Pincushion, Class Prep, and Soda Tab Chain

Yesterday while my friend and her 2 daughters were over at my house, I showed them how to make a bottle cap pincushion.  One of them was having a few friends for a sleepover tonight and she wanted a simple craft project to do with them.  I wonder if they made some.  

I finished sanding 31 cardboard tubes for my class tomorrow, and I counted all of my soda tabs to make sure that I had enough.  I'm teaching 26 teens and tweens how to make cardboard mailing tube bangles and soda tab bracelets tomorrow.  The tabs in the chick paint can are all the large tabs that I have.  I didn't expect to have that many large ones.

This is a soda tab project that I have been working on.  I think that it looks like a bike chain.

Bangles part 3

Today I taught a bangle class at the library.  I had made the base of these bangles out of cardboard mailing tubes.  I brought in all kinds of things for the girls to use to decorate their bangles with.  I showed them how to coil / wrap yarn to create a certain look,  but it was completely up to them how they wanted to decorate their bangle.  The girls were able to make up to 3 bangles.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  I made the above bangle during class using fabric, buttons, and glue.

Two types of wrapped ribbon.

Wrapped ribbon and buttons.

Wrapped ribbon.

Ribbon and buttons.

Ribbon and yarn.

Fabric and ribbon.

Wrapped ribbon and yarn.

Sponge Bob fabric and buttons.

Three kinds of ribbon.  One ribbon has a straight stitch running through the center, and then it was gathered to create ruffles.

Ribbon, yarn, and fake flower petals.

I was not able to take a picture of all of the bangles.

Some of them also had fabric flowers with button centers on them.

It was a great class!

Aside from the link parties on the right hand side of my blog, this is also linked in Lamb Around.

Bangles

photo by Drew Medina

For two days now I have been sawing 1" rings from this mailing tube, and I am not done yet.

photo by Drew Medina

Why?  I am teaching a class on Friday at the library on how to make bangles out of recycled materials.  I am preparing the "bangles" so that the kids can decorate them.

photo by Drew Medina

As you can see they are rough around the edges.  I wonder if they would be smoother if I had used a power saw.

After they are cut, then I sand the edges so that they are smooth and wearable.  I am using fine sandpaper.

There is some waste involved, but at least it is recyclable.  These curls came from some of the rings that just didn't want to keep that layer of cardboard on them during the sanding process.  Warning: there is a lot of dust involved with sanding them.  It was much more pleasant sanding them outside than inside.