The biggest challenge in starting the design for my up-cycle project is trying to figure out what material I want to use to create the project and what it is that I want to make. I began by walking around my apartment trying to figure out what material I had that could be transformed into an aesthetically pleasing design. As I looked around, I realized that one of the most prevalent things around my house is bottles from wine and other liquors.

This gave me the idea to reuse the wine bottles in some way. I began first by looking online to get ideas of what other people had done with the same medium. Two ideas stood out to me as something I would be interested in. I then sketched out my idea on paper to see what looked good. I noticed that as I sketched I got an idea of how many bottles I would need and what kind of beads I was looking for.

The first idea is making wind chimes out of the wine bottles. By cutting off the bottom and adding string with smaller pieces of glass, I could create an enticing design with different geometries. I could also add beads and any other small trinkets that I can find. This would be something that I could use to decorate my apartment while disposing of many bottles.

The hardest part of this would be finding a way to drill into the glass. In order to combat this, I want to use wire to wrap around the glass to hold it in place. I think that the wire would reduce the amount of machining I would have to do on the glass as well as create an aesthetic design on the shards. The easiest part will be drinking wine.

Last semester I studied abroad in Italy. At one point me and my friends went to Sorrento in the Amalfi Coast. We sat on the coast and drank wine and when we were done with the bottles we filled with up with rocks and then used other rocks to try and break open the bottle (we picked up the glass afterwards.) This made the bottle look like it was a part of the landscape and created cool chips and cracks. This is something that I want to emulate with my design. By using the glass shards as well as beads and stones, I can use nature alongside a manmade item to create an aesthetic design.

Bibliography:

1. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiK5uGK_JbgAhWENn0KHTHFCs0QjB16BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.glasshousestore.com%2Fproduct%2Fwine-bottle-windchime-class%2F&psig=AOvVaw2HLIr13wY0QuhdoDNplDdt&ust=1548987987608105