03/10/2012 - Plastic Flowers

I can't stop making these flowers! I saved the colorful plastic that comes with flowers from the D.C. trip. I think the airline baggage inspectors thought I was a nut job bringing home a suitcase half full of garbage. I couldn't decide which Zoe picture to use so I have a couple of her. She is becoming a ham with the pictures.

Reclaimed Material: plastic papery flower wrap, toy wire, ribbon
Other/New Material: none
Tools: scissors, glue

How I did it: Just like the paper flower wreath, I cut out squares of the plastic and then cut it in a circular swirl. I rolled the pieces and viola...flowers. I used the toy wire as the stems and glued the center of each flower to a piece of toy wire. I then recoiled the flowers and glued the end around the base of the flower by the wire to keep it from uncoiling. I tied them together with a piece of ribbon from a balloon to hold the bouquet together.

What I would do differently: I am not sure what I am going to do with the flowers yet, but they are just fun to do. Zoe is really enjoying playing with them. I think I am going to use the rest of the plastic and scraps to make "grass" for Zoe's Easter basket.

03/08/2012 - Plastic Ornament

UPDATED: In case you already looked at this, I have updated it with pictures now....yeah me! I am not really sure what this should be called...so I am calling it an ornament. I have seen something similar with paper, so why not plastic?

Reclaimed Material: #2 plastic yellow and white containers, toy wire
Other/New Material: none
Tools: scissors, paper, hole punch

How I did it: I cut a stencil from the paper in the shape of an elongated eyeball - I believe that is the technical term, about 3" long. I cut out about 7 of these pieces in each color because I wasn't sure how many I would need. I punched holes on each end of the pieces. I bend the toy wire on one end and made a couple coils then pulled it through the holes on one end of the pieces, alternating the white and yellow. I pulled the piece from the bottom of the stack and pulled the wire through the hole on the other end, and continued this. I had to pinch the pieces so they would stay in place.

What I would do differently: Since I finally found the ornament this needed to be updated. Because of the thickness of the plastic I used the pieces stair stepped so when the last piece and the first piece met, there was a gap. I think a thinner plastic should be used or the pieces need to be cut bigger.

02/11/2012 - Tree Pendant

I really love working with metal bicycle parts and I have been trying to come up with ways to use them without any welding knowledge. I am not sure how I am going to end up using this piece, but I am happy with how the front turned out!

Reclaimed Material: bicycle cog, bicycle brake wire 
Other/New Material: none
Tools: heavy duty metal snipper, pliers

How I did it: The first thing I did was to thread the brake wire through 4 holes on one side of the cog. I only used two pieces of wire so I threaded each wire in a U-shape between two holes. Brake wire is made up of many little wires, and those little buggers are very sharp. I got a few metal splinters when I was digging through the box at the bike shop I got them from. I used the pliers to untwist each of the wires that make up the brake line to separate them. This was a little more difficult than I anticipated. Once all of the tiny wires were separated I bunched them together and twisted them together at the base as tightly as I could with the pliers to make the "trunk" of the tree. I then grouped smaller sections of the wire to make the "branches" and pulled the ends of the wire through the holes along the top of the cog. After the tree design was complete I twisted the wire together in a circle behind the metal part of the cog to make sure no sharp wires were sticking out.
 
What I would do differently: The only thing I am not completely satisfied with is the back of the pendant with the wires leftover from tree. I need to figure out a good way to hold the wires so that this can be used as a pendant. For now I think I will make a small frame to mount this on.

01/16/2012 - Game Card/Toy Wire Notebook

This is a very simplistic project, but was fun to do. The game cards are from an old Magic Trolls game I intercepted from the garbage. The paper I just pulled out of our recycling bin and I found another use for the toy wire - hooray me!

Recycled Material: game cards, paper, toy wire
Other Material: none 
Tools: paper cutter, small hole punch, round pencil, long nosed pliers  

How I did it: I trimmed about 25 rectangles to the size of the game card using the paper cutter. If you don't have one, this can be done by hand with scissors or sneak into a FedEx Kinko's to use their fancy paper cutters. I made sure the printed side of the paper was facing down and used 2 cards, one for the front and for the back. I took a shorter piece of the toy wire (about 7" long) and wrapped it tightly around the round pencil to make the coil and ended up with 7 loops. I stretched the coil as evenly as possible to the length of the top of the cards and paper then evenly marked the placement for the holes on the back of the front cover and punched 7 holes. I used the cover as a guide, then took about 5 sheets of the paper and made them flush with the card and punched the holes in the paper. I continued this until all the sheets and the back cover were punched and put the covers and paper together. I started twisting the coil in by inserting one end into the first hole and started twisting the coil, guiding the end of the coil into each hole until I reached the end. I used the pliers to bend both ends inward about 1/4".

