P is for Pendant

I am not the craftiest person you'll ever meet. Except for preschool crafts, that is. I rock the preschool crafts. When I started mapping out my A to Z topics, however, I knew I couldn't do just preschool crafts and recipes, the two main subjects I research and pin on Pinterest, so I started looking for crafts I might actually do. And like.

I found this pin and thought it didn't look unreasonably difficult, plus the end result was a really cute necklace. I penciled it in for "G is for glass pendant" and hit the craft store.

Found on sabbyinsuburbia.blogspot.com

Three craft stores later, I discovered you cannot buy glass craft tiles where I live. Nor can you buy the special adhesive called Paper Glaze or Diamond Glaze. As my mother would say, my cake was dough.

While I wasn't going to be able to make this (or attempt to make this) for "G," I was still determined to make it (or attempt to make it) anyway, because I thought it was cute, and I renamed it "P is for Pendant," which really isn't cheating, is it? There was a link for Sun And Moon Craft Kits in the project directions, and I ordered glass tiles and glaze from them. The package arrived on, naturally, the day AFTER "G" day, and, as I was busy squishing ants with peppermint essential oil on a cotton ball, I didn't even open the box until this week.

I had picked up a couple of sheets of scrapbooking paper that I liked before I found out that I couldn't buy glass tiles locally, so I actually had all the materials on the list (woot! woot!). Wednesday evening, I went to work on the project.

Picking out the pattern.

A coating of the glaze goes on the tile, then the paper is stuck to it, face down.

After about 30 minutes, glaze is applied to the back of the paper side of the pendant.

When the glaze is dry (directions said 5 or 6 hours; actuality was more like
15 hours before it was completely dry) glue on the bales. I didn't know
what bales were until I read the supply list for the project. A bale is the little thingy at the
top of the pendant for the chain or ribbon to go through so you can wear it.

When you realize your bale was different than the ones in the project directions, and
you go to the three craft stores AGAIN and find out the only ones available are the
ones you already bought (and already glued down) and now it won't hang correctly,
you use your noodle and buy some little rings to go through the bale and save the day.

Pendant #1 on a brown satin ribbon. Yes, I used my new light box.

Pendant #2 on a length of hemp cord that I'm not sure I like.
The cord, that is. LOVE the pendant.

Making the pendants wasn't as easy as it looked. Cutting the paper to fit the back of the pendant was trickier than you might imagine; it had to be slightly smaller than than the tile, corners rounded, BUT NOT TOO MUCH. Fortunately, paper is cheap. Also, getting the glaze on without it slopping over the sides was another breath-holding exercise. And I had to wear my strongest pair of old lady readers to see what I was doing. The difficulty factor also went up considerably every time Ruby tried to help me. But I'm calling the end result a Pinterest WIN.

Anybody want me to make them a necklace?!