Make a Ring from a Spoon

Go to almost any yard sale and you will find pieces of mismatched flatware. Rings upcycled from vintage or antique sterling silver or silver-plated spoons and other flatware are easy to construct. Spoon rings are clever, ageless jewelry.

Jewelry saw

Step 1
Select an old spoon to use to create a ring. Vintage and antique sterling silver or sterling plate flatware work particularly well and will make interesting jewelry.

Step 2
Determine the size ring you need by measuring your finger or the finger of the person for whom you plan to make the ring. If you do not have a ring sizing tool, take a piece of paper and wrap it around the finger for which you plan to make the ring. Mark and cut the paper to the ring size needed.

Step 3
Place the sizing paper on the decorative end of the spoon. Cut the spoon to size using a jewelry saw.

Sanding sponges

Step 4
File the end of the cut metal until quite smooth, then use sand paper or sanding sponges until the metal is smooth enough to be worn as a ring. You can use traditional files and sand paper or a flex shaft and sanding tools to smooth and then sand the metal.

Butane torch

Step 5
Anneal the metal cut from the spoon with a torch, to soften the metal and make forming the ring easier. If you do not have a torch, you can still form the ring but the metal will be more difficult to move and shape.

Form spoon into ring

Step 6
Form the ring by wrapping the cut metal around a ring mandrel at the size needed. Use a forming mallet to shape.

Step 7
Finish the ring by buffing and polishing to a high shine. You can leave the spoon ring shiny or you can chose from a variety of alternate finishes. For example, you can add a mat or scratch finish. You can also add color through patina or enamel.

Make a Bracelet from a Knitting Needle

Vintage plastic knitting needles get a new modern look when they are made into a bangle bracelet. With a few simple tools you can upcycle old knitting needles into fantastic jewelry.

Materials
Vintage plastic knitting needle(s)
Pot of boiling water
Bracelet mandrel

Step 1
Select a plastic knitting needle that you want to turn into a new bracelet.

Step 2
Boil a pot of water.

Step 3
Place the knitting needle into the water until it softens and can be formed, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Step 4
Measure your wrist and gather a mandrel in the appropriate size. Women have different wrist sizes, so it is important to measure for size before forming. Chose your mandrel based on the size you need. An average bangle size is about 8" inner circumference (20 cm inner circumference). If you do not have a bracelet mandrel, look around your house for a substitute. Baseball bats, certain canned goods, jars, a fallen tree limb and similar round objects can all be used a mandrels in a pinch.

Step 5
Carefully remove the knitting needle from the water using tongs or tweezers and wrap the knitting needle around a mandrel to the size you desire for your bracelet.

Step 6
Allow the plastic to cool on the mandrel or, to hasten the process, remove the bracelet from the mandrel and place it in a bowl of cold water to set.

Step 7
Adjust the bracelet. If you are not happy with the shape you can put the knitting needle back into the boiling and repeat the process until you are pleased with the result.

Warnings
Note that the colors may change or fade when boiled. You can use the same technique to make a knitting needle ring. Substitute a ring mandrel for the bracelet mandrel.

If you do not like working on your stove top, you can preheat an oven (or toaster oven) designated solely for crafts to 350 degrees F and then bake the knitting needles for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until the plastic is pliable.

Take care when working with boiled water.

Be sure to use proper exhaust and ventilation when heating and forming plastic.

Do not reuse pots for food after using for crafts.

Take care that knitting needles used are not sharp. File away any burrs, sharps or items that could catch clothes or injure the wearer.

Make a Beer Bottle into a Heart Pin

Before: Glass bottle

I miss the days when my three kids and I made Valentine's to hand out in school. Alas, they have outgrown the in-school, everybody-in-the-class Valentine exchange ... but nobody is ever to old for the annual V-day chocolate binge.  None of us can wait. Yum.

