Thursday, September 23, 2010

Zip-tie tutorials, part one! Zippy, leafy earrings.


Hi again, fans of weird jewelry!  Here are some leafy little cuties:



Made from plastic zip-ties.
Today begins a small series of ideas for these things, starting with this simple-peasy earring tutorial.  Here goes.

Step one: make some zip-tie leaves.
Insert the skinny end into the locking hole and pull until you have a teardrop shape.  Trim the tail, and you have your basic leaf.  As you make a second leaf to match, pull the end slowly and keep measuring against the first leaf until they are the same.

Two notes: be sure you insert the end into the hole so the teeth grip and lock.  If you insert it backwards, it will just slip out.  Also, once you have completed your leaf, you could add a drop of glue into the lock, just to be sure it won't click past any more teeth and shrink smaller.  This is optional for these earrings, though; there's not much stress on the design, they are probably fine without glue.

To turn a leaf into an earring, use a jump ring and any earring finding.  Like this:
And there you go!  A basic leafy earring.


If you nest two sizes, you get this extra pretty, double-happiness version...


Or link two teardrops with a teeny tiny leaf, as in this yellow pair:
So find some zip-ties, make some leaves - then just play.  Whee!


Hope you liked these!  More zip-tie creations to come.

26 comments:

  1. I don't know how you step outside of the box (bag?) and come up with such unique ideas, but I'm so glad you do.

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  2. Do you get tired of me calling you a genius? Well too bad if you do! Did you invent Post-Its?

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  3. LOL.. I never would have thought of this in like a million years!!

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  4. that is so awesome.. "going through my hubbies workshop" lol

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  5. LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM !!

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  6. These are so fun! I love the multi-colored ones. Thanks so much, I'll be linking.

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  7. Duct tape and zip ties in two days? Good God, woman, you're creative!

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  8. Oh wow, you did it again. Yes, I am a real lover of anything weird and different. I didn't know that those thingies came in so many different colors. What a imagination;-)

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  9. Lady, you have got to be kidding me?! It's the simplest things that make the most fabulous stuff. If this is part 1, I cant wait to see whats next!

    PS: So, Im in the beauty supply store looking at all kinds of plastic do-dahs and found myself thinking "Hmmm....what should I get...what could I make....WHAT WOULD MICHELLE L. DO?"

    ....you know what I got? mint green sponge rollers and acrylic fingernails! No clue what I'm going to do yet, but for $1.89 total, they were too good to pass up! I'll keep you posted :)

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  10. ooooooo! i'm liking where this is going and i don't even wear jewelry! i enjoy seeing what you come up with. it makes me joyful!

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  11. Very cool! I think I'll try this with the kids I work with... or something similar anyway.
    Sophie

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  12. I stand in awe of your creative genius! On the shopping list: zip ties!!

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  13. Such fun!! I really like the yellow earrings.

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  14. Great and creative ideas...have you posted here yet?
    http://www.oneprettything.com/
    Terisa

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  15. Hi Michelle, what a fabulous idea! Wow, you have so many fantastic ideas! Thanks for popping by, Tamara

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  16. wish you had face book so i can share or have email news letter sign up for projects neat idea for recycle things
    thanks debbie from farmington nh

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  17. Just found your blog tonight. Love it! Your picture in the sidebar makes me smile!!! Too cute!

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  18. Oh another great idea! How wonderful!!

    I wanted to let you know too that I featured your one-minute pendants on my Round Tuit post this week at:

    http://jembellish.blogspot.com/2010/09/round-tuit-16.html

    Thanks so much for linking up!

    Hope you have a lovely week.

    Jill @ Creating my way to Success

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  19. What a unique idea. Would never have crossed my mind. They look great! Came over from A Little Lovely.

    Krista
    whilehewasnapping.blogspot.com

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  20. I think you should have a post once a week where you show your jewelry and we have to guess what it's made from. It would be so much fun.

    Love the earrings!

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  21. I love these!! Hopefully the teens in this rural area will too. I just found a huge package of assorted sizes and colors in my shed the other day that my son left here. Finders Keepers...heh heh!!

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  22. Michelle, I'm setting up a week of guest bloggers on my blog, Seeds on a Breeze for the week of Oct 10 -15 and was wondering if you'd do a guest post that week? I'm sorry to be leaving this request as a comment on this post, but I couldn't find an email address for you.

    You can contact me at jenn_seratt@hotmail.com

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  23. OMG! These are too adorable. Teens anywhere will love these! Great job!

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  24. havent seen this one before on your blog..love it as usual

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