Sunday 22 May 2011

How to Recycle Silverware into Art

How to Recycle Silverware into Art


Spoon rings are a popular jewelry item


They are a novelty to look at and they never go out of style. Plus, with a few simple tools they are easy to make. But you don't have to limit your creativity to spoon rings. Once you master the technique of working with rings, you can easily make other types of spoon jewelry as well. Read on to learn how to make jewelry from old spoons.

Things You'll Need:

•Old sterling silver spoons

•Masking tape

•Vise

•Hacksaw or rotary tool with cutoff wheel

•Rubber mallet

•Emery cloth

•Round ring file

•Ring mandrel or narrow metal cone

•Drill and small drill bits (optional)

•Jump rings (optional)

•Chain (optional)

•Epoxy glue (optional)

•Jewelry findings (optional)

Step 1 - Select a sterling silver spoon with a pattern you like. You can easily find old spoons at flea markets, garage sales and online auction sites. If you can't find any spoons you like, you may use fork handles as well.

Step 2 - Place masking tape on the teeth of the vise to protect the metal of the spoon. Use a hacksaw or rotary tool with a cutoff wheel to cut the bowl of the spoon off of the handle. Cut it as close to the bowl as possible. Save the bowl for later use.

Step 3 - Smooth the cut edges with the rubber mallet. Use the emery cloth or round ring file to finish smoothing the cut edges of the spoon and handle.

Step 4 - Begin wrapping the spoon handle around the ring mandrel. You can use brute force or you can use the rubber mallet to shape the ring. Sizing is not important during this step.

Step 5 - Remove the ring from the mandrel. Inspect it for rough edges. Smooth any imperfections with the emery cloth. Try the ring on for size. Expand it or compress it to get the desired fit.

Step 6 - Use the same technique to create wraparound bracelets. For chunkier jewelry, use serving spoon handles rather than teaspoons.

Step 7 - Create a necklace from the discarded spoon bowls. Use epoxy glue to add embellishments such as old brooches or other jewelry findings to the bowl. Drill a small hole in the top of the spoon, attach a jump ring and place the spoon bowl on a chain.

Here are some photos to get your creative juices flowing. I'd love to see what you do with your old silverware.


This one is sexy!


Beautiful polished bracelet
Hair pin
I love these two below, made by prying the knife blade from the handle

Or how about making silverware art?

I Love the Alice in Wonderland style clock!
Solve your kitchen storage issues by turning your serving pieces into a chandalier!
Maybe cute figurines is more your style

How about something functional ,like these hooks?
or a card holder

Decorated yerba mate cups

And last but not least for all you shabby chic enthusiasts, the fork light-catcher,isn't she a beauty?


So go round up your tools, dig out that old mis-matched silverware and create some magic

Happy crafting,


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32 comments:

  1. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a comment! Wow, the silverware art above is beautiful!! Amazing! Repurposing things is such a fun and rewarding hobby. God bless you in your life!

    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like the Phone stand made from the Forks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Would be an ethical behaviour to link the images back to the owners site wouldn't you think? All of my images are copyrighted.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Anonymous, I am deeply sorry for offending you in any way. It was not my intention to do so. I will be more than happy to credit you or take down your photos if you can tell me who you are. I saved these pictures long before I wrote this blog and never planned on using them this way at the time so didn't keep the relevant information. I just wanted to share the creative process with everyone. Rhianna

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear eclectic ark,

      The fact is, the "Conventional Wisdom" about the sanctity of "Intellectual Property" held by mainstream society is ethically questionable.

      It is not really a foregone conclusion that there is even such a thing as "intellectual property." Many ethical and legal philosophers argue that property is physical objects. if something is "intellectual" and not a physical object, then it simply cannot be "property" at all.

      Would it surprise you to know that Thomas Jefferson (yes, that Thomas Jefferson) felt just that way?

      Here is what he said:

      If we have right to use three things separately, I see nothing in reason or in the law, which forbids our using them all together. A man has a right to use a saw, an axe, a plane, separately; may he not combine their uses on the same piece of wood? He has a right to use his knife to cut his meat, a fork to hold it; may a patentee take from him the right to combine their use on the same subject?

      If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it.

      Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it.

      He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.

      That ideas should freely spread from one to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction of man, and improvement of his condition, seems to have been peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, move, and have our physical being, incapable of confinement or exclusive appropriation.

      Inventions then cannot, in nature, be a subject of property.

      – Thomas Jefferson

      Many Open Source advocates today agree. They say "Information wants to be free."

      I agree! I for one, don't think you have anything to apologize for.

      Delete
    2. FYI:

      Anti-Copyright Resources
      http://praxeology.net/anticopyright.htm

      A freedom oriented website by legal philosophers dedicated to genuine property rights and opposed to fictitious "intellectual property rights."

      Delete
  5. This is one fot eh coolest sites I have seen in a while. Wow, this gives me ALL kinds of ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, found the fork pendants at Doctorgus.etsy.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rhianna, I make repurposed silverware jewelry: bracelets, necklaces, pendants - I love you work with forks, question if you would answer, do you use heat to bend the tines? Curious. thanks. smt

    ReplyDelete
  8. The forks would make an awesome Cthulu piece, too!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for sharing. I'm using old silverware to make my door & drawer pulls for my kitchen so I am very inspired by these.

    ReplyDelete
  10. This looks like fun and may try it . I have a ring that I bought that was made this way but would of course make my own . Thank you !

    ReplyDelete
  11. What a terrific idea! How many of us have silver handed down throughout generations but have it locked away. These pieces would be right at home on www.Eco1stArt.com

    ReplyDelete
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  13. Omg,are you selling the fork necklace (the first one)? It is gorgeous and I would love to purchase it!! If so, please e-mail me at dulce05us@yahoo.com\

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  20. Wow, these are some fantastic ideas!!!

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  21. I have a question. My daughter and I are working on a project to use forks somewhat like an "L" bracket to sit a jar on. It would be attached to a back-board with ribbon but we wanted something interesting for the bottom support. We picked up a few forks today and I tried to bend them. Wasn't happening!!! Do the forks have to be silver? Or is there some secret to bending the spikes of the fork. I wanted to curve one to the left and one to the right just to make it more eclectic.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Arlene, the forks have to be silver to start with, silver plate or stainless steel are too hard to bend. Some brute force is required, using heat can help the process. Heat, or anneal, the silver utensil by using a butane or propane torch. Annealing is a process that makes silver more pliable and easier to bend into new forms. Position the silverware on a heat-safe work surface. Move torch’s flame back and forth over the surface of the utensil. When the silverware takes on a dull, red glow, remove the flame and turn off the torch. Pick up the utensil with metal tongs. Drop the utensil into a bowl of cold water. Allow the utensil to cool completely before removing it from the water. Strike the utensil with a rawhide mallet to shape it, or use pliers without teeth to bend the tines.

    Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6309241_heat-bend-silverware-jewelry.html

    Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6309241_heat-bend-silverware-jewelry.html

    Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_6309241_heat-bend-silverware-jewelry.html

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Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment, Rhianna

The Eclectic Ark