I love to create and any time I can recycle items for use as crafty materials, I’m even happier. It’s a win-win situation as far as I am concerned – helps the environment and saves me money on supplies! I have linked to these water bottle bracelets before but I love this idea so much that I wanted to highlight it again and show you my own creations based on it.
The basic materials that you need to make these bracelets are empty (obviously) plastic water bottles, the blue painter’s tape (you need this kind if you are removing the tape before decorating the bracelets) or something like masking tape (if you are just leaving the tape on when you decorate the bracelets), a utility knife and/or pair of scissors, and the materials you wish to use in embellishing the bracelets. You might also need some type of adhesive depending on what types of decorations you plan to put on the bracelet. I realize some of this is kind of vague but as we get more into the description of the process, I think it will become clearer to you.
The bottles taped off – starting to cut them apart.
First of all, the best tutorials available for making these bracelets comes from the talented crafter who first demonstrated it (at least in my presence) at the Inspired at Home Pajama Party Live – Heidi Borchers aka EcoHeidi. Here is Heidi’s Youtube video showing just how to make the bracelets:
Over the next few weeks I plan to experiment with a variety of different materials for these bracelets. Because of the way I was making this particular bracelet, I didn’t bother removing the tape before embellishing the bracelet. I used blue painter’s tape and electrical tape – basically it was because I wanted two widths of tape so that I could make two sizes of bracelets and this was the tape that I had on hand. As Heidi demonstrates, the tape is pretty much there so you have a guide for cutting and sizing the bracelets. The bottles that I used were large 1.5 litre water bottles. (I believe that Heidi used the ones that were 500 ml). I based my choice on the bottled water that was in a bottle that seemed to be an appropriate size for my wrist AND was on sale for the best deal. The plastic in the bottle I used was very thin so I was able to simply poke a small hole in it to allow an opening for the scissors and then I was able to cut them out the rest of the way with just a basic pair of scissors.
After cutting them apart into the bracelets.
I decided to use some of the fabric I had dyed using Koolaid (see previous post) for this bracelet. I wanted a kind of “Bohemian” look to the bracelet so I tore the fabric into strips and tied them together with simple knots. I wrapped the plastic bracelet (the piece cut from the water bottle) with a thin layer of cotton quilt batting and then with the tied together strips of dyed fabric. I didn’t use any adhesive until I reached the very end of wrapping the bracelet and then I used Aleene’s Tacky Glue to hold the end in place.
The bracelet wrapped with the knotted dyed fabric.
It’s a fun and funky design and was quick and easy to make. Because of the quilt batting in it, it also is very comfortable to wear and fits quite well. I can’t wait to experiment with some other ways of decorating these!
Leave a Reply