Welcome to your weekly serving of upcycling inspiration! Once a week I’m going to feature an item for which I’ll endeavour to list some upcycling ideas. They might be my own or they might just be little light bulbs of genius that I pinch from someone else.
This week’s star is the humble bread clip (or bread tag if you’d prefer). Gosh…to think how many of these the world produces and then waves goodbye to once the little plastic things have performed their intended function! And they can be quite harmful to animals or children who ingest them. It makes me shudder…so I won’t think about that. Instead lets ponder what to do with them after they’ve held our plastic bread bags closed for a little while. Be sure to store them in a handy jar so you can easily add to the collection or reach for one when you need it.
1. Use to hold short pieces of yarn or string. You know those pieces I mean…the ones that are too long to discard but too short to be wrapped into a ball. Keep the yarn/string-wrapped bread tags in a glass jar for easy location of that bit of string or yarn you need. (I actually came up with this idea a few days ago when I was sorting and tidying my yarn. I thought I was quite clever and original. Until I searched Pinterest and discovered someone else had already thought of it. Of course!)
2. My husband suggested this would be a useful way to store short sections of pre-made fishing rigs (eg, with hook, sinker, swivel and leader line) – wrap the leader line around in a similar way to the yarn above, and secure the hook in the ‘mouth’ of the bread tag.
3. Label electrical cords when you have multiple cords in the one power point or power board. This is particularly handy for computers and their associated paraphernalia…but I’ve labelled our kettle and toaster cords this way so I don’t get confused. Also use to hold single thinner cords together when wrapped in a bundle.
4. This fashion designer made her wedding dress out of 10 000 bread clips. Very clever. I’m not suggesting you do this…but these are the possibilities people!!
5. Store a collection of elastic bands or hair bands.
6. Make interesting mosaic-style artworks and use for craft – eg, bread clip figures, jewellery, and mobiles. Here is a sweet bread tag charm necklace for kids to make. (But please keep bread clips away from little ones who might be inclined to swallow them.)
7. Mark the end a roll of sticky tape…you know…the end that you can’t locate until you’ve turned the roll full-circle at least three times.
8. Clip a pair of socks together in the wash…so the sock fairy can’t run off with one.
9. Fasten opened plastic bags containing food. Close and label paper gift bags (perhaps after decorating with paint or marker pens).
10. Mark stitches in your knitting or crochet.
11. Label spare keys.
12. Fix your thong (if you live outside Australia read: ‘flip flop’!) if its splitting where the strap part comes through the sole. Simply clip around the base of the strap, on the sole side.
13. Use as a plectrum.
Going a bit too far with the latter? OK I’ll stop there…but I’m sure it would work quite well. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s thought of it.
What else can you think of?
Two Striped Cats 