Plastic Bottle Hack: Make Easy Gemstones!

by Randomona

145K25740

Intro: Plastic Bottle Hack: Make Easy Gemstones!

Hello people!

In this instructable, I will show you how to turn plastic bottles that you would usually throw away into precious gemstones!

It's a simple project that everyone can do at home - most likely you already have all the materials that you will need. And who wouldn't want gems that cost nothing?

Also, there is no extra waste since you are reusing the bottles. That's why I love upcycling projects - there is no good reason why you shouldn't try it! ;)

You can use the gems for jewelry, costumes, decoration, cards,.. Just use your imagination!

It's lots of fun and I can imagine that kids as well as adults will like this project.

So I hope you enjoy! :)

STEP 1: What You Will Need

Materials:

* plastic bottle (who would have thought?): It can be any size and colour, as long as it has the basic flower shaped bottom part. The bigger the bottle, the bigger the gemstone! (see pictures)

* something to paint the gem (like nail polish, metallic markers, acrylic paint,..)

* scissors, and I also recommend nail scissors

* thin cardboard (like from cereal boxes)

* any glue

STEP 2: Cut the Basic Shape Out of the Bottle

The first thing you need to do is to cut off one "foot" of a bottle.

It already has a nice oval shape, so you just need to cut around that until you get a more or less symmetrical piece that is oval from above and flat from all sides.

STEP 3: Paint the Gemstone

Now it is time to give the gemstone some colour! You can pretty much use any paint, nail polish, metallic markers or glitter to do that.

The easiest way in my opinion is to paint it from the inside. But this only looks good if the plastic has no scratches.

If it has scratches, you can paint it from the outside as well. A nice way to do that is to take some adhesive putty or Play-Doh and put it on the tip of a pencil. Then you can add the plastic piece on top and paint away!

This trick is also uselful for the drying process, since you just need to put the pencil into a pen holder.

You can paint the gemstone in one colour, make a galaxy gem, draw a unicorn on it.. You name it! :)

STEP 4: Fill the Gemstone

Now we have something that looks like a gemstone, but it's still hollow and kinda hard to work with.

So just take a tiny bit of newspaper and roll it into a ball. Then cut a piece of cardboard into an oval that fits into the gem.

I also coloured the edges of the cardboard purple because the white didn't look that nice. But that's just a detail.

Glue the ball of newspaper into the gem, then the piece of cardboard, and your gemstone has a flat side that you can glue to any surface!

I hope you liked this upcycling idea and stay creative ;)

Randomona

39 Comments

Kwarseck 4 years ago

you can also use the play dough to fill in the back. It gives the cabuchon some weight and if you make it flat it looks like part of the fake stone.

Randomona 4 years ago

Thanks for the advice! That is true.

kozy81 5 years ago

The bottom of my bottle arent this easy to cut with scissors. What else do you suggest to us in cutting?

Thanks

Randomona 5 years ago

It is a bit tricky.. Maybe you can use a craft knife to cut the piece from the bottle (but be careful) and then try different scissors for the detailed cutting? Maybe you have tried different scissors already but I have used too dull scissors many times.

Also when you look at the bottle, there are some parts that are more thick and some have thinner plastic.. Try to cut where it is thinner if you can.

Don't know if that helps?

SondraM3 7 years ago

Excellent video! Too Cool!! Can't wait to make some! Thank you!

Randomona 7 years ago

Oh thank you!! Have fun!

jwzumwalt 7 years ago

Your video was very well done. It is hard to do good videos up close - good job!

Randomona 7 years ago

Thanks for the nice specific feedback!

Mihsin 7 years ago

I encourage schools to teach handicrafts such as yours to elementary kids inorder to help them discover any imbedded abilities into them to create. I'm 72 and appreciated your work.

Randomona 7 years ago

That is great! I'm sure there are many kids who can enjoy creating. Thank you!

FineSilver99 7 years ago

After seeing your video, I think one could also use the cut out and leave it clear to imped a keepsake in it.

Randomona 7 years ago

Yes I think that would be cool.

SallyJ7 7 years ago

If it's scratched and you have to paint the outside, have you tried painting it before cutting it? Seems that it would be easier to paint, but maybe it would chip around the edges when cutting?

Randomona 7 years ago

I haven't tried that, but it could actually work. Cutting when the paint is already on works without chipping from my experience. One problem could be though that you have to be patient and wait until the paint is really firm before you cut it. I am always too impatient :)

imerrymary 7 years ago

Very pretty and if you have a nail polish collection, you can make 'jewels' to match. I'm curious - what did you use or make to hold the gem in the picture that shows it hanging from a black cord? It's really beautiful.

Randomona 7 years ago

Good idea!

I'm glad you like it - I used a piece of thin ribbon and superglued it around the edges of the gem + made loops so I could attach it to the cord with a jump ring that I made out of wire.

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