With all the buy-stuff events coming up over the next couple of months – and because it’s generally wonderful and inspiring, I thought it was high time we had another look around the world of upcycled jewellery – the stuff people are making by reusing and recycling random things that would otherwise be headed for landfill.

• Julie from NotesOnPaper makes fun brooches out of plastic bags and other waste materials – check out this fabric version made from a promotional health & safety advice (!) scarf…
• The fab MaryHoresh sent us two of her favourite recycled jewellery links – first, Niki Guy’s lovely sea glass/tumbled glass creations…
• And second, Judith Williamson’s jewellery and accessories made from old packaging – mostly tinplate from old sweet/biscuit tins. Mary also recommended Judith’s workshops: “good fun”.
• Fluxplay’s Maria Whetman also works in tin – I love her rings but I have to admit that this cute pinwheel brooch is probably my favourite item!
• Kathy from ArtworkbyKD makes fantastic earrings from old plastic bottles – covering the plastic in tissue paper and vintage texts to upcycle them further. She also uses old drinks cans – one of my favourite recycled jewellery materials – to make big hoop earrings – ace!

• LianaKabel makes very fun items using old craft equipment – plastic knitting needle bangles and statement necklaces, and also brooches and hairclips using tape measures.
• The House of Ismay makes deliciously simple brooches and cufflinks using off cuts of wood and vintage magazines, books and maps – sometimes less is more.
• The main “ingredient” in these earrings by Bella Tierra Jewelry is plastic bags – fused together to make a interesting, malleable material. And there is a how-to if you want to make your own!
• And another how-to – Alicia of TheMayFly has written a great tutorial: how-to make old belts into wrist cuffs.
• Finally, if you need somewhere to store your jewellery – somewhere as fun and wonderful as the creations above – how about using an old tennis or squash racket? I regularly see vintage wooden ones popping up in charity shops – they’d look fab on a plain wall.

What are your favourite pieces? Do you have any other great examples of random stuff recycled or upcycled into jewellery?

Carol sent us an email explaining:

I often see huge bins of clothes patterns at thrift stores. Most helplessly outdated or missing instructions. I have used them in the past as packing material but was wondering if there was any other uses. Seems like there has to be some use for the tissue type paper.

I’ve only just started making stuff from patterns but I’ve already built up a little stack of dressmakers’ tracing paper squares from the excess bits of paper from around the edges of the pattern. If I was more artistic/less clumsy, I’d imagine that I could make an interesting (low-power) lampshade by layering them around a frame or even a privacy shade panel for a window – but since I’m not, I’ll keep them in an envelope pocket in my sketch book for when I need to trace.

Lots of people seem to use them for decorative decoupage projects – for example, decorating little boxes, gift tags or furniture (I can’t find the pictures now but I’m sure I’ve seen a sewing table covered in an old pattern). Just remember to use some sort of sealer so they don’t get wet and/or tear.

They also be used for just about any tissue paper craft – the only “problem” being the somewhat muted colour compared to most bright tissue paper. That doesn’t mean they can’t look great though – pale flowers can still look fantastic whether as a bouquet or as mini fairy lightshades.

More practically, I do like Carol’s idea of using them as a packing material and they could also be used as delicate gift wrapping paper for handmade projects.

Any other suggestions?

Continuing in our Green Halloween series…

So yesterday, we looked at reuse or recycling ideas for Halloween masks – and I suppressed my desire to rant about shop-bought costumes. In my ever-so humble opinion, homemade costumes are way more fun – and they often reuse and recycle stuff, rather than using resources to make a one-off outfit.

In the past – way back in the past – we spoke about making Halloween costumes in general but I wanted to think about masks in particular this time – partly, because I mentioned yesterday, I sometimes need non-Halloween masks for theatre things and so the more suggestions the merrier.

What have you used to make masks?

Any suggestions for base materials – things that are malleable or things that already have a suitable shape? I guess the most basic type of mask is an oval of card (cereal box?), shaped and painted — but anything more creative?

Any suggestions for how to fix it onto your head/face? And getting a bit more involved – any ideas what to use for hair?

(The mask in the picture is

After a couple of years of faithful service, one of my beloved bras has broken. It’s one of the two really quite expensive bras I own – they cost a lot of money but worth it — supportive, comfortable to wear and resulting in (what is I’ve been told is) a pleasant boob shape.

Because it was great quality to start with, it’s in pretty good condition – except that one of the underwires has snapped. My mum suggested removing both of the underwires and wearing it as a non-wired bra. I think I need more support than that for daytime wear but it’s definitely a last-resort option.

I think I’d prefer to replace the underwire if possible — I have a collection of underwires (and hooks & eyes, and straps) from old bras in my craft box but they were mostly from my smaller-boobed days so I’m not sure they’ll fit. It’s certainly worth checking though. Other than that, Google tells me it’s possible to buy replacement underwires at haberdasheries – although I can’t say I’ve seen them.

Anyone got any advice on replacing an underwire?

Also, anyone managed to successfully fix a bra when the underwire is popping out of its pocket and jabbing you in the cleavage or armpit? I’ve tried sewing up escape holes on a number of occasions (with different bras) but the wire has always found a way through the stitching again — is a mini-patch the answer?

Another problem that I sometimes have is when the “catch” (for want of a better word) on the strap starts to slip and the strap lengths & my boob sags further as the day goes on. Anyone got any suggestions for fixing that? Or replacing a strap/the little loop at the bottom of the straps?

Any other bra breaks/fixes?

We’ve had an email from Katy:

Cleaning out my mum’s cupboards I’ve found some tatty straw tablemats and a set of coasters that must be as old as me! Can I compost them?

Maybe. A cautious composter might want to leave them out – you don’t know if the straw has been treated with anything and the thread used to hold them together might be synthetic too – but if you were less concerned about things like that, the straw ((or similar woven wood, if it’s not actually straw) would probably rot down pretty quickly once it got warm & damp and you could just remove the thread if it remained intact.

However, before you throw them on your compost heap, you might want to consider reusing or upcycling them first.

How about using them to make a fun casual bag or purse? There is a how-to on Craftster on making a bag from a big placemat – I’m sure it could be modified if the placemats were smaller and not embroidered. Very floppy straw placemats can apparently be made into hats as well.

Is the tattiness just at the edges? Perhaps they could be neatened up with a bit of sewing – attach any stray strands back into the mat and/or cover the edges with strip of fun fabric. If one side is tatty or stained but the other side ok, they could be covered with a thin layer of fabric – the straw would still protect the table.

Any other recycling ideas?