic block.  I'll show how I use them later in the month.  I hope this technique works, because today, Day 11 of my recycle mission, I'm playing the drying game.

By the way, today is my friend Kathy's birthday.  And I'm still working on her gift, which, of course, is recycled.

Recycled styrofoam trays

Some of you may remember I've used Number 6 clear plastic to make shrink art.  You can see examples here, here, and here.  Today, however, I'm going to try to shrink Number 6 styrofoam to make some embellishments.

I found this on the internet at least two years ago, but lost the link when I lost my previous computer hard drive.  I can see the advantage to having a Pinterest account for just that very reason!  Because I couldn't find the link, I had to rely on my memory in order to make these.

One thing I know for sure is the styrofoam has to be labeled Number 6.  You'll see it clearly on the underside of these veggie trays.  Because I'm a vegetarian, I don't have access to meat trays like most people, but I have managed to save a few veggie trays when I buy veggies that way.

You can also use take-out containers, but be sure they are washed with soap and water, then allowed to dry.  I never save the bottoms, where the food sits, but you might choose to do so. You can see the recycled sign, but it is not as obvious as it is on the veggie trays.

I cut pieces from the styrofoam tray that varied in size.  Some were less than an inch, others about an inch or less.  I was going for an organic feel, not anything precise.   I got out two embossers, but decided on the smaller of the two.

Unfortunately, I "embossed" the letters a bit too deep,

but didn't realize it until I tried to shrink the pieces.  This was a big mess!!

Next, I decided to take my embossed and painted styrofoam to the basement, where I placed the pieces on a tray

 

and placed them in my "studio only" bake oven.  Some of you may remember I explained I was given this oven in this condition, and chose not to clean it.  After all, the polymer clay, and now styrofoam, don't care.

 

Since it was so dark in my basement, I used the flash to show I set the oven at 350 degrees F, although with the parallax effect from the camera angle, it looks like it is set at 375 degrees F.

 

Unfortunately, these were as bad, if not worse.  This styrofoam certainly didn't find "Sanctuary."

I know others had good luck with theirs, I just don't remember who.  If you have tried this technique using styrofoam, please let me know in a comment.  Also, please let me know if it was successful or not.  I'm on a mission to make something useful from styrofoam, but shrink styrofoam doesn't appear to be the answer.

 

Today is Day 10 of my mission to recycle, reuse, or reinvent items to use in our crafts or home, including #6 Styrofoam.