Go Green Just In Time For St. Patrick's Day - Upcycled Soda Bottle Jewelry!

Even though we've been making a concentrated effort on wasting less and using more of what we purchase, I've noticed there are still far too many plastic bottles that come through our home.  Our trash service doesn't offer curbside pickup of our recycling and sometimes it is months before we drop off our recycling.
I reuse bottles as much as possible, but I wanted to take things to the next level!  So in the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to really "go green"!


These "feather" earrings were easy to
make by simply cutting the shapes
out of the side of a bottle and
carefully cutting the individual strands
of the feather with scissors.

 



I used a "fish hook" style earring
to attach the feathers. 

 



These earrings and necklace were a little
trickier to make because I used a lighter
to create enough heat to cause the
"petals" to curl slightly.
Still, they were easy enough once I
decided how I wanted to create the look.

 



A close up of the necklace.  I used fishing string for the
chain but you could use an actual chain.

 



This photo shows the detail better.

 

For this project, I used a 2 liter soda bottle, fishhook earring bases, coupling links, and fishing wire from my husband's tackle box.  I did borrow his needle nosed pliers as well.  I'll probably invest in some jewelry making tools and supplies as I think it will make future projects easier. 

For more great ideas you may want to check out the following

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Jewelry Upcycled!: Techniques and Projects for Reusing Metal, Plastic, Glass, Fiber, and Found Objects

Jazzy Jewelry: Recycle materials to make cool stuff (ECOCRAFTS)

Green Bling: Turning Bottles Into Bangles (Leisure Arts #4335) (Clever Crafter)

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