DIY: The Matchbox Car Bracelet (That Transforms into a Necklace!)

I was once again bitten by the DIY bug a few weekends ago and decided to make a bracelet out of die-cast matchbox cars.

my loot from the toy store I had not visited in years

I wish I could claim full ownership of the idea, but it belongs to this one lovely lady shot by Dam Style, which is, coincidentally, owned by the authors of that Fashion Blog book. Hers was colorful; I, on the other hand, decided to infuse my love for non-color into this piece:

One white car in a sea of black: When I was growing up, my father had a fondness for white automobiles. While all the neighbors went through their lipstick red car and nasty golden-beige car phases, we were always the family with the white car. Now, living in downtown New York where guys's wrists are commonly decked in leather jewelry and vintage Casio timepieces, I'm the guy with the toy cars strung around his wrist.

Here's how I made it:

Using a pair of pliers, I forcibly pried the wheels and axles off the cars to get them ready to be strung together.

I then threaded them with clear elastic beading cord (available at any crafts/jewelry supplies store), knotted the ends together, and brushed the knots with clear nail polish to seal them.

And here it is worn, the lone white car becoming the focal jewel of the piece.

It is quite a beauty, but I'll be honest and say that this bracelet is not the most wearable of DIY pieces, the heavy metal combined with the embossed plastic bottoms making for quite an uncomfortable wearing experience.

What it is, however, is easy to put together and dismantle, so, for dinner that night, I elected to break the cord and string three of the cars through black cotton rope and turn it into a necklace:

The combination of coloring-book elephants and toy cars made for an outfit that reeked of a longing for boyhood.

DIY matchbox necklace, Paul Smith shirt, Topman belt, Cheap Monday jeans, vintage lace-ups

I always say the best pieces of jewelry are made out of common household items. Those you can break apart and put back together, even better!

EDIT: The original idea for the matchbox car comes from Alter Ego by Erika Walton. Check out their site and their Facebook page.