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 an Enamel Necklace from a Copper Pipe

Before: Copper Refrigerator Tubing

We demonstrated how to make copper pipe into a neck-ring. In this project, we enameled the copper neck-ring to add color.

Materials
Copper pipeEnamel


Tools
Jewelry kiln or torch

After: Copper Enameled Neck-Ring by GeltDesigns.com

Tripod or other kiln furniture (to hold enamel when firing)
Fork or spatula (to move enamel)

Step 1
Make a neck-ring. Follow the instructions in our tutorial "How to Make a Neck-Ring from Copper Pipe."

Step 2
Paint white liquid enamel on the copper pipe using a paint brush dedicated to enamel.

Step 3
Sift powder enamel over the liquid enamel. We used a pale blue. The powder will stick to the liquid enamel an add color.

Step 4
Fire the enamel using a kiln or a torch. We fired this neck-ring with a torch to get a rough, earthy look.

Step 5
Remove the fired enamel from the kiln or the flame of the torch. Allow the enamel to cool to room temperature.

Step 6
File the edges of the copper enamel neck-ring to remove oxidation or fire-scale, if any.

Related Tutorials
Make a Neck-Ring from Copper Pipe
Make a Bangle Bracelet from a Copper Pipe
Make a Beaded Bracelet with Copper Pipe & Wire
How to Make a Copper Bead
How to Make a Copper Necklace

How to Torch Fire Enamel 

Further Reading 
"Enamels, Enameling, Enamelists (Jewelry Crafts)"; Glenice L. Matthews; 1984.
"The Art of Enameling: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration";  Linda Darty; 2006.
"First Steps in Enameling";  Jinks McGrath; 2003.
"Enamelling (The Art of Crafts)";  Joan Bolton King; 2001.
"The Art of Fine Enameling";  Karen L Cohen; 2004.
"Color on Metal: 50 Artists Share Insights and Techniques": Tim McCreight, Nicole Bsullak; 2001.


Day 49.  Month 3.  Jewelry from Found Objects.
Found materials: copper pipe
New Jewelry a Day.

Make a Neck-Ring from Copper Pipe

Before: Copper Pipe

Earlier we made a bangle bracelet from a copper pipe and we added a blue patina to made the bracelet colorful. For this project, we used copper pipe to make a striking, but

After: Copper Neck Ring by GeltDesig

simple neck-ring that looks great with a turtleneck and an open collar neckline.

Tools
Jewelers saw and saw blades
Bench pin and anvil 
Half-round file
220-grit wet/dry sandpaper 
400-grit, 600-grit, 800-grit, 1000-grit, 1500-grit
Necklace mandrel
Forming hammer, rawhide or plastic mallet
Renaissance Wax


Step 1
Determine the amount of material you need. Must neck-rings measure are about 16-inches long, but you may need a neck-ring that is larger of smaller depending on who will wear the jewelry.

Step 2
Cut the pipe. Coat the saw blade with beeswax to prevent the saw blade from slipping as you saw.  Use your jewelers saw and saw blades to cut the pipe. We used a size 2 jeweler's saw blade, but you may need to evaluate the pipe you use to determine the size blade you need. Steady the pipe on a bench pin and anvil as you cut. Some folks use a tube cutting jig to hold the pipe steady while you saw, but we did not use a jig since we found it more cumbersome when cutting from a long length of copper pipe.

Step 3
File the ends of the cut pipe with a half-round file to remove tool marks from sawing the pipe.

Step 4
Sand the ends of the pipe using 220-grit wet/dry sandpaper to remove tool marks caused when filing the pipe ends. Switch to 400-grit, 600-grit, 800-grit, 1000-grit and then 1500-grit, if needed, until the ends are very, very smooth. Remember: sharp ends are not comfortable to wear as jewelry-- especially around the neck.

Step 5
Bend the copper tubing around a necklace forming mandrel. Use a forming hammer, rawhide or plastic mallet to move the metal into shape, if needed.

Note: If you are having trouble bending the copper tube, then the copper pipe may be work hardened from cutting, filing and sawing. If the copper pipe is difficult to bend, anneal the pipe with your torch to soften the metal and make it easier to form. Pickle the copper pipe with Sparex another pickling compound in a crock-pot or pickle pot  to remove oxidation formed when annealing the copper pipe.

Step 6
Finish the necklace. Polish the neck-ring. Texture the neck-ring or patina the neck-ring to add color. Treat the neck-ring with Renaissance Wax to protect your finish and prevent tarnish.

Related Tutorials
Make a Bangle Bracelet from a Copper Pipe
How to Make a Copper Bead
How to Make a Copper Necklace
How to Use a Jewelry Saw
How to Use a File for Jewelry Making
How to Use Sand Paper
How to Anneal Metal for Jewelry Making
How to Make an Acid Pickle Bath
How to Use Alum as a Pickling Solution
How to Create a Scratch Finish in Your Art Jewelry
How to Buff and Polish Jewelry
How to Oxidize Silver Jewelry with Eggs
How to Use a Dremel to Make Jewelry
How to Create a Blue Patina on Copper 
All about Patina
How Use Renaissance Wax
GeltDesigns Tutorials by Topics  

Further Reading
Contemporary Copper Jewelry: Step-by-Step Techniques and Projects
Mixed Metals: Creating Contemporary Jewelry with Silver, Gold, Copper, Brass, and More
Copper Art Jewelry: A Different Luster
Complete Metalsmith: Professional Edition

Day 16. Week 3. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent: 0
Found materials: copper pipe (for ice maker and refrigerator)
New Jewelry a Day.