Neon Windmill Workshops
Making something colourful and joyful from waste materials.
Esther Neslen, Mika Sembongi and I ran devised and ran windmill making workshops, using repurposed materials. It was part of High Street ADVENTures, an arts event based in and around Walthamstow High Street.
We wanted to create something that was easy to make, environmentally conscious and celebratory.
Windmills seemed a good fit as they are a simple symbol of renewable energy and we found a way of making them from old water bottles – turning unwanted petrochemical products into something positive.
We decorated them in fluorescent materials to add a bit of theatre, under UV they shine very vividly.
The numbers
110
pupils have taken part in workshops held at Mission Grove Primary School.
70+
people took part at our public workshop held at Walthamstow Library.
100s
of water bottles and caps were collected by the local community to make the workshops possible.
The ingredients
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A water bottle
500 ml water or drinks bottles work well. You’ll need one bottle and two caps for each windmill.
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Half a barbecue skewer
Barbecue skewers are great for the windmill axle. You’ll need half a skewer per windmill.
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One set of takeaway chopsticks
This is your handle. You could use any length of wood or plastic but I had lots of these to hand. You drill a hole through the top for the axle to go through, this should be just big enough to allow the axle to turn freely.
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Two rawl plugs 6mm x 30mm
The rawl plugs are used as stoppers to hold the windmill in place while allowing it to turn freely on the axle. You cut off the ends so you can feed each plug onto either side of the axle.
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Fluorescent materials
Once you have your windmill, you can decorate it however you like. Fluorescent materials look great in daylight – and in the dark, under UV light they shine very brightly.
The method
The workshop.
Here are people making and decorating their windmills.
Playing with UV
We wanted people to see how the fluorescent colours react under UV light. To make that possible we used a pop-up lightproof tent and a UV LED light.
Taking them for a spin.
After the workshop we had a little parade through the library and then around the green space outside. A joyful end to the day.
Meet the Team
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Sam Griffiths
DESIGNER AND FACILITATOR
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Esther Neslen
FACILITATOR
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Mika Sembongi
FACILITATOR
