Plastic Bottle Tops

For a number of years I have been a subscriber to Alan Waddell’s blog, Walk Sydney Streets. After Alan’s wife of 60 years, Marjorie, passed away, Alan began walking on medical advice, having aneurisms in both legs. He was 88 at the time. The more he walked, the more he enjoyed it and the more he sought out new places to walk. Eventually he decided to walk every street and lane in Sydney and its suburbs. A son would drop him off by car and collect him when done. He walked nearly every day of the year, between 3 – 4 kilometres per walk, and marked the streets off on a map when done. Sadly, Alan passed away in 2008, aged 94, having completed walking every street in 292 of Sydney’s suburbs. His sons continue to maintain his blog and I regularly receive emailed photographs of interesting scenes and items taken by Alan on his walks.

His website is at http://www.walksydneystreets.net/index.htm Well worth a look and browse.

Which is all by way of introduction to an interesting couple of pics on his blog of a wall hanging at Tamarama Beach. The wall hanging is made of plastic bottle caps linked by plastic ties and it looks amazing. It would also have taken a lot of work.

Detail of the hanging

http://www.walksydneystreets.net/eastcity13.htm#tamarama

I haven’t been able to find out anything about the work although I suspect that it may have been an exhibit in Sculpture by the Sea in a past year.

It started me thinking about other bottle top art and I was surprised to find there is quite a bit out there.

Here is some . . . 

Olga Kostina, a Russian pensioner from the Russian village of Kamarchaga, in the Siberian taiga, has decorated her simple wooden home with artistic patterns made from over 30,000 plastic bottle caps.  She is still going.

(It helps if you move back from your screen when looking at this).