Cardboard Jewelry - a Full Set

I love CARDBOARD, I am obsessed with CARDBOARD, I am going crazy with a tons of Ideas in my mind for stuff that can be build using this super humble, super amazing thing called CARDBOARD. Oh.. dear I think I am being overwhelmed.

Oh Hello you creative soul out there :)

A few weeks before I published an instructable Designer cardboard photo frames, a mega tutorial and it was loved by all of you. Thank you. During the making, I played around with those thin stripes of cardboard by making shapes like circles, spirals and some sort of cones too. There sparked an Idea of creating some jewelry using those shapes. Before getting my hands dirty I thought let's check if anyone has made anything like this or not, so I googled and found that two talented designers Yael Gaizler & Aviv Kinel from Israel had done it beyond my imagination. They have combined this 'not so precious' (not for me :] ) & precious metals and hand crafted some awesome, out of the box eco-friendly jewelry.

I was pumped with inspiration and already had my own ideas and guess what, I have all the stuff that was required to make such jewelry and I became unstoppable :[).

What is even more cool that there was no DIY version (at least based on my search) of such jewelry until this instructable :[).

I will refer my designer cardboard photo frame tutorial a lot in this instructable, so if you have not checked it out yet, please do so, it will act as a primer for this tutorial.

Did you just buy a pair of shoes? Please don't throw the box, we will make some cool jewelry using that....you heard me LOL

Lets me show you how easy it is to make then it looks. We will make :

1. A statement necklace 
2. Earrings
3. A bracelet 
4. A ring

A complete set for that special day.

Step 1: What You Need? or What You Can Find.

To make this jewelry you would need the following items:

1. Corrugated cardboard sheets with thin flutes(known as e-flute )(they look finer than regular flutes): You can make such sheets by peeling off the top layer of paper from the cardboard. Visit this step to see full illustration of the process of making corrugated sheets.
2. 15 glass beads of size 6mm and color red : Feel free to experiment with can chose your own material, size and color of bead.
3. 100 seed beads , red color (or your choice).
4. White glue.
5. 2 Earrings findings (ear wire).
6. 1 Empty ring.
7. Beading thread
8. Beading needle (thinnest)
9. Some sort of hook for the necklace.
10. Sharp scissors
11. Cutting tool like Xacto (thank you instructables)
12. Cutting mat (thank you instructables)
13. Tweezers  
14. Flat nose pliers (you will know)
15. Adhesive Velcro squares (for bracelet)
16. Drinking water to keep you hydrated.
17. Tea or Coffee :[)

Optional:

1. Mod Podge
2. or Clear acrylic spray

I wanted to include again all the nifty details of working with cardboard, but I chose to provide link in order to avoid redundancy.

Step 2: Fundamentals and You Might Be Done Here

I am sure you must have figured out on your own that this jewelry design is nothing but circles made using thin corrugated stripes and I used those circles in the design of every artifact. That was my intent. 

However there are some fine details which are behind the scenes, so lets see them. Once you have those corrugated sheets:

1. Cut several thin stripes of about 1/2 cms (0.19") (Image 1). My longest sheet was about 10 inch, so does length of the stripes. You do not have to be accurate here, the longer the better.(Image 2)
2. Arrange 15 stripes (corrugated layer below) and glue the red bead at the end of each, leave them for a while so that the glue dries and hold the bead to strip (Image 3).
3. Once the bead is secured with glue, apply glue on the full strip and start wrapping the bead gently (Image 4 & 5). NOTE: You do not have to put pressure here, the strip will roll smoothly and stick.
4. You should see your jewel coming like this (Image 6) 

We will make several jewels like this of different sizes to make necklace, earrings, ring & bracelet. Lets make them one at a time.

NOTE: I will refer these circles with bead in the center as Jewel moving forward in this instructable.

Step 3: Making of Finger Ring

Lets start with the simplest among the simple :).

1. Pick one of the strips with bead attached.
2. Apply glue, a little generous here.
3. Wrap the bead.
4. Once the strip is fully used, gently push in the center of circle using your finger to make it like pop like a cone, leave it for while to dry (Image 1).
5. Take the empty ring and glue the jewel on top of it , apply glue generously here, let it dry.

