W is for Washer Necklace

I swear I took more pictures of today's project than I seem to be able to locate on my phone, but apparently, I confuse THIS project with one of the 22 OTHER Pinterest projects I have taken pictures of this month for the A to Z Challenge. I apologize in advance for the lack of illustrations.

Here's the pin:

Found on sites.thebloggernetwork.com

The main supplies needed for this are washers of any size, hole punches that match the size of the hole on the inside of the washers (guess what I didn't have?), scrapbook paper, diamond glaze, sharp scissors, craft glue (I have two big bottles of Elmer's School Glue, will that do?), beads, and ribbon or hemp cord.

Our basement is currently a picture of disorganization, but I was just SURE I would be able to find a variety of washers down there. If there were a variety, they were well hidden, and I had to settle for three different ones in three entirely different sizes. If I had taken a picture of them, that picture would go right here:

*imagine washers here*

I picked up several sheets of scrapbook paper when I was making glass pendants, and I also had diamond glaze from that project. I had a hole punch, but, naturally, it didn't match the center of any one of the three washers I found. The rest of the stuff was still on my table from (yes, still) the glass pendant project, so I was ready to go. 

I followed the directions and cut out a small square of scrapbook paper, traced the washer on the wrong side, and used the hole punch to make a hole in the center of the circle. Using the scissors, I cut out the circle, then glued it onto the washer. If I had taken pictures of all this, they would be here. As it is, all you get is a paper circle and a washer:

Next came the tricky part. Because I didn't have a hole punch the EXACT SAME SIZE as the center of any of my washers, I had to use the scissors to nip off bits of the paper until I got it the same size as the hole. This is when I found out my little pair of scrapbooking scissors is getting rather dull (anyone know if I can sharpen them with that stick thing in my knife block?). Last, I used an emery board to file the edges of the washer, which helped smooth the paper edge. Next problem encountered: the hole was smaller than the emery board, so I did a less than satisfactory job of smoothing the inner circle, but I did the best I could.

After the edges are smooth, diamond glaze is applied to the front of the washer and allowed to dry (it has been really humid around here, and I have allowed a minimum of 18 hours for the glaze to set and harden on this and the glass pendant projects). 

Applying the glaze.

Glaze applied.

Last step is to tie on a ribbon or cord. Easy. Or would be, if you didn't have Ruby "helping." Then add a bead to the cord and tie it in place. Not as easy. First issue, still getting help from Ruby. Second, I bought some glass beads, but the hole was too small (I seem to be having hole problems with this project***). After digging around through all my craft supplies, I found some cheap, crappy pony beads, but as my mom says, po' folks has po' ways, and I made do with them. 

Ruby stealing my hemp. Again.

End result:

I think they're pretty, but I'm not crazy about the hemp cord.

Waiting for her chance to steal one. She LIKES the hemp cord.

And since I came home from my parents' house tonight with a baggie full of washers of various sizes, I think I will call this a Pinterest win!

My dad was able to spare a few washers from his collection.

*** That's what she said.