Giant Recycled Starbucks Wall Art

Hi All,

Sometime last year I started collecting the cardboard cup sleeves that Starbucks puts on their hot drinks. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them when I started the collection, but I felt bad about just throwing them away. Soon enough my family learned of my collection and with their help the collection became a hoard.

Finally, I decided I needed to reclaim some of my storage space and do something with my piles of Starbucks cup sleeves. The result is now before you. A giant, 3 feet in diameter, Starbucks logo made from recycled, cardboard Starbucks cup sleeves.

This monstrosity used a grand total of 68 cardboard cup sleeves.

Materials Needed:

- 68 Starbucks Cup Sleeves

- 2 Cardboard Boxes

- 22 Sheets of Green Paper (or green paint)

- Tape (duct tape and scotch tape)

- Glue

Tools Needed:

- Scissors

- Box-cutter (optional)

Alright. To start off we need a piece of cardboard that will serve as the backing for the whole logo. Take your cardboard boxes, I used two, and construct a giant circle. The diameter of the circle needs to be 3 ft 4 in to account for the 3 feet diameter of the logo itself and the thickness of the boarder surrounding the logo.

Once you have all the needed cardboard pieces needed for your circle, secure them in place with duct tape to form a large cardboard disk.

After completing the cardboard circle, you want to make it green. This will serve as the background of the logo. I used around 22 sheets of green paper to cover the entire circle, and simply glued them to the cardboard. If I were to do this again, I might try an alternative method that would produce a smoother green look. Paint might work well.

Time to make the template! Print out the pages provided in the PDF below. Cut the logo piece out of each page by cutting along the solid black lines. You can also cut along the curved outside edges of the logo if you want to get the results pictured above. Assemble the pieces to form the logo - a template key is included in the PDF just encase puzzles aren't your thing. Secure the assembled pieces together with a bit of tape.

Once you have a complete 3-foot-diameter logo template. Lay the template face-down on a flat surface. You now want to glue your cardboard cup sleeves unto the template. You can glue them on in any pattern that suits you. I choose to go with an alternating striped pattern as seen in the pictures above.

When you have finished gluing the cardboard sup sleeves to the template allow for some time to fry. Next carefully flip the template over so that the logo is face up and clearly visible. Cut out the white parts of the logo from the template, making sure to cut completely through the cardboard cup sleeves that are glued to the back of the template. Once you have the pieces cut out, arrange them on the green background you have already prepared and glue them in place.

Finally, glue a ring of cardboard cup sleeves around the perimeter of the cardboard circle, and trim away any excess green paper that sticks out from behind this boarder.

You are now finished with your giant 3-foot-diameter, recycled cardboard Starbucks logo.

Thanks for reading this post, and enjoy.

- jlaake