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Sunday, June 19, 2011

Recycled Plastic Beads

Recycled Plastic Beads  


Can you guess what I made these beads out of???

 Give up?? Already? One more guess....Ok....

A 2 Liter Bottle...Yup that's right folks! How cool is that?!!  Way cool..just in case you didn't know :)

So I came across this video Here awhile back

I think these are super fun, and I love making unique things out recycled materials!

Here's the materials I used:
Empty 2 Liter Bottle (clean and dry)
Needle Nosed Pliers
Sharpie Markers
Scissors
Heat Gun

I cut the top and bottom portion off of the 2 Liter and then cut the "body" of the bottle into strips. 
Now I am VERY particular..I have a little OCD action going on when I do crafts...so I cut my strips as perfect as possible...


I then colored the strip with a Sharpie

I wrapped it tightly around my pliers, colored side on the inside...sorry I don't have a pic, it didn't turn out good :(

I broke out the heat gun and put some heat on the bead evenly around all sides (holding it with my pliers), until it shrunk a little.  If you put too much heat on it it will shrivel up all funky....

If you don't have a heat gun, I did try this with my blow dryer and that also worked.

I'm going to be honest...this is incredibly easy..however it took me about 4 beads into it before I figured out exactly how long to have the heat on the plastic and what not...again..I wanted mine to look as perfect as possible...I've got issues :)  But I digress...


Here is what a few of my beads looked like when they were done.....


And here is what they look liked after stringing them on some stretchy string....

You can get creative here and add a couple colors to one bead, add dots, squiggly lines, you name it. These are definitely a conversation piece.  I mean who is going to guess that you are wearing a 2 liter plastic soda bottle on your wrist right?? NO ONE..that's who..totally cool if I do say so!

Like I said before, these are easy to make, especially once you get the hang of it.  It only takes a few seconds to make a bead, but I don't suggest this project for young kids.  They could certainly do the coloring, but I'd leave the heating process to the adults.

Happy Crafting!

14 comments:

  1. Awesome idea! You could make even large beads for toddlers to string up! I see lots of possibilities here!

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  2. Oh for sure! The holes were actually pretty big on these beads, but if you made them just a bit bigger it was be easier for a toddler :) Have fun!!

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  3. Love it, love earth friendly projects. Thanks for linking up at Bacon Time, can't wait to see what you share this week. Hope to see you this Friday or Weekend too.

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  4. Yes you must!! These are super duper fun :) When my husband and boys came home I made them guess what my bracelet was made of..my husband said paper..um yeah no..Men lol!

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  5. Thank you Mindie! I love doing projects made with recycled material..it's just so rewarding to make something out of.."trash" if you will. I had fun on your blog..lot's of fun stuff on there.
    You'll see me again for sure!

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  6. Awesome! I do love recycling crafts. And this is such a good use to plastic bottles. Thanks for sharing :)

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  7. Thank you! I had a lot of fun with this one...the colors turned out so bright too :) I love too love recycling crafts...or Upcycling as some peeps like to call it.

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  8. Awww... These are so cute. I can imagine making these beads with my kids. We have a lot of Sharpie and plastic soda bottles, so we can definitely make use of them to make these.

    -Jeleryl Comisky

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  9. Thank you Jeleryl! I had so much fun making these, and I love making people guess what they are. When I tell them I made them from plastic bottles their jaws drop! Have fun making some beads!!

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  10. j'adore toutes les créations à partir de recyclage, mais je ne connaissais pas ces perles ! merci pour le partage !

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  11. This is awesome-I will be trying this one! Thanks so much!

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  12. Have you ever tried using a candle instead of the heat gun?

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