Make a Pendant from Enameled Piping

We are still playing with pipes! Today we took one of the copper enameled beads we made using pipe and used the bead as the focal point in a pendant.

Before: Enameled pipe, scrap wire

Materials
Copper enameled bead
2 sterling silver beads
Sterling silver scrap wire-- 18 gauge & 20-gauge
Smokey quartz bead

Tools
Nylon jaw chain nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Flush  wire cutter
Barrett needle file

Step 1
Locate scrap sterling silver wire from the scrap bin. Use the nylon jaw pliers to straighten out the scrap wire.

Step 2
Feed a sterling silver bead on the the 18-gauge wire, followed by the copper enameled bead and another sterling silver bead. Wrap the end of the wire to secure the beads. Trim excess wire, if any, with a wire cutter. File the ends smooth using a barrette needle file.

Select bead for drop

Step 3
Sort through the bead collection to locate a center-drilled bead. Make a loop at the end of the 20-gauge wire to form a head pin. Feed the center-drilled smokey quartz bead on the prepared 20-gauge wire head pin. Create a loop above bead and attach the 20-gauge wire to the 18-gauge wire. Wrap the wire to secure.

Step 4

After: Enamel pendant by GeltDesigns.com

Slide the pendant onto the chain. We used a neck-ring we made from 14-gauge sterling silver wire, but any chain will do.

Related Project Tutorials
Turn a Pipe into Enamels Beads
Make Earrings from Copper Pipe and Wire
Make an Enamel Necklace from a Copper Pipe
Make a Beaded Bracelet with Copper Pipe & Wire
Make a Neck-Ring from Copper Pipe
Make a Bangle Bracelet from a Copper Pipe

Related Skills Tutorials
How to Make A Simple Head Pin
How to Make an Eye Pin
How to Make a Paddle Head Pin
How to Straighten Wire
Make Your Own Beaded Drop
Make Your Own Wire Wrapping Tool Kit

Further Reading  
"Making Designer Bead and Wire Jewelry: Techniques for Unique Designs and Handmade Findings"; Tammy Powley; 2005.
"The Complete Photo Guide to Jewelry Making: More than 700 Large Format Color Photos"; Tammy Powley; 2011.

Month 5. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent: 0
Found materials: Copper pipe, scarp wire, orphan beads
New Jewelry a Day.  

Make a Crab Pendant from a Toy

Before: Toy and Screw Eye

The toy box is a great source of interesting items to make jewelry. When we first found this toy, we thought we might electroform it.... but we liked the colors and decided against covering the crab with a coat of metal.

Materials
Toy
Screw eye

After: Pendant by GeltDesigns.com

Tools
Center punch
Chain nose pliers

Step 1
Gather your tools and materials.

Step 2
Use a center punch or nail to create a divot in the top of the toy where the finding will be inserted.

Add screw eye as finding

Step 3
Screw the screw eye into the divot. We used chain nose pliers to get greater leverage. There is no need to drill a hole first.


Step 4
Feed a chain through the eye.


Related Tutorials
Make a Necklace from Lock Washers & Toys
Make Wine Cup Earrings
Make a Charm Bracelet from Toy Figurines
Make a Cartoon Pendant
Make a Spider Pin from a Toy
Make a Necklace from Figurines
Make a Lizard Pin from a Toy
Make Dog Earrings from Toys  

Further Reading
"500 Pendants & Lockets: Contemporary Interpretations of Classic Adornments (500 Series)"; Lark; 2008.
"500 Plastic Jewelry Designs: A Groundbreaking Survey of A Modern Material (500 Series)"; Lark; 2009.

Day 107. Month 5. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent: 0
Found materials: toy
New Jewelry a Day. 

Make a Paper Bead Pendant

We are intrigued at the notion of making beads from scrap paper and decided to try our hand. Our first attempts were no where near as grand as some of the things we've seem folks do...but we decided to report our first results anyway. We hope our next results will be improved.

Before: Scrap paper

Materials
Scrap paper
Mandrel (tooth pick or barbecue skewer) or bead roller
Diamond Glaze or Mod Podge
Paint brush
Nail polish (optional)
2mm satin cord
18-gauge brass wire

Tools
Wire cutter
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers

Step 1
Cut the paper selected for the paper beads into triangle strips. For a football shaped bead, cut a wide triangle. For a round bead, cut a thin, very long triangle (the length of four magazine pages).

