Army Man Bowl

Have you grown out of some of your old toys, but still want to keep them around for memories? Maybe it is time to turn them into something new. This is NOT my original idea. A similar bowl was originally done by one of my favorite artists, Dominic Wilcox. For this project, you will need a steel bowl, a heat gun (or blow torch), and a bunch of plastic army men. If you want to color the inside, you will also need some paint.

Start by heating up the bowl with your blow torch. It's a good idea to do this in a ventilated place, as to not kill too many brain cells. You'll only be able to heat up small areas a ta time, since steel is really conductive and the heat will dissipate quite quickly.

Start by placing a few men a ta time on the top of the bowl, and then move outward. I found it helpful to use some masking tape to hold on the men as their feet melted. Once you are satisfied with the amount of men on your bowl, you can lift off the whole platoon, at once.

I didn't have quite as much success as Mr. Wilcox with this project, and the inside of the bowl had some unsightly burn marks, so I painted over them with acrylic paint.

I don't recommend using this bowl for liquid as it has tons of holes in it, but it would make a decent fruit bowl if the paint is nontoxic.