I actually learned this craft when I was in elementary school. They were made by melting clear plastic pill bottles in the oven. I used to make them with my students, but over the years it became too difficult to get the right kind of plastic bottles. A few years ago, I tried making them with clear plastic disposable cups, but they were too big and wide at the top and just didn’t turn out as well. I was in the dollar store earlier this week (Surprise! Surprise!) and spotted clear plastic shot glasses. I immediately thought of this project and it occurred to me that these might work. The package of 30 was only a dollar, so it was clearly worth a try. I was so excited when the project worked, as this was much easier than the olden days when I had to ask everyone I know to save their prescription bottles for me.
Melted Plastic Necklace:
Materials:
- Dollar Store clear plastic shot glasses (package of 30 for $1)
- Old Crayons
- A pencil sharpener or knife to create shavings
- foil lined cake pan
- baked marbles (optional)
- Rotary Tool like a Dremel (optional)
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Place a small amount of crayon shavings in the bottom of a cup (no more than 3 colours and be careful of the combinations you choose or you’ll end up with a yucky brown)
- I decided to add baked marbles to a few of mine. Although they look fine, they are a little hidden and didn’t have the impact I had hoped for.
- Place the cups on a foil lined pan. They won’t really expand, so they can be close together. *However, if you want to poke a hole in it (necklace, key chain, etc.), you will need to work very fast and I would suggest baking one at a time.
- Cook until melted ~ approximately 1 1/2 minutes. If you aren’t loving the shape, you can actually poke at them a bit to “encourage” them to melt in a slightly different way. The pill bottles used to take longer and probably weren’t very safe to bake because they had quite a toxic smell while baking. These babies didn’t smell at all and melted really quickly – this is way better than the original.
- Remove from oven a poke a hole, if desired. I used my new rotary tool to grind the holes after. I picked this up at McMunn and Yates for about $40 and love it! It is like a knock-off Dremel and can do all sorts of things like cut glass, etch, sanding small areas, etc. I just got it, so I am still getting used to it, but can already tell it was a great purchase.
When I was a kid, we poked a hole in the hot plastic, put a string through it and made a necklace. You could also add a ring and make a key chain or do what I did with my students and add a pin to the back to make a nice broach. These really do look beautiful and the ideas are only limited by your imagination.
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