Today is Friday and project five of NJAD Valentine's Day week. We went back to our stash of bottles, broke a beer bottle into glass frit and fused it to create a nifty heart shaped pin. With so many, V-Day inspired jewelry, my daughter and I are going to have to negotiate who gets to wear what.

Have a great weekend.

After: Heart pin by GeltDesigns.com

Materials
Glass bottle
1-inch pin finding
Etching cream
Rubber gloves

Tools
Eye goggles Dust mask HammerKiln safe bisque mold
Kiln wash/ shelf primer
Glass fusing kiln
Welding goggles


Step 1
Clean the bottle.

Break bottle into frit

Step 2
Put on eye goggles and a dust mask to protect your eyes and lungs from glass dust and flying, broken shards of glass. Put the glass bottle into a plastic bag and wrap a towel around the bag to reduce the risk of flying shards of glass. Use a hammer to break the glass bottle into very small pieces. Warm glass artists call small pieces of broken glass frit.

We used a Carlsbad beer bottle. Carlsbad makes beer bottles in a really, really nice shade of green and the color withstands heat in the kiln.  

Put frit in heart mold

Step 3
Place the glass frit into a heart shaped mold prepared with kiln wash.


Step 4
Place the mold into the kiln. I based my firing schedule on experience from fusing the pendant from a beer bottle on January 4. I used a small top loading kiln, so I could watch the glass closely and see when the glass melted. For this project, I raised the kiln to 1500 degrees F and held it for about six minutes.

Note: Always put your kiln on a fire safe work surface and wear protective eye goggles (such as those used for welding or lampwork) when looking into a hot kiln.

Step 5
Anneal the glass. Lower the kiln to the annealing temperature(about 960 degrees F) and hold the kiln at that temperature for 10 minutes to anneal the glass.

Step 6
Allow the glass to cool to room temperature. Remove the glass from the kiln and wash off any kiln wash on the glass.

Step 7
Etch the glass. Put on rubber gloves and etch the glass with etching cream.

We etched the glass to give it a mat finish so that the findings were not visible through the pin.

Glue on pin back

Step 8
Glue the pin back finding to the back of the etched, heart shaped glass.

Related Tutorials
How to Make a Pin Back
Make Glass & Copper Earrings
Make a Pendant from a Bottle
Turn a Glass Jar into a Pendant
Make a Glass & Knotted Leather Necklace
Make a Glass & Brass Link Bracelet
Make Recycled Glass & Sterling Silver Earrings
Make a Kiln Formed Bracelet
Make a Glass Charm Necklace
NJAD Index (Days 1 to 60) by Type of Jewelry
NJAD Index (Days 1 to 60) by Type of Found Object 

Day 83.  Month 4. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: Carlsbad glass beer bottle
New Jewelry a Day.

Make a Cartoon Pendant

I have a dirty secret. I let my kids watch ridiculous amounts of cartoons when we are on the road. In the early years of motherhood, I tried to insist my kids would look out the window when we drove. I was young and idealistic. I had my kids best interests at heart.

The "look out the window and learn" ideal quickly melted away around the forty-eighth time one of my kids started yelling, "He's looking at me! Make him stop looking at me!" Oy. "Lookits" and "touchers." I remember the same style of teasing when I was a kid and now my kids were doing it as well. I challenge you to make one of your kids stop looking at the other. In the car. While driving. Talk about distracted. Out came the VCR. Then the DVD. Now the kids use computers and are wishing for an iPad. Same car. Different technology. Clearly, I failed the battle hymn of the tiger mother.

Bottom-line: although they started off with Sesame Street, now my kids love to watch the Simpsons and other cartoons when we are on the road. Yes, even my Dean's list, distinguished AP scholars. Simpsons. Over and over again. Thank goodness for headphones, so I do not need to listen for what seems like the millionth time. (The only thing worse than "are we there yet?" is hearing the Simpsons on TV saying "are we there yet?")

