Local artists frequently complain that it is difficult and costly to obtain art materials in Bermuda. Robin Marirea has found a way around this problem by using something to make art that Bermuda has in cheap abundance — used glass bottles.Mr Marirea is head zookeeper at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo. As a hobby, he started reworking old bottles into attractive vases, decorations and drinking glasses several years ago. Examples of his work will be on display at the upcoming art show ‘Artistic Phase’, opening this month in the old Phase One building on South Shore Road in Smith’s.“I saw someone cutting an old bottle at a party one Christmas,” he said. “It was a party trick. The party arranger cut a bottle in half, then filed the edges down and gave it to someone at the party. Years later, someone said to me that they would like a beer bottle cut in half, and it dawned on me that bottle-cutting might be a good idea.”Some of his most popular items are retooled Bermuda soda bottles from 100 years ago but trying to find these in large quantity can be difficult.He thought many contemporary bottles are attractive, so he started buying cases of water bottles and cutting them in half.“This was expensive, especially since half of them broke the first time I did it,” he said. “Then I thought, why don’t I get into the recycling side of things?”To someone like Mr Marirea, who is involved in environmental work, it made a lot of sense. Glass only makes up about six percent of the average landfill, but takes the most time to decompose — hundreds of years, in fact. It’s why you can still find broken bits of glass covering certain beaches in Bermuda, from centuries ago.“Now, I don’t buy bottles. I have restaurants looking out for pretty bottles that I can use, such as the blue Saratoga Springs water bottles, or Grey Goose bottles,” he said. “I like using those. Someone brought me a Bombay gin bottle to turn into sea glass which I do also. I decided it was pretty, so why not turn it into a plant pot.”To make a plant pot, he poked small holes in the bottle’s metal screw top. He cut the bottle in half and turned the top half with spout upside down to fit into the lower half. The holes in the metal top allowed the plant to drain into the lower half which can be removed and emptied. A sparkling blue glass plant pot with a little plant growing out the top is pleasing to the eye.“The hardest part of it is the dangerous side,” he said. “There is a lot of glass dust involved. I have to wear almost a full bodysuit to avoid inhaling the stuff or getting it on my skin. Breaking it and having a straight cut isn’t all that difficult but it still has sharp edges that have to be filed down. I give it a light finishing.”He has suffered injuries from this particular art form. Once a Corona beer bottle broke while he was working on it, and he sliced his thumb deeply on the broken glass.“When I pick older bottles, I try not to use ones that have degraded much,” he said. “Any glass that has been around for hundreds of years tends to break down; you will get the glass flaking. If you see a lot of opalescence that usually means the glass will likely break apart when you work on it. If it looks oily, I don’t worry about it. I always warn people don’t use the older bottles as drinking glasses. Use them as a vase. You don’t even know what was in the bottle back then. Quality control was a little different back then.”Mr Marirea has begun putting motifs on his drinking glasses made from more contemporary bottles and is looking for artists to design more templates for him to use.‘Artistic Phase’ runs from March 15 to 17. The show will be open on Friday from 5.30pm to 8.30pm, Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sunday from 11am to 5pm.Donna Pink and Margaret Davis will showcase their jewellery and Heidi Cowen, Frank Chiappa and Christopher Grimes will show their oil paintings as part of the exhibit. Aubrey Hardy will display her ceramic work. Ronnie Lopes’ rustic handmade furniture will be there to see, along with Ronnie Chameau’s banana leaf art, Roland Skinner’s photographs and Ampah Hubbard’s black and white painting. Tony Bari will play keyboard during the event.