How to Make Recycled Soda Can Jewelry
Jewelry is a versatile adornment that flatters your face and body and complements many types of outfits. It is available in an assortment of styles, shapes, sizes, colors and materials, including fine faceted gemstones, funky plastic beads and everything in between. Some of the most interesting jewelry is fashioned by hand from unexpected materials that, in some cases, would otherwise be thrown away. Soda cans make wonderful jewelry-making materials. With the right tools and supplies, the widely available materials can be recycled into any type of jewelry you imagine.
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Things You'll Need
- Soda cans
- Metal jump rings
- Earring wires
- Chains
- Clasps
- Scissors
- Heavy paper
- Pencil
- Hammer
- Nail
- Sandpaper
- Pliers
- Dish soap
- Water
- Leather-coated mallet (optional)
Instructions
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1
Pierce a hole into the side of a soda can with scissors. Position the hole near the top of the can. Remove the top of the can. Use the same technique to remove the bottom of the can as well.
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2
Wash the inside and outside of the soda can in warm, soapy water. Dry it thoroughly.
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3
Cut in a straight line vertically down the side of the soda can using scissors.
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4
Unroll the soda can on a worktable. Strike it with a leather-coated mallet until it lays flat and you have a flat, smooth square of metal.
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5
Determine whether you wish to make earrings, a pendant or charms, or a bracelet. Draw templates of the shapes of the earrings, pendant or charms, or individual bracelet links on a heavy piece of paper with a pencil. For example, you may want circles, ovals, squares, heart shapes, or triangles. Cut out the templates with scissors.
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Position the templates on of the flattened soda can and trace around them in pencil. Cut out the shapes with scissors. Use the blank inside of the soda can or the colorful outside in your designs; let your creativity be your guide.
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Hammer a single nail into the place on each metal shape where you want to create a hole. Pull out the nail. You will use the holes to connect the metal shapes to earring wires or to jump rings, which will connect the metal shapes to chains if they are pendants or charms, or to each other if they are the individual links of a bracelet.
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8
Sand around the edges of each metal shape to soften any sharpness. Rub sandpaper in and around each nail hole.
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9
Make earrings by opening the small rings at the base of a pair of earring wires with pliers. Slip the holes of your metal shapes onto the rings. Close the rings with pliers.
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Fashion pendants and charms by opening jump rings with pliers and sliding them through the holes in your metal shapes. Hook the jump rings onto the links of a chain and close them. Or, close the jump rings and push a chain, ribbon or cord through them.
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Create bracelets by joining several individual metal shapes with jump rings. Make a hole at both ends of one metal shape. Open jump rings with pliers. Slip them through the holes in the metal shapes to link the shapes together. Use jump rings to attach a clasp to the bracelet.
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Tips & Warnings
Combine shapes from different soda cans in your jewelry. For example, mix pieces of a 7-Up can with pieces from a Coke can to combine different colors.
Metal jump rings, chains and earring wires are found at a jewelry or craft-supply store or online jewelry supply vendor such as firemountaingems.com. These components generally come in sterling silver, copper, brass and gold, as well as in silver or gold-plated metal.
