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Crafts from cotton buds: a master class and the best ideas for making original jewelry (105 photos). Crafts from ear buds and cotton pads How cotton buds are made

Both an adult and a child can make crafts from artificial materials. For work, you should use objects that are often found in everyday life, for example, cotton swabs. The advantage of this approach is that you do not have to collect material for a long time, and you can start working almost immediately.

Working with toddlers

It is desirable to develop creative abilities in children at an early age. From the age of two, you can involve your baby in drawing or making crafts. Of course, they still can’t give sharp and other dangerous objects into their hands, but the interesting ideas of crafts made from cotton buds that we offer will help you diversify your leisure time. At a younger preschool age, it is very difficult to manage pencils or brushes. Cotton buds will help create a pattern without risk to the health of the child.

It is necessary to moisten the cotton part in the paint and allow the baby to apply the image on a blank sheet of paper or a drawing already drawn up by the mother. For example, in this way spots are painted on a giraffe or flying snowflakes are depicted over a house or a Christmas tree.


By dipping a wand in red paint, a child will create bunches of mountain ash or a bunch of grapes. You can use this tool both singly and build a convenient fixture.

It is necessary to fasten several blanks together or attach them to any base. This will create a circle outline, traces of an animal, a flower with petals or a rainbow.

A few craft ideas

To work with older kids, the task should be complicated, accustoming them to careful handling of devices. We will present children's crafts from ear sticks with a description that will help parents organize family leisure.

Flower from sticks with foam

To make a craft, you need to make a foam ball, take a thick wire and teip tape. You will need scissors and watercolors. The ball is divided in half or left whole. The resulting blanks should be painted in the desired color.

For a flower, the yellow option is suitable, and for an ornamental plant or Christmas tree decoration, it is advisable to show imagination by choosing the original color.

Cotton buds are cut in half and lowered with the cotton side into the paint. After the base and paint on the sticks have dried, you need to insert them into the ball or its halves. This should be done in a checkerboard pattern, moving from the middle to the top, and then the bottom of the foam base should be filled.

From below, a wire is inserted into the ball and covered with floristry tape. The resulting flower or a whole bouquet can be put in a decorated pot or vase, as can be seen in the photo of cotton swab crafts.

If the wire is inserted into the half of the ball from the side, then it is advisable to glue the plant to a sheet of cardboard - you get an original postcard. To get a Christmas tree decoration, a loop is attached to the top of the ball, and the stem is not made of wire.

Sheep made of sticks and disks

A sheet of cardboard is taken and the sun and clouds are glued. It is advisable to cut them out first from cotton pads. They can also be decorated with watercolors, leaving enough space for the crafts to be made. To make an animal you need:

  • glue the circle as the body;
  • 4 cotton buds are carefully inserted under the disk, which will be the legs;
  • the head, ears and bangs are cut out from the disk base, and then glued to the base;
  • colored beads are used as eyes and nose.

funny little animals

If you do not know what crafts can be made from cotton buds, then this original version will help you. An oval or circle for the body is cut out of thick cardboard. Wooden clothespins are glued to the back as legs.

Cotton blanks should be cut off, leaving only the plastic base with cotton wool. This is the component we will be using. The heads should be glued to the front of the future animal. Don't forget to leave room for attaching the carved and painted animal's head.

If you need to glue a sheep to a sheet of paper, then do not use clothespins, but make legs from ordinary cardboard. Pre-paint them with the original pattern.

Hedgehog

For crafts, you should take the remaining capsule from Kinder Surprise. In it, make holes for the needles and legs of the animal. Then cut the cotton blanks to the desired length and fasten in the holes.

callas

A beautiful bouquet of these flowers in a decorated vase will decorate a children's room. And our master class of crafts from cotton buds will help you.

This will require:

  • Color one head of a cotton swab yellow to make an analogue of a stamen.
  • Secure the blanks in green cocktail tubes. These will be the stems of the plants.
  • Wrap the stamens with one or two discs of cotton wool to get the desired flower. Then secure them with tape.
  • Place a bouquet of made callas in a vase.


Snowflakes

Detailed instructions for crafts made from cotton swabs will make it easier for you to decorate a Christmas tree or an apartment. Homemade snowflakes will look great on glass or wood.

