Fiddlette
03-06-2006, 03:56 PM
Here is my first computer craft project for the Muse newsletter, exactly as it read in the original:
Faux Soldered Charms ~ Part One by Christine Honsinger aka “Fiddlette”
I am a nut for jewelry. I love collecting it, wearing it, and creating it. Always have, and always will!
I first started creating and collecting jewelry when I was in high school. I loved vintage pieces, especially, and since it was far before vintage clothes and jewelry were “all the rage”, it was cheap enough, and available enough even for a high school girl working an after school job to invest in. I also loved beads, all kinds of beads, from glass and semi precious gems to ethnic and hand crafted beads. So it was quite natural for me to begin creating my own bracelets, necklaces, and earrings, at half the cost, and have the added advantage of getting exactly what I envisioned, plus the thrill of being able to say “I made it”!
Jump to present day. In addition to my obsession for playing with beads, headpins, eyepins, pliers, and wire, I have developed a love of scrapbooking. First came my passion for paper scraping, and it is still very close to my heart. It wasn’t long before I figured out ways of incorporating my fascination with jewelry and beading into my pages. I have included as part of my pages, my own hand done bead fringe, French beaded flowers, wire beaded elements, bead embroidery, and brooches. It has been so much fun to embellish my scrapbook pages with something that provided just the perfect amount of bling!
I have been digital scrapping, now, for 8 months, and I have finally discovered a way to marry my fixation on digi to my love of jewelry!! Soldered charms! They are extremely popular, and have been fashionable for several years. I have paid for them, as well as made them myself, in years past, but have never, before now, used anything I created digitally to make them. So it got me thinking, with the ease of creating digitally, as opposed to hand creating a collage, how many different ways can I come up with for creating lovely soldered charms?
I have come up with three ways I’d like to share with you, two faux soldered techniques, and finally, the real thing!!
In this article I would like to share with you the absolute EASIEST way to create faux soldered charms. I will also share the other ways in future articles.
The easiest way to produce a faux soldered charm involves having very few supplies. First off, you simply need a casing. I discovered some fabulous ones manufactured by Provo Craft and available at most local scrapbook stores, or the internet, called “Etcetera Bezels for Jemz”. They come in four sizes, long rectangle, (approximately 2 inches like a microscope slide), short rectangle, (approximately 1.25 inches), square and circle, (both about 1 inch.)
You will also need some dimensional adhesive, (I love Diamond Glaze, by JudiKins) Some people claim that UTEE by Suze Weinberg is another way to go with this. I have tons of clear UTEE, but have not as yet tried it for this purpose. I imagine it would produce quite a successful result, as well.
In order to hang your charm on a necklace, you will need a jump ring. For the necklace itself, I prefer plain ball chain, like army/navy dog tags would hang on. If you wish, you can add extra beads and/or other embellishments such as glitter or micro glass marble rounds. For the sake of these directions, though, I will only describe the steps to make the charm, and show you the two I made to start with. Since your imagination is the only limitation, I know there are literally hundreds of variations on this, and would love to see what any of you come up with if you decide to try this, too. Please post in the “printables gallery” at Scrap Artist, and be sure to include in your title “faux soldered charm” so we are sure NOT to miss it!
The first step is to create a tiny digital masterpiece. This can be a simple scrapbook page, done on an itsy bitsy canvas, or you can choose to create a more whimsical design using altered art and collage techniques. You can choose to use family photos, which will produce a treasured little digital memory art piece, or you can use other subjects, such as Hope Wallace’s absolutely enchanting fairies available for sale at the Scrap Artist store. Unable to choose, myself, I did one of each type. Make sure the design area of your canvas does not fit the dimensions of the entire casing, just the interior dimensions.
Once your design is complete, print it out, cut it out, and seal it with several coats of acrylic sealer. Leave sufficient time between coats for drying, and resist the temptation to move things along….believe me! I’m completely aware of what a disaster can be created from impatience!
Then it is time to glue your little art piece into the casing. Make sure the interior of the casing is clean and dry, and that there are no little pieces of lint or dust. You can use decoupage glue, or your favorite adhesive. One of my preferred products for this purpose is called Liquid Laminates. You could also, quite obviously, use your dimensional adhesive, as well. It is up to you. Whatever you use, be sure not to proceed till you are quite certain that the adhesive is dry before moving on to the next step.
