Rakhis with plastic shopping bags DIY

It's a while before Rakshabandhan arrives. A refreshing trend over the past few years is, of women tying rakhi to their sisters-in-law, and sometimes sisters tying rakhi to each other's hands. The essence of this festival embraced by cultures across, is protection and prayer for the other's well-being. So why not?

When we were children, we would make our own rakhis, and embellish them with sequins we popularly called `chamkis'. A teacher at our school would so far as go shopping for embellishments and silk threads, and she would get a bunch of students to make and sell rakhis. It was fascinating to see the amount of work go into brushing those thread bunches with toothbrushes, embellishing them, and packing them over cardboards of attractive colours.

I tried out making rakhis this year, with plastic shopping bags that come when you buy clothes. You need to choose bags that are thick, but flexible enough to bend easy. The traditionalist in me craves for original organic cotton threads of ancient times. But a piece that goes toward not trashing plastic is any day a welcome gesture when blended into a festival like Rakshabandhan. You can make these right away in case you must send the gestures of love for your siblings, by post.

What you need:

-- Plastic shopping bags in different colours

-- a slightly thick needle that pokes easy through the plastic, and thread

-- a pair of scissors - metal or plastic cutting

-- embellishments - things like cloth flowers, sequins, colour paper, stickers, etc

-- satin ribbon

-- super glue (if you want rakhis that do not wash off during bath) or multi-surface craft glue, otherwise

Start, by cutting off the handles end of the bag. And fold-roll the bag into strips about two inches wide. Some part of the sheet me remain. You may cut it.

Using the plastic cutting scissors, shear through the folded creases to cut strips from this.

Take about four strips. And fold the bunch into half.

Cut thin strips from the edges towards the centre, leaving enough space in the middle to run a needle and thread through.

Do this on both the edges.

Knot the end of some thread into a needle, and run it through the strip, You need to use the running stitch, giving a gap of about half an inch between each poke through.

Push the folds that form towards the knotted end, and it will form an uneven disc shape. You can add some cut strips according to the thickness you want for the main diskette.

Insert the needle back into the centre area, to stitch the disc up so it holds the layers together. This part was difficult. You will need a needle that passes through these several folds of plastic sheet with ease, and at the same time it cannot hurt your fingers because of the difficulty.

I had a ready strip of gift wrap tissue paper or kite paper that I had cut into strips, for making garlands. It came in handy for this project.

You can run a knot the layers all up with help of a seed bead (used for jewellery).

I used the same method to make two more such discs and used other embellishments. I stitched up a store-bought cloth flower to the disc center.

For another piece, it was about adding a bead in its center to match the colour of its printed side. In this matter, I also added beads of a different shape to embellish the third piece, using glue.

The next step, is to fix either a satin ribbon or thread to the rear of these discs.

I preferred to stitch the ribbon to the rear rather than glue it.

Do these for all discs. And your rakhis are ready. You can try such rakhis with wrapping tissue papers, colour papers, used flower shaped stickers and the likes. Avoid buying a dress in the hope of getting a bag. Make this with stuff around home instead.


Pictures courtesy: Radhika M B

For permissions to re-use, write to radicreative@gmail.com

Re-use that plastic ring from your water bottle: How to

I collect caps of plastic bottles crazy. They say recycling companies are not equipped to separate bottle caps before the bottles get crushed for recycling. And so I try hard, to wash juice bottles and keep the bottle caps. Am dreaming of making full use of all my bottle caps some day.

But it was that oblivious fitting underneath the bottle cap that caught my attention the other day. What if those rings that work as pull tabs when you turn the cap to open it can be repurposed?

The plastic ring works to make such bottles tamper proof. When you trash the bottle or call the local recycle shop guy over to collect them, the ring becomes an invisible collateral.

A million ways may exist to put these rings to use in some way around home I bet. My easiest project was to grab those jewellery/jewelry pliers and some thread. Read on.

Your basic step before starting the project off is of course to pull the ring off the plastic bottle. An easy bit. If managing to push it out of those cap screwing ridges becomes a problem, get a tweezer, a blunt knife, or the edge of a barrette clip to help. Or a jewellery plier that can help bend the bottle a little so you drag the ring out.

You will notice that the ring has protrusions that originally attached them to the bottle cap. Obviously they need to be covered, lest they poke you.

I made earrings from these, threaded ones. It helps that I have such rings around now, because instead of heading to a store for fancy trinklets that cost a fortune, I can simply make a bunch in different colours to go with my clothes.

