New Craft (for me): Pendants

Again, I'll be showing off a new thing I learned at the Rubber Stamp Festival I attended last month. This time it's jewelry, which is totally different for me. I've never messed with jewelry before because 1) I have 2 friends who already make beautiful jewelry that I sometimes benefit from, and 2) I'm a bit of a jewelry snob. There, I admit it.

But this just looked so fun.

I bought a stack of 20 glass blocks for making pendants. I'll just apologize now for not discovering the macro button on my camera until the end of this process, so you'll just have to endure blurry photos for the first steps.

First, find pretty paper to glue to the back of the glass block. I used an Amy Butler print that I'd added some glitter to quite a while back:



Either cut it first to fit the block, or just glue it where you want it, then cut it down to size with an exacto knife. I used the latter method:



I simply used a gel glue to adhere it to the glass:



The glitter I'd added to the paper made it a bit bumpy, which meant the paper didn't stick flat to the glass. I placed the glass block under a heavy book. I'd have done this regardless of the unevenness of the paper; it just ensures good bonding:



The next day, when I could be sure the glue was good and dry, I moved on to sealing the paper with Modge Podge. It's just a basic decoupage technique. I wound up doing 2 coats:



Once that was dry, I used a jewelry glue to adhere the bail to the back of the pendant:



I let that dry overnight. All done!




These are really inexpensive to make, and I think they could make fun little gifts. But this one is for me.