For decorating, you will need plastic bottle caps. For each snowflake you need to take 2 pcs. One lid is filled with plasticine, but in such a way that there is a mass left for attaching the second half with a small margin. The second cap is also fixed on plasticine. It is not necessary to fasten the halves tightly - there should be a gap between them for blanks.

Cotton buds are cut off with one side and this end is placed in a plasticine base between the caps. They should be placed evenly in a circle, alternating long with short ones.

Snowflake can be glued to cardboard. To do this, take a blue sheet and draw the outline of a snowflake on it. Depending on the length of the individual elements, blanks with a white plastic base are cut. They will need to be glued along the contour of the picture.

winter town

If you have not yet decided how to make a craft from cotton buds with your own hands, then you can build the composition “City in Winter”:

  • Make the contours of multi-storey buildings from colored cardboard or paper, draw windows and doors, attach with glue to the base.
  • Build roof structures from cotton buds and fix them on top of the houses.
  • One or more trees should be made from sticks. For the trunk, whole are taken, and for branches - halves.

Snowman

For the design, you should take three foam balls. They should be glued together. Cotton heads are cut off and inserted into the foam base with a plastic tip. For the image of the eyes, nose and mouth, the heads are painted in a different color. Hands can be made from whole sticks.

DIY crafts help not only to take the time of the child, but also contribute to the development of his creative abilities. With a little imagination and perseverance, you will get an excellent result.

Photo of crafts from cotton buds

One of the fertile materials for hand made work are cotton pads. They absorb paint well, the flowers made from them perfectly fold into bouquets that will adequately decorate any postcard.





Crafts from cotton pads made by the hands of kids are especially valuable. An elementary example is a caterpillar, a cheerful, positive character in cartoons and children's books. This is a common appliqué using the constituent elements painted in different colors.

From cosmetic cotton pads, you can create entire flower fields. In one such composition, both artistic and applied creativity are combined. In addition to cotton pads, you will need a minimum of materials: an A3 sheet, colored paper, glue and paints.

  • First, we draw the background (you can simply paint over the sheet with blue or blue paint, or you can depict additional elements on it - the sun, stars, etc.)
  • Glue the cotton pad as shown in Figure 2-4.
  • Cut out additional elements from paper (stems, leaves, grass).
  • It remains only to beautifully arrange our flowers on a piece of paper.

Another option for applied art is eclectic flowers made from cotton pads. In this case, you do not even need paper, just paints and glue are enough. The step-by-step process of creating such beauty is shown in Figure 2-5. Use a pipette to make the paint fall in neat droplets.

Crafts from cotton buds

If you have faded decorative flowers lying around at home, you can give them a second wind with the help of cotton buds. Such flowers made will look much more original than dull fabric inflorescences. We will need:

  • a set of cotton swabs;
  • gouache;
  • stems from old decorative flowers;
  • Super glue.

Take 10-15 cotton buds (the more there are, the more voluminous the inflorescence will turn out) and cut in half. Fold each halves with the cotton-wrap side up and fold into a flower shape. Thoroughly coat the place where the stem is attached to the inflorescence with glue and attach our flower to it. When the glue dries, you can paint our cotton swab crafts in any color by simply dipping them into the paint.


Another way to make flowers out of cotton buds is to use Styrofoam balls, which can be purchased at any craft supply store. The mechanism of operation is similar: cut the cotton buds in half, stick them into a Styrofoam ball to make a flower like a dandelion, and dip the ends of the buds into the paint. Twisted wire can be used as stems.

By the same principle, you can make other crafts from cotton buds: hedgehogs, the same snowmen, etc.

flower composition

For an older child, a master class on making a flower arrangement will be interesting, for example, in the form of a bouquet in a basket or in the form of a topiary (this word is used today to call original small trees made by oneself). It is always fashionable to give such a gift to mom on March 8 or a birthday.


For manufacturing you will need:

  • cotton pads (the amount depends on the size of the composition);
  • needle;
  • beads;
  • packing box from cotton pads;
  • mounting foam;
  • glue;
  • a piece of green silk or lining fabric for leaves;
  • stapler.

