From Garbage To Rings

I was at my father’s house, tossing at least two plastic bottles of water in the garbage per day. Watching so much trash be trashed over and over again began to get to me. Where was this plastic going? How would this plastic destroy the earth? How much of this plastic was actually garbage, and how much of it could be upcycled? 

Thankfully, I asked the last question on repeat, hoping to be able to find a way that this garbage could be turned into treasure — objects that could be loved forever. It started out with me turning a couple pieces of cardboard into a pen rest, and exploded from there. 

It came time to throw out another plastic bottle. I looked at it and say to myself, “Uh-uh.”

Instead, I cut the top off, where the mouthpiece was, and ended up with a ring. 

Now, this is the first iteration of this that I have done. It’ll most likely evolve into many different mouth pieces from bottles turning into many different types of rings, painted with mod podge or glued on with rhinestones. There are many, many different types of bottles, so there will be many, many different ways to create what I’ve created. 

If you’re like me, and you’re starved for jewelry, making your own out of what you throw out, or are going to throw out, could be what saves your jewelry box.

There is so much junk filling up landfills that could be used for the purpose of art. Think about all of those plastic bottles damaging the land, the water, and the air. If we turn them into something useful, we won’t have to throw them all out. Not only will we be creating what no one else will have out of junk we have something deeply personalized to our own personalities.

The ring I made from a plastic bottle mouthpiece could be painted any color, and made in whatever way suits you. I’ve been experimenting with different mediums, trying to figure out how to turn trash into treasure.

It’s become one of my favorite things to do. It’s why I keep typing up articles like this one. I don’t really want to tell you how to do it. I want to tell you that it can be done, very much in order to keep your creativity open and spark the ideas for you to make what you love.

There are so many ideas out there for what to create. The most fun is figuring out how to create it for yourself, and turning what you have into what you love. If I don’t give you a recipe, you’ll have to figure out how to make it yourself. I hope that helps a spark in your mind. I hope that helps you figure out how to do what you love because you love it, not because someone guided you through it.

Besides, to make this ring, all you really need is a water bottle or a soda bottle, and a pair of scissors.