Jewelry made by melting stuff?

September 16, 2015 10:07 AM

My Girl Scout troop has voted to do the "Science Wizardry" and "Jeweler" badges. I'm looking for a way to combine two of the requirements: "melt something into something else," and any of the steps where they make jewelry. Suggestions?

These are nine-year-olds, so something more interesting than Perler beads. We meet in a classroom and have access to outside.

Nothing too dangerous, nothing we'd have problems cleaning up, nothing that will set off the sprinklers. Ideally they'd learn a bit about some scientific process or property, and have a cool piece of jewelry (could be a pendant) to take home. The budget is somewhat flexible, but $5 - $10 per girl would be good.

posted by The corpse in the library to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (24 answers total)

Friendly plastic?
posted by Pearl928 at 10:14 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Do you have kitchen access, or a toaster oven? Melt some thrift store vinyl and make some bracelets.
posted by enfa at 10:14 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

What about two-part resin? Or does the "melting" part have to involve heat for some reason? Two part resin is a chemical reaction. You could make soda top pendants where you put (pictures, beads, flowers, whatever) in a soda lid, fill with resin, then hang from a (beaded?) necklace.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 10:18 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sugar crystal jewelry? There's a Project MC2 kit available for $10z Very coveted among the elementary set.

http://m.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=58649436
posted by charmcityblues at 10:18 AM on September 16, 2015

Yeah, I was going to suggest resin casting.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:19 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

What about making things out of melted pony beads? Earrings. Pendants (well, they're billed as suncatchers, but I think they'd make some nice-looking pendants if you made them in mini muffin tins.)

On preview: Dang. No oven. Would it be possible to work out something where you have access to one?
posted by Guess What at 10:30 AM on September 16, 2015

When I was around 11, the coolest thing ever was to make toothbrush bracelets. We were especially fond of getting wacky designs instead of just plain solid colors.
posted by chatongriffes at 10:32 AM on September 16, 2015

Melting plastics can produce some pretty bad toxins (especially vinyl) and should be done with caution. Here's an quick overview. I haven't found a source of good, hard guidelines for the casual crafter (MSDS documents are typically written for industrial applications) but I think they are sorely needed. General advice is to do it in a well-ventilated space, outdoors if possible, and away from any area or equipment where people would prepare or eat food.

Smooth-On has casting materials suitable for kids (with supervision). Alginate molds are pretty easy to do and as non-toxic as you can get.
posted by hydrophonic at 10:39 AM on September 16, 2015

Response by poster: An oven would be difficult. I could bring in a kettle, probably, but there's no oven, toaster oven, or microwave (and I don't think we'd be allowed to use one).
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:42 AM on September 16, 2015

Knitting needle bracelets?

You could even boil the water outside on a camping stove if you had to, I suppose.
posted by zizzle at 10:47 AM on September 16, 2015

Instamorph makes moldable plastic and pigments that melt beautifully in hot-to-boiling water and harden into jewelry strength. You could use it to set stones for a ring (e.g.) or make a pendant or pin (e.g.).
posted by Bardolph at 11:03 AM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

I had forgotten Friendly Plastic existed. It was something I did as a kid in Girl Scouts and it remains one of the coolest things I remember doing, and it was around that age. One of the really nice things was, well, while I guess it's probably not at every craft store now, the actual tools needed are still super-common, so if a kid wants to do it again later, it's not as inaccessible as if you're having to buy really specialty stuff. I think most of what we did was pins and hair clips. Regardless of which product you're using, a plastic-melting thing plus maybe something with polymer clay and you could tie it all together into talking about the different qualities of plastics, because Friendly Plastic melts when you get it hot, but polymer clay gets hard.
posted by Sequence at 11:13 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

Maybe a little too dangerous for your age range, but you can melt old pennies using a plumbing torch from the hardware store. Pennies pre-1982 or so were made of an alloy with more copper(?) that lowers the melting point enough that a cheap blow torch can take care of them. You would want to do this outside.
posted by backseatpilot at 11:41 AM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'll second the crystal-growing idea, but I'd suggest salt over sugar, since either one will leave a residue but sugar is sticky and attracts bugs, while salt might just attract dogs and horses and other, mostly non-human, mammals. Salt crystals can be colored with food dyes, and they can also take on hues from various contaminations of other minerals, but i'm not sure how to accomplish that. Salt will also develop fine crystals as humidity and incidental moisture get on it and then dry, so it will change over time. Use kosher salt rather than table salt, which contains an anti-caking chemical that won't work in your favor.