We roll up the cotton pads, fix them in buds, as shown. We put aside ready-made flowers, we make leaves. They will be located around the perimeter of the vase and be a living pillow for delicate and fragile flowers. The leaf fabric folding sequence is shown below.

A jar of disks (you can use any other, for example, from under ear sticks) is filled with mounting foam, we give it the opportunity to dry. We level the surface of the foam with a knife - we make it flush with the edge of the can.


The jar itself can be painted in your favorite colors or decorated using decoupage.

We proceed to gluing flowers from cotton pads and leaves to the surface of the foam.

The work is ready. Flowers can be made in the form of callas. Then you do not need to fold the discs completely, but you can fasten them with staples and a stapler.

How to make a bouquet of roses - see the video.

DIY crafts from cotton pads can be timed to coincide with such favorite holidays as New Year, Christmas. Cute airy angels, smoothly descending on the threads of rain around the entire perimeter of the dressed room - just such an option. You can use them as toys for the Christmas tree, garlands or just additions to New Year's gifts.

The manufacturing steps are shown below. By following the basic rules of this simple master class, you can quickly and at minimal cost make the living room intriguing, and the atmosphere of the nursery - soft, romantic. Making angels begins with the design of the head and its smooth transition to the body - the dress.

At the end of the work, the head can be decorated with a wreath of yellow-gold braid, wire, or painted with paint.

New Year's wreath

How to make flowers from cotton pads, we have already figured out. Next in line is a chic souvenir, similar in manufacturing technique to a flower, but a little more complicated - a floral Christmas wreath. These are often hung on the entrance or interior doors, placed above the doorway or on the gate. True, such decoration is more domestic, because it will not withstand precipitation and fluctuations in air temperature.

Assembling a wreath is not difficult step by step, but this must be done carefully and slowly. The same disks bent into four sectors are used as blanks. The corner at the base is chipped off and attached to the main ring. You need to fasten the parts as close to each other as possible. This will create the effect of softness, fullness, artistic exoticism.

Regarding the mounting plane, it must be remembered that only the front half of the ring should be filled with artificial flowers. The back should be left flat and smooth, as it needs to be in contact with the wall or other surface on which the wreath will be located.

As soon as the wreath is ready, we proceed to the loop for fastening. Its appearance should not spoil the impression of the whole product. Therefore, a silk ribbon, folded into a loop and carefully attached to the back of the ring, is ideal.


The general view of the finished product is shown in picture 26, it is very gentle, stylish and soft. Inside the wreath of blooming roses, an angel will place it in place. The similarity of the materials used for crafts will give the souvenir the character of a single composition.

Lamb

When studying with a younger child, you can invite him to dream up, imagine in the body of which animal or in which plant there are similar circles. Surely it will be:

  • panda;
  • owl;
  • a hen with a chicken after painting the wheels yellow;
  • monkey;
  • sunflower.

An interesting craft of a lamb or sheep. For those who are not lazy, it will not be difficult to make a whole herd by decorating them with colorful toy accessories. The step by step instructions are as follows:


Prepare:

  • pieces of felt;
  • threads;
  • stapler;
  • cotton pads;
  • scissors;
  • glue;
  • twine.


If there is no colored felt, you can use a special dye for fabrics.

We start by folding the disc four times and fastening the resulting shape with staples. We sew each element obtained and tightly put them on a silk cord.

Finishing the work, we give the cord with strung disks the appearance of a ball. The first stage of work has been completed.



It's up to the small - easy design of the muzzle. For this, the same pieces of felt are used, cut out in the shape and size of the intended animal. Here you can play with colors and use the material of the most unexpected colors, so the result will be more fun.


If the idea was to make a lamb in stages, we supplement its head with horns made of wire, if a lamb, there is no need for them.


Having attached the horns to the head, for example, with plasticine, as well as embroidering the eyes and nose with threads or beads, we finish the work. The result is a masterfully made, handmade toy that will look original on a branch of a Christmas tree, for example.

The figure of a chicken from yellow discs will be obtained by gluing two circles (one slightly larger than the other), depicting the head and torso. The eyes are black beads, the beak is a red triangle.

