It was a pretty good weekend, overall, but there was some more mischief about in our ‘hood. More on that, tomorrow, probably. But for now, something fun. Washer necklaces!! I’d pinned this cute little craft for making necklaces out of washers … but it was a bum pin and ended up leading nowhere, so I googled washer necklaces and came to this site with a great tutorial. You don’t need much to do it (I actually had everything on hand after stealing a couple of things from Matt’s woodshop).
Here’s what it takes:
- washers, whatever size you fancy
- scrapbook paper … smaller print is better
- adhesive to affix paper to metal (I ended up using some kind of fabric adhesive, but the site recommends E6000 which would be good too)
- sandpaper
- an exacto knife
- dimensional medium
- cord to string it on
Here’s how:
So you mark the scrapbook paper and cut it to size.
Then you glue the paper to the washers.
Then you need to remove the paper from the middle. A punch would work well for this, but of course I had an exacto knife and that does well too.
It doesn’t matter a LOT how accurate you are, because you next make the paper the perfect size using a bit of sand paper. Works like a charm. The original post recommends a nail file, and that is OK on the outside, but the sandpaper does the job on both edges.
Next you’ll put the dimensional medium on top of the washer. This gives it a layer of protection and adds a neat effect like it’s under glass. Mod Podge brand makes some, but this one is called “Glossy Accents.” I got it at Hobby Lobby a while back.
It looks like this when you put it on. It’s kind of tricky to work with. You have to get just the right amount so it doesn’t run off the sides. But even if it does, you can fix it up with a little sandpaper. This is good even if it doesn’t run over just to smooth things out a little. Dry-time is about 45 minutes or probably longer in a climate not as dry as Denver.
Lastly, you string it with some cord. This raffia blends well, but black leather or stretchy cord would be a nice contrast too.
This was a fun craft and pretty easy too, though I think I it’s a bit more suited for a child 7+ or so. I think Tabby would have been frustrated with it. I also wished I had some smaller print paper and would try to find some specifically suited to this. These would make very fun little stocking stuffers.
Check out all the other great Pinteractive Projects on Nannette’s site.