Upcycle Jewellery tutorial

         Make a bracelet from cherry

                     pip beads

You will need:
-Cherries
-Small drill bit, 1.5mm
-Elastic thread
-Needle
-Drill or a Dremel 
 
Fruit seeds and pips were used during the prehistory to make beads. They were probably the earliest kind of jewellery along with shells, feathers and bone. They are still used in country that have abundant supply's of lovely coloured seeds such as Brazil. Here in Europe, there are a few that can be used and cherry pips are easy to get hold of. For this tutorial I have used wild cherries, they are smaller and plentiful in the hedgerows in western France but you can use shop bought, the pips will be larger.

Cleaning the pips
Although wild cherries are bitter it is possible to cook them up with some sugar and eat them. Simmer slowly until the pulp comes off the pip. If you have shop bought or garden cherries then all you have to do is eat them and clean them inside your mouth.

Wash, scrub if necessary and dry, when they are dry rub them together to get rid of the bits of dried cherry that might be left. 

 

Drill a hole through the pip ( there is a natural dip at the top of the cherry so start here) The pip is hollow, drill through the first section and continue to the second bit do not apply too much pressure as it will slightly crack the outside of the pip.
String the pip beads on the elastic  thread. You could also make necklaces and earrings with the beads.

The darker cherry pip on this bracelet were found on the ground under the tree they seem to have been coloured by the rotting pulp.

The natural oils on the skin will in time give the bracelet a lovely patina.

Did you know that there has been a long tradition of making herbal tea from the cherry stems, it is used as a diuretic. Here is a link to a recipe.



 

Animated film about Ewaste

                             A great little,  animated  film about the effects of the over production of electronic gadgets and the consequence on the poorer countrys who end up dealing with our ewaste                                                                      

   If you want to see more of their films, go to their website The story of stuff over 12 million people have already watched the 20 minute long film called "the story of stuff " which was only released on the internet in December 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Yiuco the upcycle hype

Yiuco is a new Greek based online market place for handmade products made from upcycled, recycled or reused materials. The word Yiuco in Greek means piled up clothes. It was launched at the beginning of the year and with all the competition on the web from market places selling handmade goods it might have some trouble getting noticed. Although it does have a niche market and as far as i am aware it is the only on line market place the is solely committed to selling  upcycled, recycled and reused handmade goods.

Recycled jewellery by Coca Cola

In 2010 the French Coca Cola company in association with Gontie Paris  started marketing recycled glass jewellery made from coca cola bottles. It seems that if a large multi national company are choosing to branch out to into such a creative venture, then the significance of the trashion movement is not just a flash in the pan. Unfortunately for the moment it's only available to French customers, but for those interested you can browse through the catalogue here and there is a brief explanation ( only in French for the moment) of the techniques used to make the jewellery.

Eco friendly and cheap tarnish remover

 


Silver will always tarnish, it's a  chemical reaction between the metal, oxygen and sulphur dioxide, sounds scientific but it just the surrendering air and if the air is heavily polluted then the tarnish effect will happen quicker.
There are commercial tarnish removers that claim to restore the silver to it's original state and they probably do, but there are concerns about the toxicity of these products. There are simple, cheap solutions using readily available household products and that are highly efficient. There are variations that I have seen on the web for this recipe and they all apparently work, but the method that i use is the following.
2 tablespoons of baking powder
1 tablespoon of salt
Some aluminium Foil and for good measure I add a some extra pieces of scrap aluminium
2 cups boiling water

If very heavily tarnished then make the solution stronger ( there is no danger for the silver)

Place the aluminium foil in the bottom of a glass bowel or jam jar, put  the silver object on the foil ( it is very important that the silver is in contact with the aluminium) mix the ingredients in a separate bowel and then cover the silver object with this mixture and leave for 10 to 15 minutes ( there will be a smell of bad eggs this means it is working as the sulphur is released back into the air) After soaking,  remove and lightly scrub the object with a soft  toothbrush and rinse.


                                                               A after and before photo







                                                              







                                                                                                    


         

Urban mining and E waste

photo by JohnJMatlock

Urban mining is a term used to described the process of reclaiming the compounds and elements in building, products and waste. Apparently  1 gramme of gold can be reclaimed from 41 mobile phones  Unfortunately precious metals and base metals are needed more and more in the production of technological gadgets. Electrical goods nowadays have a life span of only a couple of years before it becomes e-waste, as the technology advances so fast the consumer feels the need, for different reasons to constantly update his collection of electronic gadgets  The problem is not going to go away, we need to recycle all electrical items. We should be recycling all our waste but that is not technically possible, but even more importantly we should be seriously tackling the issue of packaging, and consumerism, which in the past 25 years has increased to near unsustainable levels.

photo by manbeastextraodinaire

The recycling of electronics is not a solution to the growing problem as there are many hazardous elements that need to be extracted in adequate conditions to protect the worker. At the moment too much of the e waste is being dumped on the developing countries to be "recycled" in more often than not primitive conditions . Greenpeace are working on trying to bring awareness to people, but it is issue that we should all address when buying a new phone, computer, mp3, etc.

No Dirty Gold

A excellent campaign to bring awareness to the consumer about the gold mining techniques and the exploitation of the cheap local workforces around the world.  Sign their pledge to end dirty gold mining practices.