Christmas card

A holiday card featuring a cheerful snowman is very easy to make! All you need is a sheet of colored paper (preferably blue), cotton pads, glue and felt-tip pens. Take the largest diameter discs, as they will have to be shortened.

  • Cut out the "body" of the snowman. We need only three discs, two of which need to be shortened to make the snowman look more natural.
  • Glue the discs to the paper (Figure 2).
  • We “revive” the snowman by drawing his face, pens, headdress, etc. It is more convenient to draw on cotton pads with felt-tip pens, although you can also use watercolors or gouache.

You can add zest to the craft with the help of additional details - nail polish, ribbons, etc. Let your child show their imagination. There is no doubt: the “Snowman” leaflet that the kid created is much more pleasant to receive than the most expensive New Year's cards.

Snowman from paper plates

We offer you a simple and interesting type of home decor for the New Year holidays. Materials - all the same cotton balls and paper picnic plates of different sizes. This decor can decorate the walls, the front door, or make a separate panel.

  • Lay out a snowman from three paper plates, securing them with thin strips of adhesive tape (if you are making a composition in the form of a panel, you can use glue).
  • Glue cotton balls to the plates, giving the snowman volume.
  • From paper or other improvised materials, make eyes, a nose, and a headdress for the New Year's hero.

Cheerful little penguin

Another idea that even a toddler can implement. To simplify the work, we have prepared a template that you need to print on paper. However, you can use any other penguin drawing you like, or draw it yourself. The principle of making crafts is the same in any case.

We need:

  • printed template;
  • cosmetic cotton balls;
  • PVA glue;
  • scissors;
  • scraps of black and orange cardboard.

To get started, download and print the pattern template. Then cover the entire white area with glue and carefully place cotton balls on it, being careful not to go too far. Then cut out the eyes and beak of the penguin from cardboard and complete the creation of the craft.

Any New Year's characters are created in a similar way (snowman, Santa Claus, Snow Maiden). The main thing is to find a quality template.

Whether it's souvenirs made only from cotton pads, or crafts from cotton buds, they carry a charge of positive energy, develop thinking, and contribute to the development of the child's horizons. Let them be more. Let them unite children and make their inner world wider, brighter, more fun.

It would seem that what's new can be in the habit of using cotton swabs? Most people, armed with a cotton swab daily, gently clean the auricle and ear canal. But, many years of scientific research has shown that it is not worth doing this at all! And in general, you should not use cotton swabs. Inquisitive contemporaries and tireless scientific researchers, following the example of grandfather Honore de Balzac, believe that “the key to any science is a question mark” and that is why they tirelessly question long-term dogmas and traditions. Thanks to such an inquisitive mind, they successfully proved that plastic cotton swabs are far from the best invention of mankind.

Cotton swabs - are harmful to the ears

It was uncleaned ears and the presence of sulfur in the ear canal that used to explain such situations as hearing loss, unpleasant odor, and some others. Children and schoolchildren even liked to say the phrase “you need to clean your ears!” to an unheard interlocutor, as soon as someone said: “what-what?”.

And during the existence of the Soviet Union, in the absence of cotton ear buds in the production, caring mothers completely managed with improvised means. Having wound ordinary cotton wool around a match, they cleaned the ears of their offspring and household members with the same zeal. So why is the long-standing tradition of cleaning your ears by sticking a very dangerous object in your ear subjected to harsh criticism? There were several reasons for this.

