6.17.2007

Upcycling: Milking materials beyond the last drop

The things I do the procrastinate...tomorrow I have a 6-hour simulated exam. Tonight I still have to do a 1-hour simulated essay. I swear I can't remember anything right now. I'm probably going to flunk tomorrow's exam, but I won't let it happen when it comes to the real thing.

When I started making jewelry, one of the things I thought about was recycling materials such as soda cans. I wanted to use the aluminum to make spirals, but pretty soon I scrapped that idea. For one, the edges are probably too sharp. It is not my intention to leave anyone with cuts on the face, or worse yet, become a modern-day Van Gogh. Also, after I took Trademark and Copyright classes, I realized how much of a problem it could be. If I were to make them, I won't be able to sell them. I'd rather not be sued, thank you very much.

Still, the idea of "upcycling" remains intriguing. It's a good way to conserve resources, and a cheap way of getting starting materials. A couple of nights ago, I really wanted to worm my way out of studying Contracts. A crafty lightbulb went off in my head, and I got to work with my Xacto knife well into the night.

I made quite a few things. Since I'm pretty busy nowadays, I decided to stretch this project out over the next few posts. Take a guess at what I made this out of:


I love it, and I've been wearing it for a couple of days. Before I assembled it, I showed the pieces to 2 people. One guessed right away because there were two different textures, while the other could not. In a couple of days, I'll show another project I did with the exact same type of materials.

The answer will be revealed sometime next week. The material, that is--the method remains proprietary ;-)

3 comments:

Muttersome said...

Milk carton plastic!

ThatBeeGirl said...

i agree with bernie -- the pebbled texture gives it away!
(love 'em, btw)

Anonymous said...

Shrinky dink! I did a post on shrinky dink jewelry not that long ago. The stuff is magic.

The hair clip is awesome.

Wait...no, you're talking upcycling. Sigh. Tuperware, maybe? If it's not milk carton, which sounds right.