What you need for the project is:

- an embroidery skein for a start - I chose summery yellow

- a pair of scissors

- a jewellery plier

- fish hooks and jump rings

- plastic or wooden jewellery rings of smaller size or diameter

- rings off the plastic water bottles

- craft glue

- a craft stick to help with the gluing

- optional - a tapestry needle

And you are good to go.

Begin by threading the plastic ring one after the other.

I tried threading two rings together. It does not work unless you run super glue to attach two such rings. Given their easy-bend quality, I gave the idea up.

Leave about four inches of the yellow thread hanging before you start with the rolling of the thread. When you roll the six-thread skein over the ring, the thread tends to sit unevenly. Use your fingers to nudge stray threads towards the stack. In the process, you may find extra thread sitting over an existing layer, making the threaded ring look rough. It's your first effort. So take it easy. Let it be.

Knot the thread from the finishing end with the four-inch piece you had left hanging. When you cut the finishing end off, remember to leave another four inches. Repeat the process with the other ring.

Here is why  you leave the extra bit of thread: these rings vary in width depending on the size of plastic water bottles. The ones I had were fragile and bent easily, which meant that they would not last long on my ears. I needed something sturdier to hold them. The left over piece of skeins I used, to thread the smaller rings that would actually hold these larger ones.

Rolling the thread over on the smaller ring was a tricky effort. You can use the tapestry needle or craft stick to help with the process, by pushing the thread in and out the ring's hollow.

I wanted to avoid using jump rings to attach the small and big rings, which is why the knots with thread. Towards the end, you may tie another knot to finish the threading, and glue it into the rolled thread to seal the thread.

Repeat it with the other set of rings. And let the glue dry for about half an hour. Find jump rings large enough to fit the thickness of the smaller rings that are threaded. Use the jewellery plier to fix the jump rings.

Next, bring out those fish hooks and use the plier again, to insert into the jump rings.

Your pair of summer earrings are ready.

They work fine for casual wear and if you need something funky but simple at work. I would love to wear them for a beach trip, and not worry too much if I lost them. My suggestion is that you do not go buy a plastic water bottle for the sake of making earrings. Pick up a ring from a bottle that got thrust on you at work, or some event.

 

Enjoy the set, or gift away.

 

Who knew a plastic tab could adorn ears!



For permission to re-use pictures and content, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

Pictures courtesy: Radhika M B

Simple pendant with air dry clay:DIY

Terracotta jewellery/jewelry is a rage in India today, just as paper-quilling has taken the DIY world by storm.

Buy a gorgeous Anarkali or saree and you can get a custom-made set of necklace, earrings and bangles or bracelets to go with it. Design has taken such a happy dimension in making clay accessories, that you can get simple work-wear sets too. Social media is abuzz with home-based entrepreneurs  giving wings to their creativity.

For the uninitiated though, making terracotta jewellery can be intimidating, mainly because of the baking complication involved. For the experts, it is a matter of getting their hands dirty and thriving on the technique.

Uma Karthik and Sankgetha Sripathy of Smudgy Trove and Mann-made Jewels are such terracotta jewellery artists who can turn a handful of clay into grab-worthy treasures. They give an easy-peasy method to get you started with the beautiful art. You do not need an OTG oven for this, because you can choose the alternative available -- air-dry clay, that does not need baking.

Here they are, materials required for the DIY pendant:

-- air-dry clay
-- a roller to flatten the clay
-- a flat surface on which you may roll it
-- nose plier
-- knife
-- cutting plier, the jewellery cutting kind
-- Nichrome wire, 26 gauge
-- cookie cutters or any cutter that will give your clay the right shape
-- acrylic paints of two colours
-- paint brush
-- black thread to string the pendant
-- an extra bead with a larger hole, to fit two strings of the black thread

Roll a little ball of clay from your air-dry clay stash. Place it on a flat surface and roll it.

You will get an irregular circle. Use the cookie cutter or other clay cutters to get a flat disc.

You may use your creativity, and give any shape to the pendant on the wet clay.

Use a knife to etch some simple design on the flat clay disc that is ready. Next, it is time to fix a little bead to the disc, to make the pendant's dangler. 

For this, get a half inch piece of the Nichrome wire from the wire role using the cutting pliers and make a bit. You can use this to loop to make a `U' shape and fix the hanging mini-bead.

Use another such U-shaped piece, to insert into the opposite end of the hanging bead.

After the disc is ready, go ahead and dry the piece in the sun, for about half a day. If you have a terracotta piece, you will need to bake it in a little clay pot with some charcoal. 