Your first cardboard jewelry is ready :). Isn't that cool and easy? :[). That was most basic design, now lets make some earrings.

Step 4: Making the Earrings

Just like the finger ring:

1. Make two jewels using two full length(10") stripes and two using half length (5") stripes (Image 1). 
2. Let them dry for few minutes.
3. Thread the beading needle.
4. VERY IMPORTANT: The beading needles are very thin and can be broken easily, also it is difficult to penetrate the needle in the corrugated layers using hand, you may pop your finger. Use flat nose pliers  to hold and push the needle close to it pointed end. Also use pliers to pull it from the other end. This is a safety measure and must be followed (Image 2).
5. Now start inserting the needle from one end of the bigger jewel such that it passes through the bead all the way to the other side(Image 2 & 3)
6. Do the same for the smaller jewel in the same thread.
7. Pick earring finding and make several loops of thread from inside the wire loop to attach it and secure it with few knots (Image 4).
8. The earring should look like (Image 4)

I had shown this to my friend and she was not able to guess what material this thing is made of of :), that's awesomeness.

Lets make a bracelet now for a change :)  

Step 5: Something for Your Wrist

Initially I thought to make several small jewels and thread them to make a bracelet but I found it very common design, so I came up with this design like a small watch. Here's how you can make it, it is so easy.

1. Make a jewel using 10" strip and leave it to dry.
2. Now cut 4 strips of length 10" and width 1/2" (Image 1).
3. Apply glue on the flat side generously and stick with each other such that at one end of the arrangement you form a stairs like structure (Image 2).
4. Wait for a few seconds and gently roll the arrangement around your wrist, you will notice that the strips will begin to move to adjust the curve, because the glue is not yet dried. This was important to make a curve (Image 2).
5. You will notice that the other end is also like stairs. (Image 2)
6. Let this arrangement dry for a while. 
7. Attach adhesive Velcro and cut off access (Image 3).
8. Glue the jewel in the center of the bracelet, be generous with the glue here to form a strong bond between the glue and the corrugated layer (Image 4)
9. Leave the bracelet to dry.

I just can not tell you how happy I was to see this coming up :). Do you like it too  dear?

Lets make a statement now..oops I mean a statement necklace now :[).

Step 6: Making of Statement :)

The boldest yet the simplest to make statement necklace here

Create jewels as follows:

1. 1 Big jewel using 4 strips of length 10". The biggest.
2. 2 jewels using 2 strips of length 10" each
3. 2 jewels using 1 strip of  length 10" & 1 strip of 5" (overall 15") each
4. 2 jewels using 1 strip of length 10" each.
5. 2 jewels using 1 strip of length 5" each. The smallest.

Ready??

Now thread (a long thread) the needle. NOTE: Remember the precaution of using the needle, use pliers.

1. We need to bead the biggest jewel such that it stays in the center of the necklace. I did not chose to push it all way from one side to another (just like earrings) because the process could damage the shape and flutes because of its density. The needle might broke too. Instead I inserted the needle like shown in Image 1. This way the jewel will hang securely without hurting the shape.
2. Now bead the four jewels in this thread in the order of biggest to smallest. Make sure that you are penetrating the needle all the way through the bead in the center. Now bead about 50 red seed beads in the thread. The length of the thread is totally upto you, you may choose to bead less or more seed beads.
3. Thread the necklace hook and put a seed bead and make a knot to secure it.
4. Repeat 1,2,3 for the other side.

Does that necklace make a statement? I think so :[).

Step 7: Thoughts

Corrugated design has a lot of potential just like our brains:), you can put them to any design possible. See the picture above of how a heart shaped pendant is made easily using the same tricks in this ible.

Few important notes:

1. You can apply a coat of mod-podge or clear acrylic paint for protection, I was running out of time so I did not do it, though I like the original texture.
2. Protect these jewelry from water, even after coating with mod-podge.

I hope you will find this ible enjoyable as much as I enjoyed making & documenting it. Please do let me know should you have any queries, comments & suggestions in the comments section below.

Thank you so much for your time & efforts to visit & read this ible, I really appreciate that.

If you think it deserves, please do vote.

You know... you are awesome :)