DIY Recycled Pinwheel Window

Jenny's inspiration for this window was art that is made from recycled items. This was also a large part of Tea Collection's inspiration for their Spring 2013 Collection, from their trip to South Africa.

Jenny's vision included plenty of pinwheels and lots of long colorful string and rope hanging from the ceiling. I hung raffia, twine, and this great rope that matched the colors Tea used in their collection. We made the pinwheels out of recycled magazines. We even used some extra Tea Catalogs!

After unpacking our Tea shipment, we taped the boxes right back up with bright sunshine yellow duct tape and arranged them as a multi level stage for the mannequins.

The mannequins are all dressed in Tea. As you can see, the animals of Africa were also a big inspiration for Tea. The Zebra Stripe Flutter Sleeve Dress on the left is inspired by the stripes of a Zebra, and the Lion Mask Double Layer Tee on the right is a screen-printed graphic with brightly colored embroidery. It was inspired by a mask the Tea team found at a South African Market.

Now that you've had a peak at our window - wouldn't you love to make some recycle pinwheels of your own? Scroll down for a step by step how to!

DIY RECYCLED PINWHEELS

First you'll want to gather your supplies. You'll need the following:

  • Old Magazines
  • Glue stick
  • Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue Sticks
  • A pair of scissors
  • A flat surface to work on.

Ok! Grab your magazines! We found that stiffer paper held it's shape better, while thinner paper tended to be a little wobbly. Start by tearing out the pages of your magazine. For a uniform edge, I like to score the pages first with a sharp edge and then pull them right out. For one pinwheel it takes approximately 7-8 pages. If you have something special in mind color wise, like alternating between light and dark or having certain colors near each other in the finished pinwheel, you'll want to arrange this before gluing your pages together.

Step 1:

Glue the ends together. We found that the glue stick worked best for us.

Step 2:

Once dry, Fold the paper accordion style in 1 inch sections.

Step 3:

After the entire length has been folded, turn on side to fan out pages into a circle and glue ends together. We used the glue stick to glue the ends, and then reinforced the center with a little hot glue.

Step 4:

Cut circles from magazine pages to embellish centers or you could even use buttons or flowers- this is a nice finishing touch and will help hide any uneven folds as well as give the pin wheel more rigidity.

Well, there you have it! Thanks for checking out our latest window display. We hope you have lots of fun making your own recycled pinwheels and would love it if you shared some pictures of your own creations with us!

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