Why you shouldn't clean your ears with cotton swabs

  • as experts from the American Academy of Otolaryngology (American Academy of Otolaryngology) proved, penetrating a cotton swab into the ear, we take out only a small part of the sulfur. The main mass, we independently push even deeper into the ear, thereby contributing to the formation of sulfur plugs.
  • “Poking”, scrolling and pushing a cotton swab into the ear, we ourselves, without suspecting it, regularly disturb the eardrum, touching it.
  • wielding a cotton swab in the area of ​​the finest tissues and organs, we run the risk of significantly impairing hearing, causing disruption of the auditory organs.
  • as scientists have proven, earwax produced by the body is actually extremely useful. In principle, it is extremely difficult to argue with this, because the human body really does not do anything just like that.
  • earwax regularly formed by the body significantly reduces the risk of injury to the hearing organs by foreign objects.
  • insects such as bees, mosquitoes, midges and even flies, every now and then trying to bite a person and crawl into the most unexpected place, will not be able to penetrate into the depths of the ear, since it is sulfur that protects this organ.
  • in a modern person, so prone to various fungal diseases, the risk of getting a fungus in the ear canal is significantly reduced. According to Seth Schwartz, an expert from the Academy of Otolaryngology, it is sulfur that guards this situation, because it copes with such threats perfectly.
  • itching, dry skin in the auricle, inflammation of the ear tissues - all this will not happen to you, because earwax acts as a natural ear canal moisturizer.
  • the more often we clean our ears, the more sulfur will be. The production of too much earwax is called wax hypersecretion. The main cause of hypersecretion is irritation of the skin of the ear canal. And the main reason for such irritation is hearing aids and cotton swabs.

After such stunning discoveries of scientists, a natural question arises: how then to remove wax from the ears? There is only one answer - no way! It doesn't need to be removed. If you are in doubt about how clean your ears are, or if there are wax plugs in the ear canal, or if you are worried about strange sensations in your ears, the only right decision is to seek the advice of a specialist doctor. For daily hygiene and wiping the outer part of the auricle, it is enough to wipe the skin with a cotton swab or even just a finger. At least, this is exactly what the Russian specialist, otolaryngologist Vladimir Zaitsev, advises doing.

Plastic cotton buds are bad for the environment

For those who are not convinced by the list of reasons why cotton swabs are extremely dangerous for cleaning ears, here is another argument. Each of us knows that cotton swabs are made of plastic. So plastic is the main threat to the environment of the whole planet! And this problem, having acquired global proportions, became the main topic at the meeting of the European Commission in Brussels, which took place just a couple of months ago. It was in May of this year that the Deputy President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, published a list of plastic products banned from now on, including cotton swabs. In his opinion, the ban on these products should help "together solve the problem of plastic debris in the oceans." Plastic products make up more than 80% of the garbage. It is thanks to the listed scientific facts that ear sticks are already banned in a number of countries or are on the verge of a ban. Among these are France, Britain, Italy and Scotland, the Czech Republic.

Perhaps, such scientific discoveries will seem strange to someone, and someone will even say that they cleaned and used for many years and nothing! But as an argument, we can recall the phrase that the greatest British writer William Somerset Maugham once uttered a long time ago. Thinking about the usefulness of discoveries, he asked: “What can be more useful than learning to live in the best way for yourself?”

Today, cotton swabs are a multifunctional item, but once upon a time they were invented for only one purpose - to clean the ears. The sticks are a great helper for manicure, make-up, and just come in handy at home.

Our editors have prepared 15 tips for the unusual use of cotton buds. We hope you find these tricks useful!

How to use cotton buds

  1. Aligning the contour of lipstick on the lips

    Lipstick that spreads over the contours of the lips does not look very neat. A wonderful cotton swab, which is in every home, will help fix this trouble.

  2. Now you are inseparable from spirits

    Not always in the bag there is a place for a bottle of perfume, and so you want not to part with your favorite fragrance. Put some perfume on a Q-tip, put it in a ziplock bag and use perfume whenever you want.

  3. Removing stains from the skin after dyeing hair

    To do this, make a special mixture of hydrogen peroxide and soda. Dip a cotton swab into the resulting paste and lightly rub the stained area.

  4. Getting rid of stuck hair

    Hairdryer, like all things, needs care. Regularly clean the parts of the hair dryer from dust and stuck hair for better air supply.

  5. We clean the iron

    Take some vinegar and dip a cotton swab into it, thoroughly clean all the dimples and depressions on the sole of the iron. This method is good for steel or ceramic surfaces, but not for Teflon.

  6. Correctly apply self-tanner

    Usually, the areas of the knees, joints on the hands, ankles, elbows become darker, absorbing more of the product. In order for the color of self-tanning to be even, wipe these places with a cotton swab, removing excess product.

  7. If the zipper does not open

    Dip a cotton swab into shampoo or liquid dishwashing gel. Apply a drop of gel to the area where the lightning dog gets stuck. It will act as a lubricant, and the zipper will close with ease.

