37th Project completed - A metal work pendant

Hello again!


Wow this week has past quickly, last time I looked it was Sunday evening and now it is Saturday already. As you will know from the previous post, I decided to play about with an old metal paste tube. 


I knew that as the metal was nice and soft it could be easily embroidered on a machine but I must admit to never having tried it myself. I have discovered that I love it. It was so much fun to do! So here it is a metal work pendant made from a purée tube! 

Materials needed

• Empty purée tube
• Small scrap of felt
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Ball point pen
• Multi purpose glue
• Spoon

Instructions

1. Open out your empty purée tube by cutting off the top and bottom then cutting up one side. Clean thoroughly and place onto a folded towel, iron out any wrinkles with the back of a spoon. Mark out a rough design with a ball point pen.

2. Cut a small piece of the tube to the desired size of your pendant and back with a piece of felt, then with your feed dogs lowered and an embroidery foot fitted to your machine start stitching in random small circles. I used 3 colours of thread separately: yellow, orange, red and merged them together.

3. Returning to the towel, working from the rear colour in the motifs with the ball point pen to emboss the design. Then trim.

4. Cut another piece of felt to cover the back of your work and glue into place with the multi-purpose glue. Trim into the finished shape once the glue has completely dried.

5. Securely stitch a jump ring to the top of your pendant, it is now ready to be threaded onto a piece of cord or a chain ready for wearing.

31st project completed - A plastic bottle necklet

Happy evening! 



I say 'Happy' as we are all supposed to be statistically the happiest this year between the hours of 6pm and 7pm this evening. Were you? I'm not entirely convinced about all that but I am certainly happy to show you this week's project!

A neck-let made from recycled plastic bottles!


Materials needed

• A few plastic bottles
• Permanent markers or glass paint
• Thick wire
• Multi purpose glue
• Jewellery clasp
• Long nosed pliers
• Heat tool

Instructions

1. Cut a section from one of your bottles and using the heat gun, gently heat it. You will find it bends, buckles and twists into a shape of it's own. Trim into a pleasing shape as you go. I made one large and one small shape

2. Once cooled, you can colour them with the permanent markers or glass paint.

3. Make a hole at the top of the larger shape with a sharp, heated needle. Glue the smaller shape to the larger one where it fits best.

4. To make the beads, colour a 1cm wide strip of the plastic with the paint or markers. Then holding one end with the long nosed pliers, wrap the strip tightly around the pliers. Move the pliers so you have one of the noses through the bead and hold the rest in place by clamping together. Now heat gently with the heat gun until the layers have melted slightly and stuck together.

5. Thread the beads and the pendant onto a length of thick beading wire making a twist at the top of the pendant to hold it in place. Attach the clasp and jump ring to finish.