After finally figuring out how we would support the wave, and then forming and welding the armature together, we had to decide how to get the plastics on this and be able to withstand strong weather.
From the start when coming up with the idea of using welding mesh for the structure the plan was to wire the first layer of bottles onto the frame and also to one another. Pictured is an experiment we did using thick wire (5 mm) and threading this through the bottles that were drilled through the bottom and the lid.
We were not impressed with how this worked, they were extremely loose and uncontrollable. This could cause problems when attaching them to the structure, especially as the string of bottles would have to be even longer to create the correct height.
We also considered taping them together in rows and stacking them as bricks either onto the structure or just on their own.(however we were unsure about the sturdiness of just having plastic stuck with tape on their own in a bricklaying formation attached to on the welding mesh as a base).
In the above images we are contemplating the aesthetics and practicality of this method, while lining up the bottles prior to taping them together. The bottom image shows one of us bending up the corners of the reinforcing mesh, creating a tray like effect, as this stabilises the structure and gives it a sturdier form, less likely to bend and cave when moved around.
Images are our own.
synthetic nature 