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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Fun Jewelry Tutorials from Plastic Bottles and an Inspirational Artisan
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Fun Jewelry Tutorials from Plastic Bottles and an Inspirational Artisan

People have been making and wearing jewelry for eons. Some of the earliest beads were simple pierced shells dating back as long as 100,000 years ago. The materials these early jewelry makers used were things they either found themselves or traded for. The practice of using readily available things is long standing.

Plastic is arguably the most common material which defines our modern age. It's not just about recycling unwanted plastic but about using alternatives to gold and silver.

Here are a couple more tutorials using the humble plastic bottle made from PET (polyethlene terephthalate). The Italian site, Craft and Fun, have a couple of easy tutorials on how to cut out and shape with a little heat flowers.

The ring tutorial is essentially for the flower formation using a bit of heat to smooth and warp the plastic pieces. It does not include the wire ring portion. The flower bits can be either wired or beaded together. Your choice! The necklace tutorial shows the design where ball head pins were used to wire the flowers to a neck wire. Again, use your own creativity to incorporate the basic flowers into your designs.

Don't be tempted to dismiss plastic. One of the top designers I featured before is Svenja John who uses polycarbonate plastic. This plastic has many industrial uses - eyeglass frames for example. Check out the video about the artisan and how she makes her high end jewelry. See other inspirational artisans in the links below.