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Styrofoam, Yet Again!

Styrofoam… this stuff is everywhere. I’m on the lookout for clever ways to make use of it to keep it out of the waste stream and – ultimately – out of the ocean.

Styrofoam has unique properties too, that make it handy for certain kinds of projects. Lightweight, plentiful, easy to shape, water resistant.

Here is a link to a great example of beautiful, precise quilt blocks on styrofoam: https://suzyssitcom.com/2013/01/recycled-crafts-faux-quilted-bulletin-board.html

Here is another project using similar tools and techniques:

This is a complex pattern. She makes it look So Easy, doesn’t she? So I had to give it a try. After all, I already had on-hand a sheet of scrap styrofoam, cutting blades, glue, and yarn. Confession: I did break one of my ‘rules’ with this experiment – I bought the fabric in a craft store. Usually I re-purpose used materials but in this case I wanted fabrics of the same weight, texture, etc.

A simple design seemed wise.

With the flower done, I filled in background color, and used dark gray macrame yarn hoping to impart a sort of ‘stained glass’ effect…

I covered the entire back with fabric, pulled it up and glued it to cover the sides, and fringed the edges all the way around.

The finished piece is 30 x 22 cm (almost exactly 11×8 inches) and it weighs only a few grams. A small piece of double-stick tape adheres it easily to the wall. A light brush with the vacuum keeps it dust-free. (how best to display things I’ve made, and how to keep them looking sharp, are bits I’ve often over-looked in the past – to my frustration…)

This was fun, and I like the cheerful yellow flower. You can see that I didn’t glue the individual pieces of fabric in place. But getting the pieces to lay flat just by tucking them in is hard. I’m going to try again…

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