Another possibility is Potassium Alum (the traditional Alum), which also melts below the temp of boiling water. It's easy to buy by the pound (it's used in some pickling processes), and you can use the leftovers as a post-shave astringent or styptic. It stings when it touches a cut on the skin, but it's harmless.

For the science component, it might be worth doing multiple chemicals (salt, alum, sugar, maybe copper sulfate which is a nice blue color) and multiple crystals of each, since it can take weeks to develop really large crystals, and you may want to stop a few mid-way in order to do the jewerly (earings? pendant?) side of things. The science component should include some monitoring/measuring/weighing, if practical. To paraphrase the famous mythbuster, it's not screwing-around if you're collecting data.

A crystal for jewelry should probably be dipped or coated in something (nail polish?) to prevent it from getting wet and dribbling saltwater (or other mineral) on one's clothing.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:09 PM on September 16, 2015

What about toothbrush bracelets? I loved making those things when I was that age. You heat the toothbrushes in boiling water until they're soft enough to bend... I'm not sure if it counts as melting but it is a lot of fun!
posted by danielle the bee at 12:24 PM on September 16, 2015

Decorate bracelets like using a wax resist method. But apart from rubbing, as shown in the video, also apply the wax by melting/dripping it on. This would probably require dripping from a candle, or maybe blowing a hair dryer on a long candle? Not sure what your safety restrictions are.
posted by Kabanos at 12:46 PM on September 16, 2015

How about wax art? Get a bunch of beeswax sheets or chunks in different colors, get some tea light candles, cover the floor with newspaper, and have fun.

You could melt different colors of wax in spoons or metal measuring cups, then pour it into molds made of clay or aluminum foil. The wax would probably cool and harden within minutes. If you're making beads, you could build the hole into the mould, or poke a hole later with a drill or a screw. You could even get other objects like feathers or coins or what have you to partially submerge in the wax to make fancy multi-modal pieces.

I think that would be pretty safe - low melting temperature meaning any accidental burns would be pretty minor. Smoke would be minimal. You wouldn't be making the most durable jewelry ever, but it would be fun.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 1:10 PM on September 16, 2015

Hot glue and glitter in silicone molds! (Several Instructables linked here.)

The molds are available for ice cubes and chocolates; as long as it's silicone, they'll work. Since you don't have an oven, get some hot glue guns and use those to fill the molds. Get some jewelry making stuff, like ear loops, so the girls can use the shapes for rings, ear studs, necklaces, hair pins...
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:11 PM on September 16, 2015

Following the glue gun idea...mod podge makes these sticks called mod melts. You put it in a glue gun and then fill a silicone mold. It is a fairly fast and easy craft that's not too messy or dangerous. The things you make can be painted with acrylic paint. I can't remember if I got it at Michael's or Joanne fabrics but they do sell it at craft stores.

Here is a link to images of what people have made with it.
posted by shmurley at 1:48 PM on September 16, 2015

Seconding backseatpilot, a small butane blowtorch definitely would open up some options, and isn't overly expensive. That plus old silverware or coins or other metals could be interesting.

Instamorph is VERY fun, you just need water heated to about 175 degrees F.

Could you bribe your local high school's physics teacher to come do a demo, and really knock Science Wizardry out of the park?
posted by enfa at 2:53 PM on September 16, 2015

Melting and jewelry makes me think of shrink plastic/Shrinky Dinks. Does melting a sheet of plastic into a piece of jewelry count as melting something into something else? You can melt the plastic in a toaster oven (cheap at the thrift store) or with a heat gun for crafts, but it's a little more fiddly that way. Bonus: the girls get to do a little bit of math to make the original art the proper size for the percentage of shrinkage.
posted by sarajane at 3:01 PM on September 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

WIth seed beads, earring hooks, a soldering iron and various electronic components (resistors and capacitors are particularly pretty) you can make rather interesting earrings, if your troop is into geek chic.
posted by jackbishop at 8:25 PM on September 16, 2015

Response by poster: Blowtorches, etc. are not an option. This is an elementary school library.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:37 PM on September 16, 2015 [1 favorite]

I realize you want to do something at your school but as a suggestion that you can give to the girls that really take to this is to find a local glass studio. They will likely have glass jewelry classes as well as classes on fusing different colored glass to make ornaments or coasters and the like.
posted by mmascolino at 8:08 AM on September 17, 2015