Creative Reuse for Jewelry

Happy Earth Day…..Week! I hope you all have celebrated this great planet we live on by using less, recycling a bit more, and questioning whether or not items can serve any other purpose once their initial use has expired. If the latter is an unfamiliar proposition, I hope you will take inspiration from the following post:

*side note: Though all the terms below (redesign, repurpose, & reinvent) have easily become interchangeable with one another, in this context, each defines a particular process of upcycling any material into jewelry.

1. Redesign

This would pertain to old jewelry, be it yours, a family member’s, your haul from a thrift shop, an artistic fail or a moment you lost sanity (as an artist or buyer). Usually involves converting one jewelry piece into another, or disaggregating the parts to re-form them into a new composition with a “refreshed” design.

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Do it yourself: One of the most common redesigns is that of a lost or fallen earring, leaving its counterpart to exist alone. If it holds value to you, the surviving earring can be converted into your next favorite necklace with a jump ring and a bit of cord/chain.

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A customer’s redesign of her grandmother’s pearls, adding chain and faceted brass beads for a modern twist.

2. Repurpose

This pertains to materials with non-jewelry intended for purposes, with short lifespans, that you may otherwise dispose of after their initial use.

These materials may include can tabs, bottle caps, plastic straws, sporks, paperclips etc..

Some people are just religious about their sparking water; La Croix can glued to brass bangle band.

manipulated paperclips, @alohrydesignstudio

Do it yourself: Paperclips are just thick stainless wire that was bent into a form. There is not much of a difference from working with 18-20 gauge wire. Complications may arise when dealing with clips that have a coating. In these instances, remove the plastic coating or attach a simple earwire to its coiled form to give you a new pair of earrings for the office.

On a more organic note, @pocket_envy refused to give all her wisdom to the dentist.

3. Reinvent

Similar to repurposing, but in contrast, this category involves items intended for uses other than jewelry, with longer life-spans, that you might consider giving away or donating to others.

Are you ever too old for Hot Wheels?

materials used: nylon cord, heishi shells, and the lego person.

Do it yourself: Lego people’s bodies detach at the torso and the upper part is hollow, which allows running a string, or small piece of wire, from one side to another to be quite easy. Its just a matter of your design and how you wish to execute it.

materials used: KO thread, 11/0 Delica seed beads, wire, chain, and the lego person.

Big thanks to the BDB staff and friends for gifting this blog with their creations, we love to see the innovation of our peers!