One of the types of jewelry I make a lot are glass pendants. People always compliment them and mention how pretty they are, and then are impressed by the fact that I made them. And honestly, they are one of the simplest forms of jewelry making that I do, and I love it because of the ability of mass-production I can have with them. They aren’t as unique type of jewelry making by any means, everyone and their grandmother make them. I see them all the time. But none-the-less they are a fun zen way to make a lot of cute and stunning jewelry.
I wanted to show you how easy it is to make something like this, but wanted to focus mostly on the main part, gluing your image to the glass/plastic. So Im focusing on that by creating a Pin-Up coaster.
What you’ll need:
1. A piece of square or round flat glass or plastic (you can find these at Jo-Anns or
Michaels).
2. An image, you’ll want to use either scrapbook paper or an image that is printed on thicker paper, not just out of your printer (there is an entirely different process to do with that type of ink, and if you do this method on an ink jet print, you’re image will bleed/change colors).
3. 1 Bottle of Diamond Glaze
4. 1 Square flat tipped paint brush
Step 1
Take your image on a flat surface, your brush and diamond glaze, and make sure your table is covered with something to protect its surface.
You are going to squeeze a little bit of diamond glaze on top of the center of your image. And then use your paint brush to help spread out the glaze on your image and remove bubbles.
** When you are done with this process quickly rinse off your paint brush so that the glaze doesn’t ruin your brush when it dries.
Step 2
Take your piece of glass or plastic and carefully lay it on top of your image.
Then press down on the glass or plastic (it’ll probably slip and slide a little bit at first, but just square it up on your image how you want it), and push down and move all the “blue” colored diamond glaze out so that it squeezes out the sides, removing all bubbles under the glass/plastic.
See the blue ^? You want to push that “out” of underneath the glass/plastic, like this…
You’ll need to hold it like that for a minute or two so that the glue under the glass dries and the edges dont seep their way back in. Then just take your paint brush and brush away the excess diamond glaze, and just let it sit. You’ll want to let it sit about 15-20 minutes on each side, so that back of the paper dries too.
After its dry you cut away your excess paper with scissors or an exacto knife.
Some people put backings on their images, and for this you should probably use some cork baking (also available at most craft stores).
I’ll get into the other tips and tricks of diamond glaze and pendants/coasters in another blog.
Hope this is helpful though!
Design + Craft = <3