What I would do differently: I thought this was a cute little project that kids could do easily. They could use yarn or ribbon to tie it together, but this wire seems o.k. for kids to use since it is coated in plastic...unless you cut it, then it will have sharp edges and need to be filed down. Another idea would be to reuse the coil from a used notebook.

01/13/2012 - Rubber/Toy Wire Ring

I was still on my toy wire kick when I made this. I found a few pieces that I had saved that had a 2.5" plastic cover over it made me think of a ring...which led to the creation of this little guy.

Recycled Material: toy wire, small piece of rubber inner tube
Other Material: small beads, jewelry wire 
Tools: long nosed pliers, flower craft punch, scissors


How I did it: I used a flower-shaped craft punch to make two rubber flower shapes. This only required a couple inches of rubber so I used scraps from another project. If you don't have or want to buy a punch, scissors work just as well. I used the scissors to make a little hole in the center of both flowers to pull the wire through. I twisted two ends of the toy wire where the 2.5" cover met. This project would work just as well if you have toy wire without this random cover, just twist the toy wire where it will fit your finger. I then pulled both ends of the toy wire through the centers of both rubber pieces then gave the wire one more twist and separated the ends like in the picture. I put 4 small beads on a piece of jewelry wire and wrapped the wire so the beads were squared and then wrapped the wire from the bead around the two separated ends of the toy wire. I trimmed down the toy wire because I decided I liked the way the two pieces looked between the rubber and the beads.

What I would do differently: This is a repeat project but I will try some different designs on top next time. I am finding that this toy wire is really versatile, so next time you come across some, save it to use as a twist tie or to meet any of your small wiring needs. I also need to file down the ends of the toy wire pieces on top because the wire is sticking out the plastic a little.

01/12/2012 - Toy Wire/Faux Pearl Bangle Bracelet

If you have a child who has gotten a toy from any major manufacturer, you have most likely gone through the frustration of trying to get the toy out of the excessive over packaging while your child tries to wait as patiently as possible for said toy. I won't go on my tirade about how much wasteful packaging goes into products, but there are some interesting bits that can be reused instead of thrown away. I have been saving the plastic coated wire (I call it toy wire since I have no idea what it is really called) that holds the product to the box for the last few years now. 


Recycled Material: toy wire
Other Material: jewelry wire, faux pearls 
Tools: long nosed pliers

How I did it: This is another project I just started playing around with before I really knew how it was going to end up. The first thing I did was take two pieces of the toy wire (about 12" long) and twisted them into one piece. I repeated the process to make two of the twisty pieces. I stared at the two pieces for a while and remembered a link I checked from Pinterest that had directions for a bracelet that I thought looked neat: http://craftaytaylor.blogspot.com/2010/10/copy-cat.html. The photos gave me inspiration to make a bangle bracelet along those lines, but I may try to make a bracelet like that one another time.

I made a circle big enough to slip over my hand with both of the twisty pieces and connected the ends together. I will say that this was easier said than done. I ended up trimming about 1" off the end of one of the wires on each end of the twisty pieces -- I made sure not to cut the pieces off the same wire. I did this so I could twist the two trimmed ends together to connect it, then did the same thing to the other twisty piece. The next step I took was to string enough of the fake pearls on a piece of wire that was the size of the twisty wire and connected the wire in a circle like the other parts. I had tried wrapping the beads like the CrafTay girl's instructions at first, but it just wouldn't work. I sandwiched the three pieces (twisty wire, fake pearls, twisty wire), held them in place, then began to wrap jewelry wire around all three pieces so the wire laid between each pearl. I finished up the wrapping by wrapping the wire a few times (close together or butted up or whatever the jeweler term is) around and tucked in the end of the wire. 


What I would do differently: I liked using the toy wire, but looking back, it does not contain as much reclaimed material as I wanted and the pearls took over this piece. The good thing is that I still did reuse something that couldn't be recycled.