Make these lollypop stick bangles with recycled wooden lollypop sticks

These lollypop stick bangles made from nothing but recycled lollypop sticks, soaked in water and then decorated. They are really fun to make and to decorate, especially with children.

Bangles made with recycled lollypop sticks
Bangles made with recycled lollypop sticks

To make these lollypop stick bangles, you need just a few, easily available objects:

What you need
What you need

What you need

  • lollypop sticks,
  • a glass with a rim of about 6cm in diameter,
  • a bowl of water to soak the sticks in,
  • glue,
  • paper,
  • wool,
  • acrylic paint.

Step 1: Soak the lollypop sticks to soften them

To curl up the lollypop sticks into a bangle shape, you first need to soak them in water to soften them. Soak more sticks than you will need, as some of them will probably break during the next step. Leave the sticks in the cold water for 2-3 hours.

Leave the lollypop sticks to soak in water
Leave the lollypop sticks to soak in water

Step 2: Curl up the lollypop sticks and place them inside a glass

Bend the lollypop sticks very slowly and carefully, and place them inside a glass with a rim of about 6cm in diameter. This is roughly the size of your final bangle, but it is good if it is slightly smaller, as some of the bangles will uncurl a bit as you decorate them, or as they dry out.

Bend the lollypop sticks and place them inside a glass
Bend the lollypop sticks and place them inside a glass
Bend the lollypop sticks very slowly and carefully to avoid breaking them
Bend the lollypop sticks very slowly and carefully to avoid breaking them

Step 3: Leave the bangles to dry

Leave the bangles to dry thoroughly inside the glass. I left them overnight. Once they are completely dry, you can remove them, very carefully, from the glass.

Leave the lollypop sticks to dry thoroughly before removing from the glass
Leave the lollypop sticks to dry thoroughly before removing from the glass

Step 4: Sand down the bangles

With a piece of sandpaper, sand down any splinters and smooth out the surface of your bangles.

Sand down the lollypop stick bangles
Sand down the lollypop stick bangles

Step 5: Decorate the bracelets

You can decorate your wooden bracelets however you like. Here are 3 simple suggestions of how to do so.

Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles

Wrapping with wool:

Wrap wool around the lollypop stick and glue it in place. Use different coloured wools, or one multicoloures strand to make colourful rainbow bracelets.

Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles

Decorating with paper:

Glue coloured or recycled paper to the wooden bangles using pva glue. I mixed the glue with a little water and found that this made the bangle loose its shape a little and become too loose around my wrist. I therefore made two small holes at each end of the bracelet and used a piece of string to keep the bracelet on my wrist.

Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles

Painting:

Paint the bracelets using acrylic paints. You can use masking tape to create clean lines and geometric patterns, or just paint freehand, with any other design you like. You could also try using POSCA pens to decorate the bangles.

Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles

Taking it further…

To take this project further, and to use up any broken lollypop sticks, you can also make other types of jewellery. After soaking the sticks, cut them with scissors to create interesting shapes.

Cut the lollypop sticks with scissors to make interesting shapes
Cut the lollypop sticks with scissors to make interesting shapes

You can decorate these wooden shapes using the methods described above and then turn them into earrings, necklaces or brooches to match your bangles.

Lollypop stick bangles
Lollypop stick bangles

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