Step 2
Roll the paper on a mandrel. We used a kitchen skewer. To secure the bead, we folded the paper over the mandrel and then glued the first inch or two with paper glue before we began rolling the bead.

Step 3
Roll the bead. Glue the last three inches of the paper to finish and secure the paper bead.

Step 4
Remove the paper bead from the mandrel and put the paper bead on a tooth pick.

Step 5
Coat the paper bead with Diamond Glaze or decoupage glue to make the bead water resistant (but not waterproof). Let the bead dry for an hour or two. Coat again.

Make paper beads

Duplicate to create the needed number of beads. In our case, we made two paper beads.

Feed bead on wire

Step 6
Feed the first of two beads onto wire and make a loop using round nose pliers. Secure the bead on the wire by creating a second loop on the other side of the bead. Trim off excess wire, if any, using wire cutters.

Step 7

Make bail on second bead

Feed the second paper bead on the wire. Make two loops on the end of the wire. Spread the loops apart using chain nose pliers to create a pendant bail. Push the paper bead flush against the created bail and then create another loop on the other side of the bead.

Step 8
Attach the two beads together.

After: Paper bead pendant

Step 9
Feed 2mm satin cord through the bail to hand the paper bead pendant.


Design alternatives
You can add color using household goods by painting the paper bead with nail polish. Allow the nail polish to dry. Apply a second layer of nail polish. Dry again. Decorate the paper bead by painting the bead with another color of nail polish. Use a paint brush or tooth pick for lines and other small details.

 Further Reading
"Creative Beads from Paper and Fabric: Create Your Own Crafts and Embellish Ready-Made Items; No-Sew Fun for All Ages"; Ann Krstn Krr; 2005.
"Paper Beads (Klutz)"; 2009.
"Creative Paper Jewelry: Earrings, Pendants, Beads & Pins"; Dafna Yarom; 2010.

Day 92  Month 4. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: copper wire, orphan bead
New Jewelry a Day.

Make a Necklace from Shoe Lace Charms

Before: Shoe charms

My daughter saw these shoe lace charms and said they remind her of the "foot prints of love." Today is project seven of our V-Day series and we decided to make a simple necklace using shoe lace charms and our imitation leather.

Tomorrow is the big day. Valentine's Day in our house is all about crafts and chocolate. We reject the commercial aspects of the holiday, but love a theme for making stuff. And, of course, we love chocolate. And ice cream.

When my kids were little, I loved working with them to make Valentine's Day cards for each of the kids in the class and all their teachers ... today its all about wearing our hand crafted jewelry and eating chocolate...and reminding each other (and our friends) how much we love and appreciate one another.

Materials
2 shoe charms
2mm leather, imitation leather, satin or other stringing material
Findings (end caps and clasp)
Glue (optional)

After: Footprints of love by GeltDesigns.com

Step 1
Select the charms.

Step 2
Feed the charms on the stringing material and attach findings.

You can glue the charms to hold them in a particular position or allow the charms to dangle and clang.

Related Tutorials
Make Earrings from Shoe Charms 
Make Heart Earrings from Copper Staples 
Make a Beer Bottle into a Heart Pin 
Make "Kiss Me" Heart Earrings 
Make a Valentine's Day Pendant from a Scrabble® Tile 
Make a "True Love" Bracelet from Scrabble® Tiles 
Make a Valentine's Day Pendant from a Copper Washer
GeltDesigns Tutorials by Topic
NJAD Index (Days 1 to 60) by Type of Jewelry
NJAD Index (Days 1 to 60) by Type of Found Object  

Further Reading 
"500 Plastic Jewelry Designs: A Groundbreaking Survey of A Modern Material (500 Series)"; Lark; 2009.
"500 Pendants & Lockets: Contemporary Interpretations of Classic Adornments (500 Series)"; Lark; 2008.
"500 Necklaces: Contemporary Interpretations of a Timeless Form (500 Series)"; Lark; 2006.

Day 85  Month 4. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent to date: 0
Found materials: shoe lace charms
New Jewelry a Day.

Have a great week!

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.