Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

I have always liked to create things from whatever is lying around the house and now sharing a fun project to use up those old misshapen or outgrown bangles.Metal bangles are very popular here in India. 

Of late we have accumulated quite a few " unusable " metal bangles at home as either they have been crushed out of shape [ little kids can easily crush these metal bangles out of shape by some enthusiastic games!] or they have become too small for my daughter [ how fast children grow!] Instead of throwing them away we made Bangle Butterflies out of them!

What you need to make Bangle Butterflies

• Bangles: You need some old metal bangles- small "kid" ones are the easiest as then you don't have to struggle to get your stockings to cover them. If you don't have metallic bangles use the conventional florist wire which is traditionally used to make the stocking butterflies.
• Stockings- these are available as nylon stockings and very popular in flower making. I found 2 main types in the Indian market - the small cheaper variety [wont cover a bangle well] and the larger and longer variety [ slightly more expensive but good for this craft]

Stocking Butterflies Tutorial

• Scissors
• The rest of the stuff depends on how you want to go about it ie To stick your parts you can use glue gun, white glue or florist wire or thread or twine
• Embellishments 

How to make Bangle -Stocking Butterflies

You can make a butterfly using 3 bangles as shown

Shape your bangles into kidney shaped butterfly wings as shown.Make a central body by compressing your bangle. The central body of this butterfly happened by accident- it broke while I was shaping it so twisted it into a body with antennae!

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

I found I liked the 5 bangle butterfly better.Shape the bangles as shown. Shape the 2 front wings similarly by laying one on top of the other. Shape the back wings slightly differently.These metallic bangles are pretty easy to shape and mold as you like.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Wrap a bit of nylon stocking  around your bangle butterfly wing.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Stretch and pull the nylon stocking towards the wing tip as shown

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Tie the nylon stocking securely at the bangle butterfly wing tip.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Cut off the excess nylon stocking.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

In the same way cover all your bangles with nylon stocking.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Shown below are the wings of the 3 bangle butterfly

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Assemble your Stocking butterfly- You can do this using a glue gun , nylon thread, etc.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

When I first made this Bangle butterfly I didn't have a glue gun so tried various methods to assemble the butterfly. Sticking everything together with white glue works but you need a lot of patience!Using a Glue gun is the easiest option but if you don't have a glue gun you can use a florist wire or strong nylon thread to tie the wings to the body of your butterfly.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

So if you dont have a glue gun you can use a wire or thread ": Thread it through the 2 wings of opposite sides

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Tie the wire or thread to the back side of your butterfly's body as shown. Again if you are using a glue gun- super easy to attach the wings to the body of the Butterfly.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Embellish your butterfly with gems, beads, felt

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Or add a it of swirly glitter glue as shown below

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Use your butterfly as a flower pot accessory like we did here .

Stocking Butterflies Tutorial

Other ideas to use your bangle butterflies: make a wind chime, use it to decorate a photo frame, use it as a fridge magnet, make a magic wand out it!Little girls will love magic wands made out of butterflies and they make great party favors.

Bangle Butterflies Tutorial

Well I hope you enjoyed this bit of recycling . Do leave me your comments

Edited: Yippeee! This Recycled project won at the Craft room Challenge[Home Decor Project]!
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