Keep your loved ones close — with photos of them in your jewelry
No idea, yet again, what to get for that special someone in your life this holiday season?
And is your camera's memory overloaded?
Lemon into lemonade, folks: turn photographs into jewelry. This gift is hard to beat.
You'll need:
- printed-out, scaled-down photographs
- scissors
- casting mold
- casting resin
- plastic container for mixing
- stirring/popsicle sticks (like these )
- hand drill
- jewelry pliers
- jewelry accessories (split rings, eye pins, clasps)
Here's how:
Print out the photographs you've selected, scaled down, and cut them to fit your mold. To be on the safe side, place the pictures in the molds to check for size. Now mix the resin exactly as recommended by the manufacturer.
Fill your chosen forms with resin and place the photos on top with the picture facing up. Now with a popsicle stick, gently push the picture down to the bottom of your mold so that it's completely covered in resin. Now wait for them to harden.
To get them out of the molds, gently twist and turn the form sheet and tap on the back of each mold.
Use your scissors to cut away the sharp edges: it makes them look better and feel much softer against the skin.
To find the right length for a bracelet or necklace, use a strip of paper around your wrist or throat and measure how long you want it to be. Then you can sort out the mini-photos — and the ones that don't fit this time, you can use later for something else.
To connect the pictures, take your hand drill and bore two holes in each piece, one hole on each side. The holes should be big enough to fit the metal connector you'll be using.
Now thread the connector through one hole and attach a ring to it with your pliers, twisting the ends of the ring closed, and after doing the same with another picture, looping the rings together (this time before twisting the ends of the ring closed). Repeat this process until you have your desired length completed!
Finally, attach the two parts of a clasp to each end of the photo chain.
And at last you have a very personal piece to give to someone special.
You can have a lot of fun choosing your photos, whether snapshots from your last vacation or historic pics from an old family album.
The great thing is how personal and individual it can be.
Some photographs will look better in this or that mold, too. Try out different shapes.
A thorough instructional video shows you what to do, including a number of very helpful details:
With a present like that under the tree (or heck, for any other occasion) you're guaranteed to see some smiles when the wrapping paper comes off. After all, who wouldn't love getting to wear their favorite memories and dearest loved ones?