2 Liter Angel: An Upcycled Story of a Diet Mountian Dew Junkie

I have been drinking 2 liters while I am at school instead of the 24 oz bottles. I am a HUGE diet mountain dew fan, but found I actually drink less at a time and fill up my trash a whole lot less often (though I still take it out a lot).  I had 2 mountain dew bottles and a big red bottle that I had not taken down to the trash.  I kept looking at them and holding off thinking, I bet I could figure out something to do with those.

WELL I DID!

Originally I looked at other DIY sites that take the mid section and turn it in to icicles.  Well I don't have a candle so that was out.  I began to examine my big red bottle from across the room, mentally breaking it down as if I was going to draw it in Sketchup into its basic components, and thinking about other things that share those shapes.

An excellent way to problem solve, might I add.  Break it down, and reconstruct.

What you need:
- 2 liter bottle, take the label off, but save it and the cap
-Preferably a mini hack saw, but a large knife (as I used) partnered with scissors is fine too
-Puffy Paint, my new found BFF
-E6000, because you know I can't live without it
-Polyflake, the only kind of glitter I will ever buy again

 I would suggest starting your cuts with the knife, then doing the thinner parts of the plastic with the scissors.  I ended up cutting myself, be careful, but somehow I usually do end up doing that when my big knife is involved.

On the bottom of the bottle where the indentions are, I wanted to cut two of those in a section out of the whole.  This is where I would start cutting up the thin sides with the scissors.  When you come to the very bottom, use your knife to saw down as much as you can to create a pretty deep ridge, and then fold it back and forth and it should break after a few folds. 

I really hope this does not dull out my big knife!  Again, I do not have my mini hacksaw with me, but I would highly suggest one for this.

 You get an idea from this picture of what I am talking about with the sectioning of the bottom.

I cut around the edges of this section before gluing it on to give it more of a wing look.  I wanted there to be two clearly distinct wings.

Next of course we break out our favorite glue and stick the bottom to the top, or in this case, the wings to the body.  It was at this point I got kid-on-Christmas-y excited about this craft because it was actually going to look like what it did in my head.  You are going to need to hold these two together until the glue sufficiently sets enough to hold it itself.

 Here we come to a point where you have options.  If you happened to have some of those miniature ornament balls you could use that as a head, possibly even modifying the placement of your wings to make it simpler.  You could, in essence even use the ball right side up so what it already has a hanger on it, again with some mods. 

As for me and my house, we are going to wrap a thin wire around the mid section later when she dries and create a hanger in the back.  You could easily do this beforehand if you wanted to paint over it to ensure it would not show, or you could use a ribbon so it is decorative.

Regardless, glue a head on her, no headless angels here people.  I chose to use the cap for extra upcyclyness (techie term there) and because I truly love Diet Mountain Dew and that is all there is to it.

 After you hold the cap in place long enough to get it sturdy, you can start cutting the label into strips and mod podging it on to your "gown".  You can plan it out and make a pattern, I chose to just go with the flow and come up with a more abstract look to her.

And how convenient that DMD and Christmas just happen to have common colors, eh? Coincidence? I think not.

Because if you are a Dew Junkie...  Every.  Bottle.  Is.  CHRISTMAS. 

And why does DMD and angels make sense? Because I thank God for DMD, that is why.  And so should the rest of you, I would be quite the bear in the mornings without it...

Paint and sparkle, sparkle and paint, and touch-up as needed.  The great part of puffy paint is you can really texture things, which adds another level of detail to your venture.


I liked her so well when I was finished that I had to put my mini tree up so that I could see her.  And partially so I wouldn't mess up the puffy paint if I left it elsewhere.

In essence you could pop the ring off the bottle, paint it gold, and use it as a halo, if you so chose.

Me, I like her as is, and think I will make more.

AND since you have the entire midsection left over, you can find some online tips on making it into icicles and get a whole lot of out that 2liter that you were going to toss.

So, DEW you hear what I hear?