Crafts Council Learning Craft learning resources

Hey Craft! activity: How-to make flowers with recycled plastic bags

A DIY tutorial with multi-disciplinary artist Lady Kitt as part of Hey Craft! 2021

To celebrate Hey Craft! 2021, artist and Directory member Lady Kitt has created a step-by-step guide to help turn those pesky plastic bags into beautiful blooms.

Brighten up this grey weekend and get crafting with little ones, old ones and everyone in between.

Download the resource or keep reading for a step-by-step tutorial and with visuals and go at a pace that suits you.

Hey Craft! is part of Get Creative – a nationwide campaign to support everyday creativity - and is taking place from Friday 14 – Sunday 16 May. Take a look at the other free and low-cost events on our What's on page.

Be sure to share photos of your work with us using the hashtags #EverydayMaking and #HeyCraft

Download instructions

Make a flower out of recycled plastic bags with Lady Kitt.PDF (788kb)Download

2. Carefully fold the ends upwards and wrap a strip of tape around each end to cover the sharp edges.
1. Cut two 20cm pieces of wire.

4. Cut along the folded edges to create one long rectangle and cut in half to create two rectangles.
3. Flatten the bag out and cut the top and bottom off, leaving a rectangle of plastic.

6. Layer the strips in two piles of six.
5. Cut the two rectangles into 12 equal strips.

A concertina fold has many names; it is sometimes called a fan, zig zag or staircase fold.
7. Layer the strips in two piles of 6.

Fan out the layers of plastic to create a bow-like shape.
8. Take the wire and tightly wrap it around the folded plastic strips and twist it three or four times to secure it in place.

10. Continue this on all layers of plastic to complete the flower head. You can use scissors to shape and tidy them.
9. Pull the top layer away from the other strips to create the flower petals.

12. Repeat steps 6-11 to make the second flower. Now you can make as many as you want!
11. Wrap the wires around a twig to give the flower head a stem

About Lady Kitt

Paper sculptor, researcher and drag king Lady Kitt specialises in social practice through making and performance. Kitt is one of the Crafts Council's 14 trustees and describes their approach as "mess making as social glue, driven by an insatiable curiosity to explore, share and (gently) insight the social functions of stuff that gets called art".

Kitt is based in Newcastle and works as co-lead for Social Art Network North East, a founding member of disabled artist led consortium Disconsortia and a member of global art-activism movement Nasty Women (NW), co-convening the NW International Art Prize in 2018.

See more of Lady Kitt's work on the Crafts Council Directory.

Hey Craft! activity: How-to make flowers with recycled plastic bags

Download instructions

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Hey Craft! 2021

Participation

What does co-creation look like in the age of COVID-19?