BENGALURU: Ever faced the odd no-dustpan-at-home situation? What if you aren’t able to buy one immediately. Your plastic jug can come handy. It can turn into your temporary dustpan with a simple DIY.
All you need, is to look for a plastic jug – water or milk, or of the juice variety, and get those easy tools out.I used a water jug for my project.
The handle for my jug was on its corner. it was a matter of taking advantage of its available ridges and contours.
Materials I used:
Plastic jug -- Sharp craft knife -- A pair of scissors -- Marker -- Ruler-- Paint pen -- Embellishments (optional).
Method:
1. Before you begin, make sure you remove any labels from the jug. A quickie way to remove product labels, is to run a hair-dryer over the stickers for about 10 seconds, and then pull the stickers out carefully.
2. Wash the jug thoroughly.
3. Now mark out along the contours – first at the bottom. Pick the area opposite to jug’s handle to make the base.
4. Mark a line using a ruler and marker pen. Use the tip of the craft knife to cut.
5. After you are done with the base, mark the cut ends by connecting them towards the handle using a pen. Leave enough gap between the handle and the edge you want to cut. Run a knife.
6. You can use scissors to cut it. I used scissors to trim the cut surface. When you reach the mouth of the jug, cut it in the dustpan design.
7. Here is the final product that is good enough to be called a dust pan.
8. You can smoothen the rough edges using scissors. Candle flame would make the edges uneven.
During the trimming process, I allowed the edge – from where I would gather the dust in the pan – to be a little curve. It did not work as the dust would not slide in to the pan because of the curvature. I had to straighten it.
Tip: If you plan to keep the dustpan for longer time, pick a jug that is made of thicker plastic.
This piece can be used to collect rice or lentils that feel in kitchen accidently.
I did not decorate the pan much. I just used a white paint pen along the edges. The piece cannot match the thickness of market bought pans. It can work as a secondary one, and also as a makeshift piece before you get a new one.
You can use the left over plastic from this project for other things around home. I plan to use my pieces for handmade jewellery.
This is a project best suited for adolescents and adults. Kids need to be kept far far away from it.
(http://www.imprintshandmade.com)