How to make beads from recycled plastic bottles

A quick and simple way to make beautiful beads from plastic bottles.

Everyone knows the importance of recycling nowadays, but did you also know that you could make beautiful, colourful jewellery with items that you would otherwise throw away?

Beads.

Making beads from plastic bottles is really quick and easy.

Step 1. Take a clean plastic bottle and cut it into strips. You can cut triangular shapes or simply standard rectangular strips. The wider the strip, the bigger and more shapeless the bead will be. But a long narrow strip will end up fairly round once it has been rolled.

Step 2. You can either use acrylic paint, permanent markers or nail polish to colour the beads. This can be done before or after rolling.

Step 3. Take one end of the strip in a pair of pliers, if you have a triangular strip, start at the widest part. Roll the other end of the strip around the end that you have in the pliers. When you have rolled it and it is tight, hold the visible end and move the pliers so that they are keeping the whole roll together.

Step 4. Still holding the roll in the pliers, take a hairdryer and turn it onto its full heat, hold the roll in the heat for about 30-50 seconds, moving it gently to ensure the whole roll is heated.

Step 5. If you have used acrylic paint or nail polish, cover the bead in a sealant to protect the colour.