Saturday, June 11, 2016

Toothbrush Bracelets

 

I remember making these fun bracelets as a kid, and wanted to teach my girls something from my childhood.

*This craft should only be made under competent adult supervision.
If proper precautions are not taken the crafter could get burned from the water, pan, stove, tongs, pliers, or toothbrush.  Use caution not to pinch your skin in the needle nose pliers.

 You'll need one plastic toothbrush per bracelet.  The thinner the toothbrush the better.  The ones we picked were pretty in color and had glitter inside of them.  However, they were really thin in the neck and super thick directly under the neck.  This caused them to bend a little unevenly.  So the flatter and more even the better.



You will need needle nose pliers to pull the bristles out of the toothbrush. 




Using the needle nose pliers pull out the bristles one section at a time. 
Try pulling straight out or twisting the pliers as you pull in a curling motion.


*Use caution when pulling out the bristles. 
Eye protection recommended.
You might have flying bristles, or the tiny metal shards that hold the bristles in place.




Repeat for all toothbrushes



If you have any tiny metal pieces left behind, you can use a hook tool or toothpick to dig them out.



Your toothbrush should be completely cleaned out.




Boil bracelets until pliable.  Time depends on how thick your toothbrush is, the type of plastic it is made from, and how hot your water is.  We boiled ours approximately 10 minutes.



 Take all precautions not to get burnt from the boiling water, pan, and stove.
  You can use tongs or really long needle nose pliers to remove the toothbrushes from the boiling water.  The toothbrushes will be extremely hot and could burn you, so do not touch them.  You can use the tongs, pliers, dry oven mitts or a dry dish cloth to hold the hot toothbrushes to help protect your hands from getting burned.






You may have to drop it back into the boiling water if it doesn't bend easily before you have completed your desired shape.  You could use a glass jar to bend it around, but we just free bent ours.


The pliers did leave little grooves in the bracelets.  Whereas the tongs and dishcloth left no marks.





Once you get it into the desired size and shape, drop or hold the bracelet in ice cold water to cool it into the shape you bent it into.












 Have fun & We hope you love your chunky retro bracelets.


Once you get the straight bracelet perfected, try twisting one for added design and effect.


We'd love to see pictures or hear about your experience, so leave us a comment.


If you loved our toothbrush bracelets, you might also like:



penny bracelet


 mustruninthefamily.com