04/04/2012 - Doll Skin Ring

I was cleaning the gunk out of my wedding band and one of the diamonds popped out. Thank goodness I was able to find the diamond before it disappeared. This is my replacement until I get the ring fixed...well not really, but the lack of a ring was my inspiration.

Reclaimed Material: discarded doll arm
Other Material: sparkly scrapbooking brad
Tools: scissors, sandpaper, super glue, X-acto

How I did it: I cut a ring from a baby doll arm using regular scissors. It is the same concept as the doll skin tattoo bracelet. I smoothed the edges with the sand paper and shaped it at the same time. I then removed the legs of the brad and noticed there were little prongs holding a plastic sparkle in place. I raised the prongs to insert into the ring and poked shallow slits where the prongs would be when pressed against the ring. I put a dab of super glue where the sparkle was going and pressed it into the ring and let it dry. 

What I would do differently: I am not really a fan of this ring...this would have been better if I had just drawn a design on it. There does not seem to be enough contrast on the "skin" with the brad on it.

02/17/2012 - Coffee Bag Ring

This is a throw back to the folding gum wrappers in school thing. Way to reuse gum wrappers kiddos! There are some awesome candy wrapper and chip bag purses that people make using this technique, but I don't really have the gumption to make one myself. I was going to make a bracelet, but gave in to just making a ring. Please pardon the seriously dry hand picture.

Reclaimed Material: coffee bag
Other/New Material: none
Tools: scissors

How I did it: Since I didn't use gum wrappers I had to cut the coffee bag into strips, obviously. I cut the strips 1/2" tall about 2.5" wide. I didn't use a ruler, so I just eyeballed a template and cut them all the same size. I followed these instructions (it has been many, many years since doing this in school): gum wrapper chain instructions. Circling the ends together was a little tricky. Quite frankly it has been a few weeks since I did this so I don't remember exactly what I did, but I think I had to take one end of an inserted half to wrap through the other end and tucked or something like that.

What I would do differently: I might try this technique again to make a bracelet with another material. The pieces seemed too thick when folded and tucked, so next time I will cut them thinner and make less folds.

01/04/2012 - Aluminum Tab Ring

These bigger aluminum tabs are from the tops of cat food cans and I thought they would be interesting to use for projects because of the gold-ish color. I ended up using more beads that I intended so it is not as much recycled content as I wanted but I am happy with how it turned out.

Recycled Material: aluminum tabs from cat food cans
Other Material: transparent green beads, jewelry wire
Tools: long nose pliers with clippers

How I did it: The first thing I did with the tabs was to make sure there were no sharp or ragged edges on the part that gets pulled of the can lid. I arranged 5 tabs so that the bottoms overlapped (when working with tabs I refer to the tops as the smooth side that is pulled and the bottoms as the part that is attached to cans) and arranged the tops like flower petals and wrapped copper-colored wire around the 5 bottoms to hold them in place. I used one long piece of wire and then strung (stringed?) 10 beads on the same wire used to hold the tabs in place. Then made a circle with the bead/wire to cover the bottoms of the tabs and wrapped the excess wire every 2 or 3 beads to attach it to the tab bottoms. Next I took another tab and used the pliers to snip off the bottom leaving about 1/8" to bend so that I had an oval and no jagged edges. Then I attached the oval ring on top of the other tabs and the beads, again using the same piece of wire. I ran out of my long piece of wire at this point and used a new piece and strung 5 beads and again circled them to cover the oval ring then pulled the wire down the center and pulled it around on two opposite sides. With the remaining wire I pulled it down the center again and wrapped it around the other pieces of wire to hold it and tucked the end in with the pliers so it wouldn't poke out. For the final step I strung one bead and bent the wire so I could pull the two ends down the center. Then I wrapped one end in a circle three times for the ring base. I used my finger as a guide for sizing. Then I wrapped the two ends between the base and the top, again tucking in the ends.

What I would do differently: First of all, I need to practice my wiring, beading and jewelry making, but overall I am happy with how this turned out.