Mardi Gras has passed, and the party’s over for now. It’s time to store the masks and revelry for another year. But what about all the beads and trinkets thrown during the parades? Storing them indefinitely can become inefficient, but sending all that trash to the landfill seems unthinkable.

One team in New Orleans has come up with a brilliant solution: turning unwanted beads into artwork. Their studio, which was rebuilt after having been devastated by Hurricane Katrina several years ago, recycles beads into original pieces in all shapes and sizes. From jewellery to decorations to lamps to tableware, their creations are giving ?trash? a new life.

To begin the process, they place beads on trays and heat them in ovens and kilns, likening it to a ?glass-fusing process.? After the beads have begun to melt and fuse, they’re removed, slightly cooled, and then shaped and let to cool completely. The works of art are then sold in the studio store. CNN has a video of the transformation from trash to treasure.