An upcycled project for Fashion Revolution Week.
After designing a series of DIY projects in honour of Fashion Revolution Week, I am beyond excited to present the results. Fashion Revolution Week is so in line with my ideals: I adore fashion, but want it to be a dignified, sustainable, and affordable space.
You may not think you're a fashion designer, but I'd love to help you explore your crafty side with a few simple materials. This week, I've made a pair of delicate drop earrings out of a couple of beads and an upcycled plastic bottle.
How many plastic bottles do you think you've used in your lifetime? It can feel convenient and temporary to grab a drink on the go, but plastic bottles take up to 1000 years to decompose, leaving nasty pollutants behind as they go. Not so convenient in the long run.
It's nice to remember to put your plastic bottle in the recycling bin, but even recycling can be a lengthy process with its own carbon footprint.
We all want to embrace sustainable habits, but it can be overwhelming to start. Fear not!My passion is presenting people with beautiful, simple solutions to environmental problems.
This tutorial will show you how to upcycle your plastic bottles into a beautiful pair of earrings; Suitable for personal use, as a cute handmade gift, or maybe even strutting down that runway.
You Will Need:
- Clean PET Plastic bottle
- 1.5 - 2 mm Hole puncher (be sure you have a hole punch that creates a small hole suitable for beading. You can get a small hole punch at most craft stores.)
- Round nose pliers
- Candle & Matches
- Scissors (Recommend Fiskars’ small scissors)
- Eye pins (four)
- Earring hooks (two)
- Beads (four)
* DIY Jewelry Kit: At Upcycle with Jing, we offer ready-to-make DIY Jewelry Kits for you to unleash your creativity - it will be a great help to make your own plastic bottle jewelry!
You can make earrings and necklaces from this kit, check out the 3 different options here.
Here are the step-by-step DIY tutorials:
Step 1
The simplest way to harvest the most amount of plastic from your bottle is to cut the top and bottom off to create a "tube." From there, you can cut long strips from the plastic, which you can then cut into four small squares.
Step 2
Cut each square into a flower shape. If you aren't comfortable free-handing, you can draw the flower shapes with a marker. Don't worry about marking up the plastic- some nail polish remover will take care of any ink left behind.
I like to make my petals long, with a bit of a point at the end. You can experiment with what works for you, but I find these look nice in our final form.
Step 3
Punch a hole through the centre of your flower.
Step 4
This is the tricky part, but with a little practice it can be the most fun. Light your candle and use the heat from the flame to gently bend your flower petals into a cup shape. Do not get too close to the flame, just close enough that your plastic becomes pliable.
You can use nail polish and top coat to color the flowers.
Step 5
You're ready to assemble your upcycled earrings! Take your eye pin and slide one bead down to the end, followed by your flower.
Step 6
Once you have a bead and a blossom on each eye pin, adjust the length with your cutting pliers. This is a matter of taste, but I like to have one flower dangle slightly below the other.
Step 7
Create a loop at the end of each eye pin with your round nose pliers. Use the loops to attach two eye pins to each earring hook, then close the loop.
Voila! You have a gorgeous set of upcycled earrings, suitable for your next glamorous (and hopefully earth-friendly!) event. The Fashion Revolution starts with you!