DIY Wedding

How to Recycle Magazines into Jewelry

Diane Gilleland, contributor

99 users recommend

Magazine paper lends itself well to this colorful little project. This pendant is made with parts of three different pages.

Diane Gilleland

Experiment with various coil sizes, and even glue coils together!

Diane Gilleland

There are tons of design possibilities...

Diane Gilleland

Magazine paper lends itself well to this colorful little project. This pendant is made with parts of three different pages.

Photo: Diane Gilleland

Add Comment
Print

Before you recycle those old magazines, turn some of their pages into pretty coiled pendants. You can make a whole collection of them in no time.

What you'll need:

• Magazine pages
• Scissors
• Bone folder
• Thin wooden skewer
• Low-temp glue gun
• White craft glue
• Eye pin
• Blank cardstock
• Clear acrylic sealer
• Jump ring

A note on glue: After much testing, I've found that my low-temp hot glue gun works well for this project. Since this kind of glue hardens so quickly, I can build my coils in a snap. Keep in mind, though, that you can accidentally come into contact with the hot glue, and if your fingers are sensitive, they could burn. (I've developed Teflon fingers over the years, so this doesn't bother me.)

As an alternative, you can glue your coils with white craft glue, but you'll have to hold the work in place for a few minutes to let the glue set.

Gather some magazine pages and heat up your glue gun.

First, you'll need several magazine pages. Tear them out or cut them—just make sure you get as much of the page as possible. And, if you're using a glue gun, start letting it heat up.

The best coils come from bold, brightly colored pages.

View 2 member project galleries

Recycled Magazine...
misshappypants

Paper Heart ala...
SomeArtFabric

Add Comment Print

How to Make a Woven Scrap Journal  

Back to List

Comments (25)

Jenn_at_FFP writes: This is a really cool idea with so many potential uses! I just gathered up all my old magazines earlier today. I had planned on taking them to the recycle center but I think I'll make a bunch of these first. You could make matching bracelets, earrings, rings, decorate photo and mirror frames; I could go on and on and on. This is an exciting craft. Thanks
Posted: 8:04 pm on March 3rd

Partlycloudy1 writes: Here is a Flickr album of the first batch of necklaces I made from this tutorial. My projects had a tendency to flip over because of their light weight so I backed them all with illustrations cut out of a Victorian-era encyclopedia which was not usable otherwise (the paper was too brittle). I covered the completed pieces with paper glaze, and incorporated recycled jewelry pieces in them too.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157623506873592

I gave these away to my friends as holiday gifts this past season, but have made another batch and am trying my hand at selling them locally.

PartlyCloudy
Posted: 7:44 pm on March 3rd

NancyWard writes: Hi!

Today I posted an entry on my blog with a link to this tutorial.

Would you let me know if that's OK?

Thanks,

Nancy Ward
http://paperfriendly.blogspot.com
Posted: 11:16 pm on August 25th

Flippincool writes: Hi!

Just wanted to let you know I featured this tutorial in a post all about upcycle crafting. Thanks!

Emily
The Handmade Experiment
http://emilyflippinmaruna.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/must-make-monday-upcycled/
Posted: 4:57 am on July 13th

Prachi writes: Wonderful art of work! Looks trendy as well as attractive. Just Love it. I'll try some for myself. Thanks for sharing the great tutorial and pics! Looking for traditional styles of jewelery visit here www.ckcsons.com/
Posted: 2:22 am on April 4th

AggieAnn writes: These are so pretty! I'm going to try them with fabric.........my first love. :-) Thanks for the instructions!
Posted: 5:49 pm on March 22nd

Magicgreen53 writes: Iam getting busy with this one tomorrow!!
Great tutorial and pics!
Thank-you sooo much for posting this!!
Posted: 3:20 am on January 31st

SewDanish writes: What a great idea! I love working with paper. Think I'll make collection of various colour, size and texture. Could come in very handy for some of my projects for the final embellishment. Birgitte
http://www.SewDanish.etsy.com
Scandinavian Textile Art, Unique Handmade Supplies
Posted: 6:59 am on January 27th

sampan writes: I like prima-gold verymuch because it's very beauty
http://www.prima-gold.fusionthai.net
Posted: 8:42 am on January 24th

Cheriezel writes: No! Not another cool craft to get sucked into! But I have so many magazines/catalogs in the recycling, calling to me now....

Great photos and tutorial!
Posted: 11:49 am on January 22nd

Taueret writes: love it! Can't wait to give this a try.
Posted: 6:17 pm on January 15th

Erinzp writes: SO COOL! i've already torn out a million pages to turn into rolls. the rolls i've made so far have turned out really cool
Posted: 4:04 pm on January 13th

Nomdeeploom writes: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!! I WILL try this...I am into making my own jewelry AND recycling; this great idea combines the two!
Thanks for sharing!
Posted: 9:40 pm on January 12th

busybeedj writes: some how mine came out a little tighter and the coils werent as visible , but it came out cute , i added coils in the shape of a teddy bear , added eyes and blonde ringlets painted it purple , its definately different

Posted: 5:41 pm on January 12th

Mortira writes: What a great idea! Any magazines that come my way get obliterated after I've clipped out any jewelry, fashion or color scheme photos for my inspiration book. This is a great way to use up the pages that are left!
Posted: 12:22 pm on January 12th

happyjoy writes: Yea! This will go into my projects file for summer camp. We can't wait for the campers to try something new.
Posted: 6:18 pm on January 11th

trusk4u writes: This is a really awesome idea! I'll have to pass it on to a friend who has a girl scout troop.
Posted: 6:49 pm on January 10th

Susancnw writes: And this has definitely given me an idea...I might try this for drawer pulls on my daughter's dresser....the cardstock backing on it...and then use some sort of finish on it...so they will hold up to the pulling a bit. Besides, at the 'free' cost, I can replace them when necessary.
Posted: 1:47 pm on January 10th

LluviaDesigns writes: i'm very inspired by this! it's a good way to use up some of the magazines i have floating around - and i feel so guilty tossing them in the trash.
Posted: 12:35 pm on January 10th

LauraMM writes: Great tutorial! And the color combinations are so good! Great way to recycle those magazines!
Posted: 10:25 am on January 10th

DownHomeDIY writes: This is great. Thank you for sharing the detailed tutorial. I can't wait to try it.
Posted: 9:18 am on January 10th

babylamms writes: Thanks for the great tutorial! I love working with magazines & catalogs.
Posted: 9:10 am on January 10th

IggyJingles writes: Awesome! I'll be doing some of these alright.
Posted: 6:01 pm on January 9th

FaveCrafts writes: As an Editor who always saves all my magazines, I love this idea! Thanks!
Posted: 3:44 pm on January 9th

AmericanCurl writes: These look great! I'm going to do a "Playing with Paper" workshop at an upcoming singles conference, and I'm definitely going to add these as part of the things to try. The perfect pendant for a paper bead necklace! I'm also going to include making a tiny paper collage pin and tea bag folding. Paper is such fun to play with and the price is definitely right!
Posted: 2:39 pm on January 9th

You must be logged in to post comments. Click here to login.