Upcycling, turning broken things into beautiful objects.

We invited you to carve out some time at home to create a space for yourself; reclaim an area in your home to get creative with ceramics, glass or other neglected items.

Find out more about how to reduce waste and reuse items locally in Thurrock here:
https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/reducing-waste/re-use-partnership-trup
https://www.freelywheely.com/freecycle/thurrock

Browse the other mandala galleries via the buttons below.
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Make Do and Mend Mandala, Grays

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This amazing large-scale mandala was our #T100Calling installation on Tilbury Foreshore. This piece was made from upcycled glass and ceramics, materials that have been upcycled and turned into something new, with help from our partners at Tilbury Riverside Project and at Tilbury on the Thames Trust.

Thank you to artists: Sarah Doyle, Sally Chinea, Hazel Huber

Sarah Doyle introduces the Make Do and Mend Mandala created for T100 Calling in Tilbury.

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Film and photos by Mike Johnston

Aerial photography thanks to Unique Imaging

Make Do and Mend Mandala by Generik Vapeur

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So lovely to see this huge and amazing #T100calling mandala by our friends Générik Vapeur, Trafic d’acteurs et d’engins!

Make Do and Mend Mandala by Hazel Huber

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Make Do and Mend Mandalas by Hazel Huber

At the beginning of lockdown I had a couple of pallets and collected two more from our road. Project, to make planters and containers to grow more vegetables! The weather was brightening up and the frosts gone so I moved succulents out of the house for their summer holiday in the garden and couldn’t resist to set them in a circle, outer mandala ring made from pallets off cuts!

Gardening is all about recycling … old steamers & colanders, tins & cups & plastic containers for growing, takeaway boxes for storing seeds, cut up margarine tubs for planting labels & not forgetting my mum’s collection of lolly sticks salvaged from her garage shed last year, about two hundred in a bag!

She still continues at 93 years of age to waste not want not. My recycling mandala also contains my Dad’s old gardening knife & my Gran’s yellow dibber. which I remember her using .. must be at least 50 years old! All used by myself in lockdown 🔆🌻🌱🌻🌱🌻🌱🌻🌱🔆
& lastly … a bit of colour with recycled shirt VE bunting ❤️💙❤️

Make Do and Mend Mandala by Lesley Robinson

In the centre of my mandala is the cover of a fabric sample book. I was given the book some time ago. The fabric was a heavy cotton, each piece 20cm by 13.5cm. Surrounding it are the 4 things I made from this 1 sample book: a cushion cover, a shopping bag, a handbag and a small zip up pouch. I was amazed about how much fabric was in the book.

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Around this I put other items I have either mended or made from scrap fabric or yarn.
I managed to get a hole in my denim shirt when I caught it on a nail. I patched the hole with a piece of fabric given to me by a friend. I enjoyed doing it so much I sewed on other patches in places where there was no hole!
Once a week I go to a sewing group – Kite Spirit. Once a month we have an evening when a member of the group teaches us a skill. All the other things in my mandala come from a skills evening.
Lorna showed us how to make a rag rug. Mine is on a piece of hessian and made using bits of 2 old duvets
Chris showed us how to darn, so I went through my sock draw and darned some socks that I was going to throw away.
Carol showed us how to do patchwork, the result is a shopping bag and a cushion.
On the calico bag I sewed pieces of dyed fabric that I did with Linsey
At a knitting and stitching show last year I sat in on an hour-long demonstration about Tunisian crochet – then went home and tried it. It is quick and easy to do and a great way of using up very small scraps of yarn. When I have finished I should have a lovely scarf. (It might be finished before winter….)
This mandala shows the things I have made or mended, it is also a reminder of friends who gave me fabric or taught me the skill to make and repair.

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Make Do and Mend Mandala by Caroline and Penny Fletcher

We rediscovered a box of broken and forgotten objects submerged in very stagnant water in our garden (from an installation project we did a few years back for a party) and decided to clean them up and use them to create a mandala in one corner of the garden. It was lovely to re-imagine past treasures into a new creation, and to clean them up and use them to create a mandala – something we had never tried before.

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We added in a few broken pieces of glass and crockery that we dug up at the allotment after giving them a wash so they sparkled in the sun. Making our mandala out of items that had been left for the bin made us think about future creative projects and how we don’t need to buy new materials or objects, we can root around and use old materials in diverse new ways. We have enjoyed taking part in May Mandala project and are grateful to Kinetika for coming up with something so creative and thought-provoking at such a strange time for everyone. We urge everyone to ‘make do and mend’ in creative ways with items that are heading for landfill – so much better to create something than to add to environmental problems like waste and climate change.

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Make Do and Mend Mandala by Nell Edwards

I’m working on this mandala at the moment to go under my birdtable. It’s work in progress. Every time I walk past I change something. Waiting for more coloured glass at the moment and then I plan to make a cement circle for the final piece

My upcycled mirror and tiles inspiration comes from blend of Nepal, Puja ceremony and mirrors in clothing, throws and hangings. Mixed with inspiration from Gaudi and titles. This is ongoing and I hope to complete it by the end of June.

Make Do and Mend Mandalas by Sally Chinea

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As an artist that works with the found object, I tend to turn my hand up many different techniques and processes, but a main love is textiles. The shade originally was planned to go over an old garden parasol, but as I began to sew it grew and now spreads across a large part of my garden!

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Made In the tradition of a patchwork quilt, it is constructed from my children’s clothing, memories of football training, carnival costumes, favourite shirts, objects from a past business, and many other memories and stories held within what I call the ‘fabric photos ‘ Being in lockdown alone, this has been an emotional, but therapeutic process and now so useful in my garden as someone who struggles in the sun, the shade Create has been a favourite place that I now enjoy sitting and doing other things! Lovely shadows cast was another positive outcome, to add to the history of this piece that will also be used a picnic spread when we can all finally get back together.

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With sheds full of mechanical objects and other random car parts, many things I have no idea what their former use was! But definitely enough to make a few mandalas before it all got recycled. As I lay out the pieces, it was all a bit brown for me! I definitely needed colour!

I drew around the different objects overlapping and layering the shapes to create new lines and patterns, then time spent simply painting inside all the different spaces, this was a calming and therapeutic process.