Make, Do & Mend - CD Bead Danglers

Submitted by Keely Rendell

Make, Do & Mend

CD Bead Danglers

I have collected hundreds of old CD’s as I’m sure they will have plenty of uses eventually. I came up with these CD Bead Danglers as I wanted an activity for Youth Group which covered all abilities of the members and would appeal to both boys and girls.

The end product will depend on what beads you have, how you’ve threaded them and how long you want the danglers to be.

Now I’ve started using the CD’s, I’m sure I’ll come up with lots of different ways to make them attractive. They can be displayed in the house or garden but won’t last as long outside.

Instructions

You will need:

Two old CDs or DVDs

Strong glue

Drill

Thin wire

Beads

String/strong thread

Glue the two CDs together, shiny sides out. Or picture side out if it’s a particularly nice picture. Allow glue to dry thoroughly.

Using small drill bit, drill one hole through the top of the glued CDs and three (or more) holes along the bottom.

Cut three lengths of wire (same lengths or different if you want). Loop one end to prevent the beads from falling off. Thread the beads onto each piece of wire to your desired pattern. Leave a long enough piece of wire to loop through and twist in the lower holes.

Thread a piece of strong thread or wire through the top hole which has been cut to the length you want. Hang the Bead Dangler in your desired position. They catch the sun, so if you can hang the CDs in a sunny place, you will have some great effects. It's also a good idea to give the CD's a bit of a polish to remove the fingerprints (I didn't and you can see them on the pic).

As per usual, these are only brief instructions to encourage you to do your own thing.

If you have a good strong thread, you can have two or three CDs strung up to make a larger display. You can paint on the CDs with a good acrylic paint. I made a three deep display with painted CDs and beads in between.

Link of the week: http://www.bigwardrobe.com/

Moan of the week: Why don’t some people crush their plastic waste before putting it in their recycling bags? They would use half as many bags if they crushed. And why put out a half empty bag of recyclables? Wait until it’s full…

Interesting fact of the week:

If you want a handy little book on Composting, I borrowed one from Marc the other day which has been a great help. No doubt there are many books & websites on this subject but this one isn’t too technical, or big, or difficult to read. I’ve made lots of notes so I can return it to Marc’s ‘library’.

Composting – An Easy Household Guide by Nicky Scott

ISBN 1-903998-78-6

Printed on recycled paper. Green Books. www.greenbooks.co.uk