  8. We clean the keyboard

    Dip the pad of a Q-tip in alcohol and wipe the keyboard with it. The wand will collect dust and remove sweat marks from hands.

  9. Removing excess polish from cuticles

    Soak the end of a cotton swab in nail polish remover and gently remove any imperfections.

  10. Washing without water

    There are cases when there is no water at all or its use is limited. For example, on a train or plane, it is not always convenient to remove makeup with water.

    Take micellar water or tonic and apply the product on a cotton swab. Gently remove eye shadow and mascara from eyelashes.

  11. Mascara smeared - no problem

    Often, when painting eyelashes, we smear mascara with one awkward movement. Again, a cotton swab will help correct this error.

    Just wipe the problem area with a stick dipped in makeup remover.

  12. Easy to apply false eyelashes

    Gently apply the glue to the false eyelashes using a cotton swab. Wait a few seconds and stick them on. Your eyes will become velvety.

  13. Correcting the arrows

    Not always beautiful and even arrows are obtained the first time, but do not be upset. After all, there is always a cotton swab on hand! Apply a little makeup remover to the tip of the wand and wipe off any excess.

  14. Doing evening makeup

    There are situations when your favorite set of makeup brushes is not at hand. In such cases, cotton swabs again help us out.

Vladislav Sergeevich Zaichenko, an otolaryngologist at SM-Clinic, tells Letidor how to properly clean your ears and why ear sticks are completely inappropriate for this.

What's happening

With the start of sales of cosmetic cotton buds in our country in the early 90s, otolaryngologists everywhere noted an increase in the incidence of otitis externa, primarily of fungal origin, and an increase in the number of patients with sulfur plugs.

In fact, the main purpose of these sticks is to correct makeup, that is, they have nothing to do with the ears.

Most people use cosmetic sticks to remove wax from their ears, to "clean" them. However, in reality, not only do they not achieve any better results compared to daily washing of their ears, but they also create conditions for the development of many diseases in themselves.

Why ear sticks are dangerous

Using cotton swabs to "clean" the external auditory canals, the patient not only removes sulfur from the areas adjacent to the eardrum, but also "hammers" it there, creating sulfuric plugs for himself.

Earwax secreted by the glandular cells of the skin of the external auditory canal performs a protective function. It has antimicrobial and antifungal activity and is a natural mechanism for removing dust and foreign bodies from the external passage. That is, sulfur is needed and it is impossible to clean the ears to a shine.

The skin of the external auditory canal is extremely thin and delicate, and the use of even such a seemingly delicate tool as cotton swabs leads to the formation of scratches and abrasions on the skin.

As a result, the patient independently creates the prerequisites for infection, practically opens the door wide before it, and first of all (including due to the widespread and uncontrolled use of antibiotics) we are talking about fungi.

It should also be noted that in the external auditory canal, especially in its deep sections, even in normal conditions, conditions are extremely favorable for the development of fungi and microbes: it is warm, dark and humid there.

Thus, “lovers of cleanliness” very often develop external otitis media, both fungal (otherwise, otomycosis) and microbial, and sulfur plugs form. And for those who are especially diligent, an injury to the eardrum can also happen.

How to properly clean

It is not for nothing that ENT doctors have a joke: nature has created us for a reason in such a way that you can put a finger in your nose, but not in your ear. As you know, in every joke there is only a fraction of a joke.

Many people who care about the aesthetic side of the issue will probably angrily object: they say, how is it that everyone now walks with dirty ears ?!

Of course not.

Their doubts will be dispelled by the fact that, due to the anatomical structure, visual inspection, especially at a distance (and rarely, except for an ENT doctor, looks very carefully into your ears), only the outer sections of the external auditory canal are available, which can be excellent. washed with the tip of the little finger during normal showering.

Thus, the best care for the ears is daily washing.

For people who are prone to wax plugs, you can use special products in the form of drops (sold in regular pharmacies), which dilute earwax and increase the likelihood of its discharge during washing. But it is almost impossible to remove an already formed plug with the help of such drops (as well as other products that are sold for this purpose). And in case of unpleasant symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor.