December 6, 2011

sparkly recycled shoe rack pyramid

hey guys! i hope your weeks are off to a great start. i've been a bit under the weather the past couple of days but i made sure to eat lots of curly kale, vitamin c and garlic today in hopes of fighting off whatever is making me feel icky. i hope it helps! it's thundering and lightning outside, i can't sleep, and it seems like the perfect time for a little blogging.

in a previous post i mentioned a recycled shoe rack. well, it's all finished and i'm really happy to share it with you. i love turning what most people would consider trash into functional forms of art. yes, indeed.



i was lucky enough to come across some extra large (and sturdy) shipping tubes at my work. they made for the perfect recycled project. i'm using this creation as a shoe display in my tiny shop! super exciting.

for this project, i used...

  • one large tube
  • white spray paint (feel free to go wild with whatever color/paper/fabric you please)
  • gorilla glue (awesome stuff)
  • strong clamps 
  • sanding sponge or sand paper


first off, jonathan was kind enough to saw the tubes into 12" pieces with his man tools. (thanks, boyfriend.)

i sanded the edges of the tubes with a sponge sanding block to smooth it out a bit. then, the fun part...

gluing the tubes together requires just a touch of patience as this type of glue takes at least 2-3 hours to cure...though 24 hours is preferred.

start by applying a line of glue straight down the length of a tube (this type of glue expands quite a bit when drying so go easy with it).


next, match it up with a second tube and clamp the tubes together. this would be tricky to do without clamps. if you don't have any, try using a belt to hold them together (i've not tested this method so don't hold me to it- just an idea :D)



let the tubes dry for at least 2 hours then repeat the process until the bottom row is complete. repeat these steps for each row of your design (i went for a pyramid shape, you can do any shape you'd like!)

when all rows are glued and cured, begin constructing your shoe rack by gluing the rows together starting from the bottom row up.
i used mod podge to seal the edges and to create a smooth painting surface. allow 24 hours for project to fully cure.

then comes the really fun part. decoration and finishing! yay!



i finished my shoe pyramid with glossy white spray paint and sparkly white glitter around the edges. i'm using this as a display for shoes at my shop, and it'll be purrrrfect for the winter season. :D

the possibilities are seemingly endless in my brain for the things one might do with large cardboard tubes. i love making things out of trash. and i love you for reading this! i hope you feel inspired to create.