Re-purposing With A Purpose: Plastic Bag Beads
We are huge fans of repurposing things here at Jokari. Sure, you can get a lot of use out of everyday products the way they were intended. But it’s incredible how many OTHER ways you can use things, too.
Did you know you can use plastic grocery bags to make beads? And it’s not hard, either!
Materials needed:
- Clean plastic bags
- Parchment paper
- Iron
- Crafting Glue
- Toothpicks
- Scissors
- Ruler
How to:
- Place two layers of your plastic bags between two sheets of parchment paper.
- Heat iron to low/medium setting (no steam) and run the iron over the parchment paper. I recommend running the iron five times over each side (it will be hot when you flip it! So be careful!)
- Cut long triangles out of the fused bags. If you cut a wide triangle, you get a long bead. If you cut a narrow triangle, you will get a short, fat bead.
- Apply a small amount of glue on one side of the triangle, about ¼ inch from the bottom. DO NOT PUT GLUE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE BEAD.
- Roll the bead onto the toothpick, wide end first. (Be careful not to glue toothpicks to the beads. This is why you don’t have glue at the bottom of the bead.)
- Stand toothpicks upright and allow beads to dry (Overnight is always best)
- Enjoy your new beads!
So now you have a way to re-use your plastic bags. If you need a place to store your bags, check out our bag holder!