Before: Broken Toy

I do not know where this Krusty the Clown toy came from. One of the kids may have wanted the toy for a birthday present long ago. The toy may have been a giveaway from some junk food meal. Or the toy may have been a party favor from a long ago party. We found the broken toy in the toy box. Krusty lost his body; all we had left was the head...but we all agreed the broken toy would make a funky looking pendant.

After: Pendant by GeltDesigns.com

Materials
Toy
2 small screw eyes
1mm black satin cord

Tools
Flex shaft, Dremel or drill press
Size 58 drill bit 
Center punch
Parallel pliers or chain nose pliers 

Step 1
Clean the toy.

Step 2
Mark the top of the toy with the center punch and then drill a hole in the top of the toy. Marking the toy will prevent the drill bit from slipping when you drill the plastic toy.

Step 3
Screw the screw eye into the drilled hole. Use the pliers for leverage when you screw to help screw the screw eye into the toy.

Step 4
Feed the 1mm black satin cord (or chain of your choice) through the hole of the screw eye.

Related Tutorials
Make Dog Earrings from Toys  
Make a Spider Pin from a Toy
Make a Lizard Pin from a Toy
Make a Necklace from Figurines

Further Reading
"500 Pendants & Lockets: Contemporary Interpretations of Classic Adornments (500 Series)"; Lark; 2008.
"Simpsons World The Ultimate Episode Guide: Seasons 1-20";  Matt Groening; 2010.
"The Krusty Book (The Simpsons Library of Wisdom)"; Matt Groening; 2006. 

Day 66.  Month 3. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: screw eye, toy
New Jewelry a Day.

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.
 

Make a LEGO® and Chain Necklace

Before: LEGO® in the toy box

We are still playing with LEGO®. Isn't it great that we do not have to stop?  


This project took on a completely different look from yesterday's LEGO® as bead necklace or the Giant necklace we made influenced by Emiko Oye. Rather, this necklace was influenced by the work of  Susan Lenart Kazmer's talisman style art jewelry.

After: Necklace by GeltDesigns.com

I've always liked  Kazmer's mixed-media necklaces and I admire her generosity in sharing her ideas and techniques. This necklace incorporates LEGO® rather than metal, so it is really just the talisman feel we emulated. 

If you are not familiar with Kazmer's amazing work, I recommend curling up with her book Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed-Media Artists.

Materials
LEGO®
Brass Chain
18-gauge round brass wire or
20-gauge round brass wire 


Tools
Bead board
Side cutters 
Wire looping pliers 
Flex shaft or Dremel and cup burr 
(or wire rounder ) 

Arrange the LEGO®

Step 1
Gather your tools and materials. Arrange the LEGO® on the bead board in the design you like.

Attach the LEGO® to the chain

Step 2
Attach the LEGO® to the chain and to each other as arranged.  I used 20-gauge round brass wire to attach the LEGO®charms because we have a lot of the 20-gauge wire. If I made the necklace again, I might substitute 18-gauge round brass wire for durability.

Clasp made by GeltDesigns.com

Step 3
Select or make the clasp. Attach the clasp to the chain.

Step 4
Check all wire to be sure there are no sharp edges. File the wire with needle files, if needed, to remove any sharp spots.

After: Necklace by GeltDesigns.com

Related Tutorials
How to Select a Cup Burr
Make an "S" Link
Make Your Own Hook & Eye Clasp
Make Your Own "S" Clasp 
Use LEGO® as Beads to Make a Necklace
Make LEGO® Earrings 
Make a Giant LEGO® Necklace
Make LEGO® Christmas Earrings

Further Reading
"Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed-Media Artists"; Susan Lenart Kazmer
"Fabulous Jewelry from Found Objects: Creative Projects, Simple Techniques (Lark Jewelry Books)";  Marthe Le Van; 2007.
"Junk to Jewelry: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Found Objects in Jewelry You Can Actually Wear";  Brenda Schweder; 2007.

New & Noteworthy
"Jewelry from Found Objects"; Heather Skowood; 2011.

Day 54.  Month 3. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: LEGO®, chain
New Jewelry a Day.