Showing posts with label handle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label handle. Show all posts

Jewelry Tutorial Pretty Silver Spoon Handle Pendant Necklace

Jewelry Tutorial Pretty Silver Spoon Handle Pendant Necklace




I love the patterns on old silverplated flatware! If Im lucky, I can often find one or two orphaned spoons or forks when I am out cruising the thrift stores or flea markets. What to do with a pretty old spoon? How about turning it into a unique necklace pendant? Follow along and Ill show you how to do just that! 

Here are the tools and materials you will need:
One vintage silverplated spoon or fork with a pretty handle
One 2" headpin
A few 4-6mm beads 
Bench vice grip secured to a workbench or table
Jewelers hand saw with blade
A metal file
Hand drill with small bit (about 4mm) and wood block to drill into
Two lengths of jewelry chain in whatever length you desire. I used two 10" lengths of chain.
A lobster-claw style clasp
Three 6mm jump rings
Two pair of jewelry pliers (chain nose or rosary pliers work well)
Jewelry side cutters


1. Choose a spoon or fork that has a pretty handle. 



2. Secure the spoon or fork in your bench vice so that it stays firmly in place while you saw it. (I also have my vice clamped to my workbench so that it does not move around while I am working.) Determine where you want to cut. You can make a mark on your spoon with a marker if that makes it easier for you. I simply eyeball it and cut a little bit below where the bulk of the design stops.



3. Use your jewelry saw to cut off the end of your spoon or fork. Hold the saw vertically and saw in an up and down motion. The size of saw blade isnt super important here, as we are simply cutting the end off of the spoon. 



4. Use your drill with bit and drill a hole into the end of your spoon handle at the end where you made the saw cut. I like to drill my holes about 1/8" in from the end. Make sure you drill into a block of wood.



5. Use a metal file to smooth down any sharp or pointy edges from the cut end of your spoon handle. 


6. This image shows the chain assembly. Use one 6mm jump ring and thread it through the hole in your spoon. Thread one end of each of your two lengths of jewelry chain onto the same open jump ring and then close the jump ring. Scroll down and take a look at image 16 if you do not know how to open a jump ring.  



7. This image shows the chain assembly with the chain attached and jump ring closed. Now its time to add some beads to our pendant to give it a little bit of color!



8. Get out your beads! For my pendant, I used two small beads that were each about 5mm in size. I used a silver bead and a turquoise bead.



9. Thread your beads onto your headpin. 



10. Grip the headpin above the beads and use your chain nose or rosary pliers (pliers with a rounded end) to form a loop in the head pin above the beads. 



11. Thread the end of the head pin through the jump ring that you used to attach the chain to your spoon pendant. 



12. Use one pair of your pliers to hold the head pin at the loop that you just created. Use your second pair of pliers in your other hand to grip the tail end of the head pin wire. Wrap the head pin wire around the "neck" of the head pin between the beads and the loop.  



13. Continue to wrap the tail end of the head pin wire until you run out of room on the neck. Twice is usually sufficient. 



14. Use your side cutter pliers to cut the remaining tail end of wire from the head pin. Use your chain nose pliers to tuck in any pointy end of wire into the previous wire wraps. 



15. This image shows the assembly for the clasp. Chain end, jump ring, clasp, jump ring, and other chain end. Open the jump rings (see step 16 below) and thread on the chain ends and clasp in the order as shown in the photo and then close the jump rings.



16. The correct way to open a jump ring is to use two pair of pliers 
(I had to take the photo with one hand so my image only shows one!) Hold the jump ring seam-side up. Grip the jump ring with one pair of pliers on each side of the seam and use a twisting motion, turning the pliers opposite directions of each other to open the jump ring at its seam. Close the jump ring by using the same motion, bringing the end of the jump ring back together. 





I hope youve enjoyed this tutorial! 
Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment below. 
Please feel free to Pin this post! 

Enjoy your day!
Love, 
Laura


Check out my new DIY jewelry instruction books and DVDs!
   
Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!


My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns












Jewelry Tutorial Pretty Silver Spoon Handle Pendant Necklace
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New In My Shop Antique Dinner Knife Handle Bell Pendant Necklaces

New In My Shop Antique Dinner Knife Handle Bell Pendant Necklaces



New in my Etsy shop, I made these pretty pendant necklaces from the handles of
antique and vintage dinner knives. Suspended inside each one is the single tine from a
fork, turning them into little bells that make a pretty chime sound. Each is accented 
with a gemstone or crystal bead. Check them out in my shop here. Hope you like them! 

Want to learn how to make your own? The instructions for this project can be found in my book, BoHo Chic Jewelry!
 BoHo Chic Jewelry










What do you think?

Want to learn how to make your own? The instructions for this project can be found
in my book, BoHo Chic Jewelry!



Check out my new DIY jewelry instruction books and DVDs!
   
Learn how to solder and make unique jewelry!


My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns






New In My Shop Antique Dinner Knife Handle Bell Pendant Necklaces
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How to Handle Paper Clutter

How to Handle Paper Clutter



Today, I'm so excited to bring you a guest post from a sweet lady. Mary is a professional organizer and mother of four. She loves to organize, create, decorate and then blog about it at MaryOrganizes. Mary doesn't chase after perfection, her goals are a healthy home and happy life. She has amazing organizing skills and is here to help me out with all my back and forth traveling I've been doing. Now..let's handle that paper clutter before it controls us!

How to Handle Paper Clutter :: OrganizingMadeFun.com 


 If paper is your problem, you are not alone! 

Laundry and Paper are the monsters of homemaking and are more similar than you realize. A good strategy for laundry maintenance can teach you a lot about how to solve your paper problem. Your dirty clothes go in a hamper until its time to wash it. It would be a waste of time and energy to wash each piece of laundry one at a time as it becomes dirty. I use my inbox as my paper hamper and I save time dealing similar types of papers (or loads) at the same time. 

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How to Handle Paper Clutter
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