DIY jewelry ideas from recyclable materials

It’s appalling, the amount of trash the world makes in a day. And we all know who’ll take the brunt of it come the day. Reduce the amount of trash you throw away by finding a second life for them through jewelry. It’s amazing the many things you can do with a few old t-shirts, old bottles and some piece of paper.

  1. Recycled jewelry charms

An easy way to incorporate recyclable materials in your jewelry is to make recycled jewelry charms to hang on your chain bracelets or use as pendants on your necklaces. You can make charms from practically anything from bottle caps, your kids’ old clay and used plastic containers. The basic principle is that you form or cut out your preferred shapes from your materials and cut a hole in each of them.

You can then decorate them with leftover paint or beads according to your liking. Don’t forget to seal the design by finishing them with a coat of clear nail polish. You can then hang them on keychains, backpacks, necklaces, the list goes on and on. This idea could also be very profitable as you wouldn’t have to splurge much on supplies.

  1. Paper beads 

Make paper beads from old magazines, newspapers or wrapping paper you have lying around your house. You can make beads of various shapes, colors and sizes from these materials which you can then string into various kinds of accessories or even parting curtains.

You can make these beads by cutting out your desired shape from your preferred paper material and then rolling them up around a wooden stick before gluing it onto itself. You can strengthen the beads by finishing them with a coat of clear nail polish. Finally string them together into your desired designs.

  1. Brooches out of upcycled bottles 

Let your imagination run wild with designing and cutting old plastic bottles into cute brooches. All you’ll need are used bottles, pins, a glue gun and an assortment of designing materials you prefer. These could easily be used as part favors for your kids next birthday party or at their school’s next student council elections.

  1. Cangles 

Cangles are bangles formed out of aluminum cans which used to store food items. You can make bracelets, cuffs even earrings and necklaces from this material. For bracelets, you can cut up the aluminum cans and weave them into intricate patterns.

  1. T-shirt necklaces 

This next one is exactly like how it sounds. If you’re an excellent hair braider, then you’ll probably enjoy and be good at making statement necklaces from old t shirts. You can start by cutting a shirt’s bottom hem and the top up to under the armpits. You’re basically just going to use the middle part of the shirt. After that, you can cut strips of about ¾ inch in width from one side of the shirt to the other. This is where you can get creative. From here you can stretch the cut up pieces and proceed to braid it. You can also choose to embellish it with other things such as beads or paint. Another cool idea is using the paper bead method mentioned above to make fabric beads from the shirt.

Who knows living green can be so stylish? No wonder the green movement is getting a lot of deserved attention these days. Remember these creative DIYs the next time you segregate your trash or clean out your closet. Your next statement piece might just be lying around your house.