Sure, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, but you don’t need a special day to surprise your significant other with something pretty, do you? Here are a few of our favorite upcycled baubles to provide you a little inspiration the next time you’re looking for a gift that’s as pretty as it is responsible.
In the United Kingdom, Annabel Neilson transforms shiny beverage pull-tabs into earrings, bracelets and necklaces. The designs often incorporate such extra embellishments as rivets, washers and even bits of discarded inner tubes from a bicycle repair shop.
“I use recycled materials and waste products in all my work,” Neilson says. “I like to encourage people to view these materials in a different light, and to see that it is possible to make ‘trash’ into ‘treasure,’ and to think twice before throwing things away.”
She continues, “I love our planet Earth, and I believe that there is so much ‘stuff’ already in existence that there really is no need to be buying more stuff, when you can recycle/upcycle the old.”
Skateboard Rings
When he’s not selling skateboards at his family’s store in Ohio, Jake Benz is in the workshop repurposing old, well-worn and broken boards that patrons drop off.
Transforming unsightly beat-up boards into fresh, smooth and vibrant rings is extremely rewarding, Benz says. The patterns and hues vary, depending on the veneers of the skateboard being recycled.
So are skateboard rings romantic? Sure. “We’ve done wedding rings,” Benz says.
Benz’s recycled designs also include earrings. See all the designs in the ReAply Etsy shop.
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