Make a Lizard Pin from a Toy

Photo Courtesy the Smithsonian Institution

Like Madeline Albright, I love pins. The diplomat shared the story of her pin collection in a fabulous book and traveling museum exhibition. My family saw the exhibit at the Smithsonian Castle  this past summer and the whole crowd really enjoyed seeing the pins and reading about the history of each.

Even the most jewelry averse men in our group found the exhibit entertaining as the former Secretary of State explained how she used pins to express herself and began a legacy of jewelry diplomacy. Jewelry took on an entirely new meaning when the government majors amongst us learned that the diplomats of certain countries included studies of Albright's pins in preparation for official state visits.

Before: Plastic Toy

The materials for this pin came from the toy box. As soon as I rediscovered this brightly colored, detailed little lizard I knew it was destined to be jewelry.

Materials
Toy
Pin finding
JB Weld or other glue
Screws (optional)

Tools Needed
None

Step 1
Select the toy. We found this brightly colored lizard in the bottom of the family toy box.

Word of advice: Negotiate with your kids to be sure you can use the toy. Take it from me, it is not pretty if your kids change their mind after the fact and decide yes they really did want to play with the toy that is now pinned to your suit. :)

Step 2
Wash the toy. Well. This may involve simple soap and water....but sometimes you do NOT want to ask what the sticky, yucky substance on the toy is....just hope it is the remains of....chocolate. LOL

Attach the pin back to the toy

Step 3
Glue the pin back to the toy with JB Weld or another glue designed to bond metal to plastic.

You can add screws to secure the pin back. No need to drill, just turn the screws until they are flush against the pin back. In this pin, we used only chemical bonding (otherwise called glue) because the screws we had (while small) did not look small enough to use for this skinny toy.

After: Upcycled Pin by Geltdesigns.com

Related Tutorials
Make a Pin from a Glass Pebble
How to Make a Pin Back

Further Reading
"Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box";  Madeleine Albright; 2010.
"Make Pins: 16 Projects for Creating Beautiful Pins;  (Making Jewelry Series)"; Jo Moody; 1977.
"The New Jewelry: Contemporary Materials & Techniques (Arts and Crafts (Lark Books))"; Carles Codina; 2005.


Day 56.  Month 3. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: toy lizard
New Jewelry a Day.