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 a Dreidel Pendant

Repurposed Dreidel Pendant by GeltDesigns

Yesterday, we made earrings from dreidels. Today, we made a pendant out of a larger,  green-painted, wood dreidel that we wore on a simple brass neck-ring.

Materials
14-gauge brass wire
Dreidel

Tools
Automatic center punch
Flex shaft and size 46 drill bit
Mandrel or Wrap n' Tap Pliers
Chain nose  pliers
Wire rounder or needle file
Wire side cutters or flush cutters
Small ball pein hammer, plastic or rawhide mallet

Step 1
Select the dreidel you plan to use. We used a medium sized wood dreidel painted green.

Step 2
Mark the dreidel with an automatic center punch and then drill a hole in the dreidel. We used a flex shaft and size 46 drill bit to drill the hole. The drill bit is larger than the drill bit we used to make the dreidel earrings because the stem of the dreidel is larger and can accommodate a hole large enough to slip 14-gauge brass wire through.

Step 3
Make the finding. Use a mandrel  Wrap n' Tap pliers to make a large ring from the 14-gauge wire. Cut the wire using wire cutters. File the ends of the rings smooth using a wire rounder or a flex shaft with a cup bur. Adjust the ring so the ends are flush. Hit the ring with a rawhide or plastic mallet to harden the metal.

Step 4
Open the ring and slip the dreidel onto the wire of the finding. Close the ring with your chain nose pliers. Turn the ring until the wood on the dreidel covers the closure of the ring you made.

Step 5
Feed the dreidel pendant onto a chain. We used a brass  neck-ring we hand made in our studio, but you can use any chain of your choice.

Related Tutorials
Make Dreidel Earrings
Make Your Own Dreidel
Chanukah Craft Projects for Kids 
How to Make a Hanukkah Menorah
GeltDesigns Tutorials by Topics  

Further Reading
500 Judaica: Innovative Contemporary Ritual Art (500 Series)

Day 15. Week 3. Jewelry from Found Objects.  $ spent: 0
Found materials: Wooden Dreidel
New Jewelry a Day.