Old Becomes New - Upcycling Broken Drum Cymbals

by Liz Aponte January 27, 2019

Hey! I'm Liz, one of the owners of Full Circle Co. I wanted to share a little bit of the backstory behind how Full Circle Co. came to be and how the word "upcycling" changed my life.

If It Breaks, Throw It Away (really?!)

We live in a society where once something breaks, we throw it away. The days of trying to fix or repurpose things is slowly fading away and a “one time use” mentally is growing popular in culture. I know I’m guilty of it - and it’s not until recently that I started really looking at my daily life to analyze what I can do to minimize my footprint.

Then I Found My Lonely Cymbals

This came to a head when I was doing some Spring Cleaning and found broken drum cymbals that I had completely forgotten about. What I once used daily, made sure it came with me to every show and even helped me span my musical endeavors was now something I completely forgot about - just because it had a crack and didn’t fit my sound!

Upcycling?

I felt stuck - the cymbals were taking up space, but I didn’t want to throw them away. That’s when I remembered the term “upcycling” - I first saw it at a sandwich shop where they used old floppy disks as table/order numbers. Then I heard of someone using old shirts and turning them into guitar straps. I loved the idea of taking some old and unwanted (I mean, c’mon - floppy disks!) and turning it into something awesome.

Then It Hit Me

That’s when I knew I had to do something with my broken drum cymbals. What once was hand hammered and crossed multiple countries was now forgotten. Could I upcycle it into something? Yes - what about some awesome necklaces?

I wanted to create pieces that both had a story and were also beautiful. Pieces that could be for the person that wears jewelry all the time, or for the person that rarely wears jewelry.

We’re proud of what we make here at Full Circle, and hope you join us in our mission of making what’s old become new! Check out our necklaces, earrings and openers - all made from reclaimed drum cymbals.