What could be better than doing your part for the environment and recycling? When the act of recycling creates cool new works of art! This is the case for two beadmakers who have discovered ways to recycle commercial metal products into beautiful, funky beads.
Debbie Austin of Glass Onion Studios finds old printed metal pieces at flea markets and crafts them into unique cylindrical beads. Capped by two coins, the colors and designs of the metal, often depicting old products and vintage cartoon characters, bring an instant vintage look to the pieces, whether they are combined with other beads or worn on their own. Instant conversation pieces!
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vRzhgxejPW8/Rt62zl15B3I/AAAAAAAABOo/c5baMeaWgSo/s400/glassonion1.jpg)
![](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vRzhgxejPW8/Rt62zl15B4I/AAAAAAAABOw/0EkpPRofryk/s400/glassonion2.jpg)
![](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vRzhgxejPW8/Rt62z115B5I/AAAAAAAABO4/8uNLsQqyEh0/s400/glassonion3.jpg)
These colorful Bottle Cap beads are made by Cathy Collison of Glass Garden Beads. The Trinket Foundry collection is made of unique, one of a kind, handmade pieces from recycled bottlecaps. The actual caps are soldered using lead-free, and you can even inquire about having custom bottle cap beads made!
Each is one of a kind, and you can pick from your favorite beverages, or choose from your favorite colors and designs.
belvedere beads
September 6, 2007 at 8:45 pmthe bottle caps are soooo cool.
ellen altamore
September 7, 2007 at 12:29 pmI love it when people with “vision” look around and create!!!
Margot Potter
September 7, 2007 at 3:38 pmOh I love their beads, I have them sitting on my windowsill right in front of me. I also got some earrings from Glass Onion that are coke cans…just a small section…but so iconic you can tell what they are.
I love the bottle cap beads too, ingenious.
Cool stuff!
Borneo Craft
March 19, 2008 at 5:09 amSo that’s how to made it!
Nice beads!
Metal Beads
December 29, 2010 at 1:56 pmWow your works are really fantastic! I love collecting metal bead creations with awesome designs but I actually loved to have a collection that is personally touched by me and create exciting sets out of metal beads which I could even give as birthday gift or for special occasions I can hand to. I found this activity really fun and exciting. I hope you could have more off those great designs and articles for me to learn and be inspired of.:)