Introduction: Remembrance of a Real Tree

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About: Student

First post ever in instructables.

I have retrieved hundreds of discarded coffee cups and fashioned it into a life size tree. With this artwork, I wanted to communicate and raise awareness about the issue of non recyclable cups and encourage a sense of personal responsibility for the wasted cups that are destroying natural beauty and damaging the environment.

This might be a big piece, but whoever reads this and creates one themselves. We can all collaborate our piece and turn it into a forest and bring a bigger message=)

Step 1: Material

  • Hot Glue gun

  • scissor

  • exacto knife

  • ruler

  • Scrap material (wood, pipes, and anything strong)

Step 2: Plan Ahead

  • Draw sketches on how your tree will look like.

  • Draw an internal support for the tree.

  • determine how many cups you want to collect.

Step 3: Collecting Process

  • find a location that you know will have lots of thrown out coffee cups (in my case I distributed around my school.)

  • collect as much coffee cups as possible, before constructing

     

    * as a suggestion, advertise your concept to the public. Ask for their support to make a difference to achieve your project

     

    *Remember when collecting your cups, wear gloves

Step 4: Preparing the Material

    *You will need scissor, exacto knife, and ruler

  • with your collective cups, wash out the residue and let the cup dry before cutting it.

  • Prepare to cut the cups

    • Cut the bottom of the cup, and cut it open into a flat sheet.

  • Lay it flat and cut the top and bottom , so it looks like a rectangle

  • Step and repeat until all the cups are done. (Be patient on this, when it is all cut you will be really happy =))


    Untitled from Richard Chang on Vimeo.


     


Step 5: Internal Structural

  • Create a base with scrap materials to support the structure

  • Create an internal frame to support the trunk and branches. ( I used plastic pipes that i collected from the  junk yard for my internal frame.)

Step 6: Constructing Begins

    *You will need a hot glue gun and scissor

  • with the cut out coffee cups, attach a couple so you have a longer strip

  • the first ring you make is going to be the base.

  • From there on, start gluing more rings on top of each other until your satisfy with your trunk.

  • After the trunk is completed, start making branches around the pipes. By taking the cut cups make cones out of it and stack it until you get your desire branch..

  • make as much branches as there is pipes ( In my case there is four big pipes)

  • When your tree is fully constructed with a trunk and branches, don't stop there. Continue, start making twigs and leaves to make your tree more lively.

    Contructing from Richard Chang on Vimeo.

     

Step 7: Result

  • Your Done!

  • Use your tree and show it to public ( maybe the location where you collected the most coffee cups). Let them remember this was once a real tree.