The Best Upcycled Rubber Grape Jewelry Tutorial I've Ever Written.

Say you have some rubber grapes.  Say you feel like wearing them.  You could go this route...

Or you could make jewelry.  My mom gave me the idea at an estate sale.  I was tossing aside a big buncha purple grapes as useless, when she said, "Could you use them as beads?"  Oh, brilliant!

You can easily use them 'fresh' off the vine - just treat them like any regular bead.

But I had even more fun with a little shape-shifting.  One simple cut, and look what you get: a cute, tulip-shaped bead cap!

Right now I'm going to show you how to make this pretty, vine-y, silver wirework pendant.

It's easy, adorable, and I am quite sure you will have fun!  Ready?

First, pluck thyself a grape.

Squish it between thumb and finger, and follow the curve of your finger to cut off the tip of the grape.

You now have a little Pac Man shape.  You can use it as is, or flip it inside-out for a different silhouette.  Both ways are cute...see the subtle difference?

Next, cut about 6 inches of craft wire.  Make a swirly at one end.

Stack a big bead, your Pac Man, and a spacer bead onto the wire.

With round nose pliers, grab the wire above the spacer bead, and use your free hand to spin the wire all the way around in a circle, to form the first 'leaf.'  (You'll need to reposition the pliers partway through this step.)  Then make another leaf a bit higher up.

Trim off the wire to leave about 3/4 inch.

Finally, make a simple loop, and try to orient it opposite the plane of your leaves.  (Does that make sense?  All I mean is, your top loop curves front-to-back, so when it's hanging, the leaves will poke out side-to side.)  If it doesn't want to orient that way, use your pliers to jigger it around if necessary.

Lookie there!  Your pendant is done!

Now say this ten times fast: rubbergrapeybuggybumper, rubbergrapeybuggybumper, rubbergrapey...arrrgh...bleah.



Oh, heck, just go make some jewelry!