Tag: upcycle

Tshirt restyle

On By CarynIn Craft

This poor shirt. I previously added crocheted elements, but didn’t like the way the sleeve crinkled in my elbow, so took off all the crochet.

Photo description: Black Tshirt with The Smashing Pumpkins cover art for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

It hung sadly in my closet along with another shirt that had acquired stains on the front. Eventually they caught my attention again and I combined them. I used the black shirt as a base, removed the flutter sleeves from the purple shirt and sewed them to the bottom of the black sleeves by adding gathers to match the circumference. Then I took sections from the unstained fabric to make a hem extension, overlapping the sides in a petal formation and adding a narrow hand sewn hemmed edge. Honestly I hand sewed all the added bits, because I like to.

Photo description: restyled tshirt with added purple at the sleeves and hem

Throwback Thursday: bracelet to necklace

On By CarynIn Craft, throwback

My grandmother-in-law had a pair of beautiful jade bracelets that were just slightly too small to slide over her hand. In April of 2008 I made them into necklaces so she could still wear them.

Photo description: light green jade bracelet turned into a necklace by adding leather cord, attaching a clasp to the leather, and adding a focal using silver wire
Photo description: the second jade bracelet also with leather cord, but with five strands of purple Swarovski crystal and silver beads strung with silk as a focal point

I looped the leather and focals around the bracelets in a nondestructive manner, so if ever they needed to be returned to bracelet status, they could be. The necklaces are holding up well, and I saw her wear one at her recent 99th birthday celebration.

Upcycled helium tanks

On By CarynIn Craft, Garden

I’ve been holding onto some empty helium tanks, determined that I can recycle or upcycle them, rather than take them somewhere for recycling. My idea was to turn them into outdoor planters. So I got out the angle grinder and fit it with a metal cutting blade, then clamped the tank into my work bench so it wouldn’t wiggle.

Cutting off the top of a helium tank

It wasn’t hard to cut the top off; it took longer to grind the edges so they weren’t vicious sharp. I did what I could with the angle grinder, then used a file. I then flipped the tanks over and drilled drain holes with a stepped drill bit. While my youngest wanted me to leave them pink, I just couldn’t do it. I used black and silver spray paint to obscure the writing.

Painted tanks

When the paint was dry I filled them with dirt and set up some extra drip line. I put onion seeds in one and watermelon seeds in the other. We’ll see if anything grows! At least they look good.

Upcycled helium tank planters