Make a Valentine's Day Pendant from a Scrabble® Tile

Today is project three of our get ready for Valentine's Day count down. We had so much fun playing with Scrabble® tiles yesterday that we decided to make a pendant to coordinate with yesterday's bracelet. 

Before: Paper from catalog

Every year around Christmas time we are inundated with catalogs from department stores. The folks on Madison Avenue spend a LOT of money trying to make the paper images as appealing as possible....and that makes catalogs a great source for attractive paper to use for decoupage.


Materials
Scrabble®  letter
Scrap paper
Glue stick
Black Sharpie Marker
Mod Podge
Transparent embossing powder
18-gauge round brass wire

Tools 
Automatic center punch
Drill
Size 41 bit
Xacto knife
Heat gun

Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers

Pick a tile

Step 1
Select a Scrabble® tile. Mark the top center of the Scrabble® tils with an automatic center punch and then drill a holes in the tile for the finding.

Step 2
Select some attractive paper or fabric. We used some paper cut from a Bloomingdales catalog sent to us in the mail, but any attractive paper or fabric will do.

Step 3
Glue the paper to the tile and cut off the excess paper using an Xacto knife or scissors. My daughter then used a black Sharpie to draw a design on the paper.

Step 4
Coat the paper with a layer of Mod Podge. Sprinkle the transparent embossing powder on the glue. Tap off the excess embossing powder. Use a heat gun to heat the embossing powder until it melts. The embossing powder will protect the paper and make the pendant water resistant but not necessarily water proof. Set the pendant aside and allow the embossing powder to cool to room temperature.

After: Pedant by GeltDesigns.com

Step 5
Make the pendant bail from 18-gauge round brass wire and attach the bail to the tile. Slide a neck ring chain through the bail to wear the pendant.

Related Tutorials
Make a Bracelet from Scrabble® Tiles
Make a Pendant Bail
How to Drill
How to Use a Drill Press for Jewelry Making
How to Use a Dremel to Make Jewelry
How to Use a Flex Shaft to Make Jewelry

Further Reading
"500 Pendants & Lockets: Contemporary Interpretations of Classic Adornments (500 Series)"; Lark; 2008.
  
Day 81.  Month 4. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: scrap paper, Scrabble® tile
New Jewelry a Day.

Make a Bracelet from Scrabble® Tiles

Before: Scrabble® tiles

Today is the second day of our Valentine's Day series and we made a bracelet from old Scrabble® tiles from one of our many sets with lost or missing pieces. After a lot of playing and discussion, my daughter and I decided the bracelet should read "True Love." My favorite part of the bracelet is that it can be worn so the letters are visible or hidden-- depending on the mood of the wearer.

After: Tile Bracelet by GeltDesigns.com

Again, we limited the creative time for our project to 30-minutes.  

Materials
Scrabble®  letters
22 jump rings
18-gauge round brass wire
Spring clasp

Tools 

After: Scrabble® Tile Bracelet 

Automatic center punch

Drill
Size 41 bit
Chain nose pliers

Step 1
Select the Scrabble® tiles and arranged them in order.

Drill tiles

Step 2

Tile with four holes

Mark the Scrabble® tiles with an automatic center punch and then drill the holes in the tiles. For the first and last tile, drill three holes. For the remaining tiles, drill four holes (one in each corner of the tile).

Since we used vintage wooden tiles, the studio smelled really nice when my daughter did the drilling. Not sure exactly what wood these tiles were made from, but the aroma told us they were quality hard wood.

Add jump rings to tiles

Step 3
Feed a jump ring through each drilled hole. Close the jump rings using your pliers.

Step 4
Use your pliers to attach the tiles to form a chain by adding a jump ring between the jump rings on each tile. Check each jump ring to be sure it is closed.

Step 5
Make an "S" or "figure 8" link and attach it to the center drilled hole at one end of the bracelet.

Add Clasp

Step 6
Add the clasp to the other end of the bracelet.

Related Tutorials
How to Make Jump Rings
How to Drill
How to Use a Drill Press for Jewelry Making
How to Use a Dremel to Make Jewelry
How to Use a Flex Shaft to Make Jewelry 

True Love Bracelet

Further Reading
"500 Bracelets: An Inspiring Collection of Extraordinary Designs (500 Series)"; Lark; 2005.
"The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary"
"The Scrabble Word-Building Book: Updated Edition"


Day 80.  Month 4. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: Scrabble® tiles
New Jewelry a Day.

Make Post Earrings from Vintage Game Pieces

Before: Game Pieces

Today was a busy day. The holiday season is in full swing. Schools will let out in a few days and everybody is looking forward to vacation. We did not have a lot of time to make jewelry.

When scouring our house for materials, we found a lot of game pieces from games we owned and played through the years. Many had broken or missing parts. The broken games were trashed but some of the parts are very cool. These were from an old backgammon set. We think.

After: Post Earrings by GeltDesigns

These vintage game pieces are lovely. Nobody knows for sure what type of material the pieces are made from. One expert said they were ivory. Another said they were bone. yet another said they were plastic.

When we thought they were plastic we considered stamping the pieces and embossing them with gold but that seemed a crime if there was even a chance they were made of ivory or bone. After doing a test assembly, we  decided the pieces needed little done to them to create simple, elegant post earrings.

Tools
Acetone
220-grit wet/dry sandpaper

Materials
Two game pieces
Two post earring findings with glue pad and two clutch earring backs
Glue

Step 1
Gather your materials. We used glue on findings and big backs because that is what we had. (Remember, our task is to make new jewelry a day without spending any additional money and using only what we have on hand from our craft supplies.) You may want to use different sizes.

Step 2
Clean the game pieces. Decide which side will be the front and which the back.

Step 3
Sand the back of the post earring finding using 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper to prepare to attach the finding to the game piece. Clean the sanded findings with acetone to remove grease and grim. Rinse with water and dry.We used cold fusion (otherwise known as chemical bonding or glue) to attach the earrings.

Step 4
Glue the finding to the top third of the game piece.

Step 5
Repeat to create second earring.

Step 6
Let the glue set overnight or according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Further Reading
"The Earring Style Book: Making Designer Earrings, Capturing Celebrity Style, and Getting the Look for Less"; Stephanie A. Wells; 2010.
"101 Wire Earrings: Step-by-Step Projects and Techniques";  Denise Peck; 2009.
30-Minute Earrings: 60 Quick & Creative Projects for Jewelers; Marthe Le Van; 2010.
Steampunk Style Jewelry: Victorian, Fantasy, and Mechanical Necklaces, Bracelets, and Earrings;  Jean Campbell; 2010.

Day 24. Week 4. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent: 0
Found materials: Backgammon game pieces
New Jewelry a Day.