DIY Wedding

How to Recycle Magazines into Jewelry

comments (35) September 23rd, 2010

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Diane Gilleland, contributor

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

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

There are tons of design possibilities...

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

Photo: Diane Gilleland

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I'm going to jump ahead of myself for a moment here to show you something important. See the lovely photo on the left? It makes a somewhat muddy-looking coil. So when you're looking for good magazine pages, seek out bolder, brighter ones like what you see on the right. They'll result in much prettier, more graphical coils. (Very often, I get the best coils from ad pages.)

Fold the page in half (a torn edge is fine).

To make a coil, begin by folding a magazine page lengthwise down the center, as shown. If one edge of your page is torn, just line up the most intact corner to make your fold.

Unfold the page and cut it in half along your foldline.

Fold the half page in half lengthwise.

Fold this half page in half lengthwise. Again, if you're working with the half that has a torn edge, just line up the most intact corner, as shown. The torn edge will be completely hidden once we finish this series of folds.

Fold the piece in half lengthwise a second time.

I recommend creasing each fold with a bone folder. If you don't have one of these, you can use the back of your thumbnail.

Fold the edges in toward the center.

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Comments (35)

Green_Dot_Creations writes: I love to recycle paper into jewelry. This idea has just so many possibilities! I'm working on it already! Thanks!
Posted: 2:23 am on January 5th

liverichandfree writes: I included a link to this post in my "101 coolest reusable craft ideas" post. I post about frugal ways to have a cool life while spending less, and this definitely made the list. Enjoy!

http://liverichandfree.blogspot.com/2011/10/101-coolest-reuseable-craft-projects.html
Posted: 2:57 am on October 8th

NatashaDevine writes: I am currently working through my ICT Controlled Assessment and for this, we need to find different Upcycling Ideas and I personally believe that this is an excellent idea. Therefore, I would like to ask for permission to use this idea. Thank you, Natasha Devine.
Posted: 4:21 am on October 2nd

eggood writes: This is eggood,I'm new,and I'm looking forward to trying this .It looks very interesting.
Posted: 10:53 am on June 10th

brbrcat writes: What about buttons ? Would they work?
Posted: 2:47 pm on June 3rd

ani246 writes: To whom it may concern,i am also a yr1o student doing my gsce which is on upcycling and as a part of it we have to research on upcycling demonstrations and would like your perission to use this as apart of my demonstration it will be very much appreciated.

Thankyou.
Posted: 5:06 pm on November 3rd

Azziza writes: Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a year 10 student at St Marylebone School doing my ICT GCSE. As part of our coursework we have to research upcycling demonstrations. Therefore I would like to ask you for permission to use your idea as part of my coursework. Thank you.
Posted: 4:06 pm on October 18th

Tulip211 writes: This is an awesome idea!
Posted: 11:39 am on May 19th

Rooty_Tooty writes: Nice! This would also be a good way to decorate the tops of paper mache boxes. Perhaps the sides of the box could be cover in the folded strips & the inside lined with flat pages.
Posted: 12:17 am on April 4th

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

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