How to make a toothbrush bracelet

Hello, and welcome to the illustrated step-by-step process for making a toothbrush bracelet. This is a great way to reuse an item that you may have otherwise thrown out. In six simple steps you will turn your toothbrush into a one-of-a-kind fashion accessory!

Step 1 You will need...

Comments

[waterpolo1]

My little sister had a birthday party and she was turning 12!
so my other sister and I went out to CVS and got like 20 of them, it was a pretty big hit for those kids and i have a few friends over and im 18. Can i just say im legit starting a new trend in my school...people are texting me and who knows how they got my # but they ask me to make them some!!

[GofishRC007]

Imagine you could make more than just a bracelet, a S hook perhaps, maybe even could make a chain of bracelets!

[VAC]

Mine doesn't melt at all :( and it is exactly like the ones in the photos

[shelley echtle]

Can't wait to make. I am going to go all out with rhinestones, buttons, lacquering with tissue paper. Just thought of all the kiddie toothbrushes out there... imagine that!

OMG... THANK YOU! You have inspired me!

[mpolson]

Great instructions! Can't wait to make some for my daughter's orthodontist office! ;D

[mboada]

can i do it with a colgate 360 tooth brush????

[jackfr0st]

The toothbrushes I used had rather thick handles and would not get flexible enough or stay bent after boiling, So I put them on a small metal cup on a cookie sheet in the oven at 290 degrees for around 5 minutes, and it was able to bend and shape LIKE BUTTAH. I then put it inside a glass of ice water so the toothbrush was shaped around the inner circumference and left it to cool that way, and it turned out perfect!

[Tim Temple]

290 for five minutes? You're playing the odds. Very close to melting or at least acting like cooked spaghetti.

Better to put it over something like a spoon handle. When it wilts, the core is still about 270 and holds the dimensions when you bend it.

[JohnDeere312]

I did this with red and purple! LOVE THEM! I got so many complements at school. People wanted to BUY some! I was pretty happy :)

[jackfr0st]

Could you do this by heating them up in the oven? In the same manner you use to warp vinyl records?

[poofrabbit]

This is cool, I'm going to have to give this a try

[SPYBOOM]

ha ha ice ice baby

[dmclaugh1]

After about a half a dozen tries dropping it back into the boiling water, I have concluded that this can't be done with a Preserve brand toothbrush (the recycled plastic type). That is some heavy plastic, son.

Speak up if you've found otherwise.

[Stormed Wolf]

This is the best insructable i've seen where people drew their pictures, and this is really simple and takse hardly 15 minutes

[mhozzy1]

 melt the bristles a little with a match or lighter to make everything a little easier to get out

[kiva22]

doesn't that release any noxious fumes or gases when melting plastic?

[janettetsmith]

You could go outside and hold your breath.

[Spyderman36]

I have a sonic toothbrush, so i cant do this... =(

[kiva22]

awesome! just made one from my sister's old toothbrush whcih happens to be the same as yours! looks cool, was really easy to bend after a couple minutes in the water. pulling the bristles was tough though, and took a long time. a tip is to get and snip and much as you can, then boil and bend, and pull while still soft. works wonders.

[spon-tan-ii-us]

Ugh >.< Cracked mine in half :p

[Roulette Dares]

Just made one :)

[techturtle2]

Mine Melted... :(

[techturtle2]

My mom is a dentist so i made her one for her birthday.

[Apple_4_life]

nice job dude! for once, when someone draws out their instructable, its actually really good!

[casketry]

 "something other than your hand" xD rofl

[Moosterz]

It worked just fine for me! I actually just dipped parts of my toothbrushes into the boiling water because when I used tongs to get them out, they left marks all over them. It's cool for a design idea though.

:D Great instructable!

[craftyque]

I love how simply this is. It will be a great activity to do with my tween cousin. Thanks for sharing.

[ghanim]

that let me laugh, it is so silly

[ramchand]

 Wow..I made my own...Its really cool... :)

[cmlara_2009]

Well I decided to give this a try...
I couldn't find any of the just plastic toothbrushes so I had to settle for the ones that have some of the grips and what not.. though they seemed to work fine..

Here's how mine turned out.. The blue one was a bit harder to shape due to its thickness so try to go for a toothbrush that is relatively the same thickness...

[abaneyone]

 Your picture made me want to do this project! The multi color affect of 3 toothbrush bracelets is great! Thanks for posting that picture!

[cmlara_2009]

No problem!
They turned out really nice. I like how the band of color shows through the clear part of the toothbrush and yeah they look neat all together :)

Good luck with yours and post up pictures when you're done!

[Lance Mt.]

Wow... AWESOME

[abaneyone]

 Talk about new life for an old tooth brush? This is a great idea! I think people will think it's stupid until they actually SEE the bracelet(s) on arm. Then they'll be like, "How can I get one?" I lie the multi color affect of cmlara_2009's comment picture! Excellent!

[hibou]

Your illustrations are wonderful!

[GeekyGirl1103]

Very nice instructions! Unique, but very effective. :]

I tried this, and it took only about 5-10 minutes Very nice effects. It was a little hard to take the bristles out, but that was the only road bump. I'm definitely going to have to do this again. :3

[VampireFrancesca]

this is cool!!! i'm sooo going to try this....

[elkorto]

Cool, I'll try to make.

[Hamzah]

good instructions and good idea 

[Junebugbanjo]

This is totally amazing! I love the instructions! Time for me to buy a new toothbrush!