An effective way to do our part in reducing environmental pollution is to reuse or recycle the disposable plastic items we have. I figured out how to make this wonderful brooch from a plastic bottle. It is not at all difficult to make this brooch and it will cost you almost nothing.
Total Time: 1 Hour
Yield: Brooch with a diameter of about 2.6 inches
Supplies:
- green plastic bottle without ridges in middle
- knife
- iron ruler
- awl
- scissors
- 3 white pearlescent beads with a diameter of 8 mm
- 3 white pearlescent beads with a diameter of 5 mm
- copper wire 0.8 mm diameter
- copper wire 1.5 mm diameter, I used wire from an old transformer
- pliers and wire cutters
- iron
- round nose pliers or crochet hook 1.5 mm to make brooch pin
- file or sandpaper
Steps:
- Remove a sticker from the plastic bottle. Using a knife, cut out an even piece of plastic from the bottle (from the middle).
- Use a ruler and an awl to mark a rectangle 2.5 inches wide and 8 inches long. Cut out this rectangle.
- Using a ruler and an awl, mark and draw lines across the rectangle, 0.4 inches apart.
- Fold the plastic rectangle into an accordion fold. Squeeze the accordion from only one end of the plastic rectangle.
- Heat the iron to maximum temperature. Touch the edges of the not squeezed side of the plastic accordion to the maximum heated iron for a few seconds.
Then squeeze a few folds on the other side of the plastic accordion and touch them to the maximum heated iron for a few seconds. Do not let go of the squeezed part of the accordion until the plastic cools. Touch with folds on each side (on all three sides). Continue in this way to fix the squeezed part of the plastic accordion. - Bend the wide part of the plastic accordion to form the tree. Fix the plastic in this position by touching the sides of the folds to the maximum heated iron for a few seconds.
- Now you need to decorate the plastic with the beads. Spread the beads evenly between the folds. Use an awl to make two small holes to secure the beads.
- Cut three pieces of thin wire 1.2 inches long for large beads and three 0.8 inch pieces for the small beads.
- String on the wire one bead and bend the ends of the wires at an angle of 90 degrees. Repeat this with all the beads.
- Insert the ends of the wires through the holes made in the plastic and bend the ends of the wires (see photos).
- Make a brooch pin out of thick wire. You can see how to do it in this project: https://www.thriftyfun.com/Brooch-Pin-from-U-Shaped-Hairpin.html
- Cut a piece of thick wire about 2-2.5 inches long. Bend wire around the accordion-folded middle of the plastic tree. Bend the ends of the wire around the brooch pin on the back. Cut off excess wire and hide the ends between the pin and the plastic. The brooch is ready.