Time to paint the piece. Uma Karthik has used black paint for a start. And added some gold and red to it. A single coat is sufficient for air-dry variety of clay. You will need to let the paint dry though.

Once the painting part is done, it is time to string the black thread into the loop that you made. You can choose the length based on your preference of how it must hang. 

Use both the ends and insert them into another bead and knot. This is to help partly adjust its height when you wear it on a daily basis. 

Optionally, you can make some beads, air dry them and paint them too, to string into either sides of the pendant loop. They added a pair of earrings to the beautiful pendant and sent a picture of the elegant set.

Is the set not gorgeous! Wear your pendant for that casual do, to work, a dinner or a fun day. 

Do not get intimidated by the idea of making clay jewellery. It is all about shedding those doubts in your head about how your piece may turn out and dive right into making it. 

A big shout out to the girls for sharing the done-in-a-jiffy project steps.

PICTURES AND METHOD COURTESY: Uma Karthik and Sankgetha Sripathy of Mann-made Jewels and Smudgy Trove

Check their Facebook pages for more details.

Copyrights to the pictures rest with Smudgy Trove and Mann-made Jewels.

For permissions to reuse content and pictures, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

Soda can pull tab earrings

Forgive me for another post on earrings. It feels like I am a fan of making those quickies. When raw material comes in the form of everyday items of use, why not?

It's a hard fact that aerated drinks are not healthy. What do you do when you buy them up for a party? An ethical way to discard them is by rinsing them, drying them, and carting them to recyclers. If your apartment community or neighbourhood has a recycling programme, nothing like it.

Soda cans can also be used to make classy decor if you have the right training. The easiest thing of course, is to make earrings from their pull-tabs. Just make sure you pull them out before the drink can goes into your recycle bin.

Things you need to make these earrings

-- a sheet of mini 3-D stickers that can fit into the pull tabs for embellishing
  or buttons

-- jump rings

-- jewellery/jewelry pliers

-- earring fish hooks

-- a mini-hammer or a pestle from your kitchen

-- some craft glue or super glue

-- the main item is of course soda can pull tabs


Firstly, use your pestle or hammer to gently flatten the poky edges on the rear of those pull-tabs.

And embellish the hollows with available stickers. Make sure they fit into the hollows rather than jut out. I used 3-D button stickers from my stash. You can use buttons. They are a perfect size too.

Add some craft glue to the rear of these tabs where the stickers got fixed.

Let them dry.

Fix jump-rings on the end of the pull-tabs.

Fix earrings fish hooks.

Your soda can pull-tab earrings are ready.

Funky are they not? Try your own embellishments and experiment. Parts such as these are available in plenty around us. Run your head and unleash your creativity.



Photo courtesy: Radhika MB


For permissions to use, write to: radicreative@gmail.com

Earrings with a face cream tube: how to make

Every time a cosmetics tube goes into trash, it adds that much to landfills. Not a lot of us would give thought to it, but even tubes containing face creams, scrubs or face packs can be repurposed.

It is all about figuring out what material such tubes are made of. I picked up one of my old tubes that ran out of cream, and used its empty container to experiment with making earrings. The result is somewhat rugged. But it has given me loads of ideas for future projects.

Things you will need to make these earrings:

-- used and old cream tube...wash it thoroughly
-- keep handy lots of sequins and beads for the experiment
-- a pair of scissors
-- 3-D outliners of the colours of your choice
-- some beads and buttons (optional)
-- jump rings and fish hooks
-- jewellery/jewerly pliers
-- multi-purpose craft glue
-- small hole punch

Firstly, wash the tube thoroughly. This takes time.

Cut the flattened edge of the tube off. You are now left with a hollow piece.

Cut its surface in such a way that you get two flat pieces. These pieces have a bend, which you could use to your advantage.

IIf there is residual cream, wipe it off with a wet tissue or wash it and dry it again. You will also notice that some tubes have vinyl sticker packaging, You may remove this with hot and soapy water. The process may be messy. Load yourself with some patience.

After this, you could cut it to shapes of your choice. And embellish with sequins.

Use a small hole punch to make a hole on one end of the pieces each.

Fix jump rings to these holes. Here I have tried my hand with the 3-D outliner. You will notice it is still not dry.

Allow the pieces to dry and fix the fish hooks. And your pair of repurposed cream tube earrings is ready for use.

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Try them on a day you want to do something new. The pair I made is not so perfect, but is bound to draw compliments. Run your head on other ideas with cream tubes too. Crafting is all about trying new experiments using existing objects. And not fretting about imperfect pieces.

Picture Courtesy: Radhika M B

For permissions to use, write to: radicreative@gmail.com