Green Living: How to Make a Boot Planter

A very unique and usual art project is a planter made from an old boot. This ingenious idea was born when I was looking around the house for a recyclable craft project for school. As an art teacher, I continually keep an open mind when it comes to discovering interesting art projects for my students. Recycling provides a plethora of opportunities for supplies when the school system does not have the money to allocate.

Prior to beginning the project, locate a boot with a large leg opening. The leg opening must be large enough to accommodate the flower pot. It does not matter how dilapidated the boot appears as it will be covered with paper maché once the project is complete.

Supplies:

Old boot
Newspaper
Liquid starch
Water
Measuring cup
Plastic ice cream container
Wooden spoon
Acrylic paint
Artist paintbrushes
Acrylic spray sealer

Process:

Step 1 – Cover a flat work surface with newspaper. Place the old boot on the newspaper surface. If there is a shoelace in the boot, remove it at this time.

Step 2 – Measure and pour 2 cups liquid starch and 2/3 cups water in a plastic ice cream container. Stir well. This is the paper maché mixture.

Step 3 – Tear approximately 100 strips of newspaper 1-inch wide and 6-inches long. Dip the strips, one at a time, in the paper maché mixture. Remove the excess from each strip by pulling the strip between your thumb and forefinger. Place the strips on the boot in a criss-cross fashion. Smooth the strips onto the boot. Repeat the process until four to five layers of paper maché cover the entire boot. Allow the strips to dry 24 hours.

Step 4 – Paint the paper maché boot planter a solid color of your choice. Add designs to the surface such as flowers, hearts, zigzags, stars and so on.

Step 5 – Insert a flower pot into the top of the boot planter. Add dirt and a plant. The recycle boot has now taken on a new life!

Other ideas:

Use the same process to paper maché over an old shoe. The top of the flower pot will show over the edge of the shoe. Simply paint the flower pot the same color as the shoe planter.

Tie a ribbon around the ankle portion of the boot planter. Add lines of white glue and glitter to make it sparkle.


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