“Wow, that looks cool! Can you make one for me?” I hear that many times when I am wearing my eco-art wristband. My answer usually is: “Well, I can’t make one for everyone, but I can show you how to do it. It is really simple.”
 
In my former High School we started an initiative where every other week we met with elderly people and taught them how to do eco-crafts. In the weeks in between, we tried out different things and googled a lot to find ideas to share. I really enjoyed this project, because of the connections I could make with the local Costa Ricans. I would regularly meet them in the town and small talk with them. Many of them were even more creative than our team of students and astonished us each meeting with their improvements of our ideas. At the end of the term we would sell our crafts and with that money we were able to finance our environmental project week.
 
Maybe this kind of initiative would be something for your community as well? Give it a thought.
For now, maybe you want to be a trendsetter. Either way, here are the instructions for how to make the fabulous magazine beads.
 
What you will need:

• Old magazines or glossy advertisements (colorful!)
• Toothpicks
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Nail polish (see-through or with glitter)
• A string

 
Step One:
Choose a page with colors you like and cut it in long triangles. The longer your triangles, the thicker and more stable your beads will be. The wider you make the triangles, the longer the final beads will be.


 

Step Two:
Apply glue on the side of the triangle-piece that you do NOT like. Do not apply glue at the very bottom of the triangle; otherwise it will get stuck to the toothpick. Then roll the paper carefully around the toothpick and let it dry.

 
 

Step Three:
After your beads are dry, make sure you can move them around on the toothpick. Then apply nail polish on the bead, but be careful, do not put nail polish on the toothpick. The bead might get stuck. Then, again, let some time pass until it is dry.


 

Step Four:
Yeah! Your beads are done. Now just take them off the toothpick. You can put them on a string and turn your old magazines into a necklace, earrings, wristband, key chains – be creative! It looks especially cool if you combine the magazine beads with real ones. Maybe you have some left from an old necklace that broke.

 
Have fun crafting!
 
That’s all you need to do and you actively promote the second of the three Rs; REUSE!
 
Stay tuned, more eco-tips will come soon!!