The final step is to fill the casing with dimensional adhesive. It is VERY IMPORTANT not to fill up the casing in one full swoop. You must little by little, squeeze the liquid into the casing, making sure that you get an even coverage, but a very thin coat, each time. If you see bubbles appear, don’t panic. Have a stick pin close by so that you can pop them.
The most important thing about this project, and something that I cannot stress enough, is that you should try not to get anxious to move onto the next step, and by so doing, ruin the work accomplished previously. The dimensional adhesive can take quite a long while to dry, and as it does, the fogginess created by it, will also clear up. That is, only if you haven’t used too much at one sitting. I recommend that you take a few nights with this, and let each glaze fill dry for 24 hours.
Once you are satisfied with how much glaze you have added, you are good to go! Embellish away!! Attach your homemade digital masterpiece as a charm for a necklace, in your scrapbook, on your keychain, a ribbon, anywhere, really! Do use a thick enough jump ring so that it holds, and will not fall off of you. As with every project you do, remember to have fun and enjoy the process! Don’t sweat the small stuff, as my mom always says! If you get a bubble or two, it can only add to the handmade charm of the piece…(pun intended, he he!!) I hope some of you will be inspired to try this! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
Here is a list of standard loose chain lengths to assist you in your project:
Name Length
Choker 14 inches
Princess 16-18 inches
Matinee 20-24 inches
Opera 32-34 inches
Bracelets 6-7 inches
Faux Soldered Charms ~ Part One by Christine Honsinger aka “Fiddlette”
I am a nut for jewelry. I love collecting it, wearing it, and creating it. Always have, and always will!
I first started creating and collecting jewelry when I was in high school. I loved vintage pieces, especially, and since it was far before vintage clothes and jewelry were “all the rage”, it was cheap enough, and available enough even for a high school girl working an after school job to invest in. I also loved beads, all kinds of beads, from glass and semi precious gems to ethnic and hand crafted beads. So it was quite natural for me to begin creating my own bracelets, necklaces, and earrings, at half the cost, and have the added advantage of getting exactly what I envisioned, plus the thrill of being able to say “I made it”!
Jump to present day. In addition to my obsession for playing with beads, headpins, eyepins, pliers, and wire, I have developed a love of scrapbooking. First came my passion for paper scraping, and it is still very close to my heart. It wasn’t long before I figured out ways of incorporating my fascination with jewelry and beading into my pages. I have included as part of my pages, my own hand done bead fringe, French beaded flowers, wire beaded elements, bead embroidery, and brooches. It has been so much fun to embellish my scrapbook pages with something that provided just the perfect amount of bling!
I have been digital scrapping, now, for 8 months, and I have finally discovered a way to marry my fixation on digi to my love of jewelry!! Soldered charms! They are extremely popular, and have been fashionable for several years. I have paid for them, as well as made them myself, in years past, but have never, before now, used anything I created digitally to make them. So it got me thinking, with the ease of creating digitally, as opposed to hand creating a collage, how many different ways can I come up with for creating lovely soldered charms?
I have come up with three ways I’d like to share with you, two faux soldered techniques, and finally, the real thing!!
In this article I would like to share with you the absolute EASIEST way to create faux soldered charms. I will also share the other ways in future articles.
The easiest way to produce a faux soldered charm involves having very few supplies. First off, you simply need a casing. I discovered some fabulous ones manufactured by Provo Craft and available at most local scrapbook stores, or the internet, called “Etcetera Bezels for Jemz”. They come in four sizes, long rectangle, (approximately 2 inches like a microscope slide), short rectangle, (approximately 1.25 inches), square and circle, (both about 1 inch.)
You will also need some dimensional adhesive, (I love Diamond Glaze, by JudiKins) Some people claim that UTEE by Suze Weinberg is another way to go with this. I have tons of clear UTEE, but have not as yet tried it for this purpose. I imagine it would produce quite a successful result, as well.
In order to hang your charm on a necklace, you will need a jump ring. For the necklace itself, I prefer plain ball chain, like army/navy dog tags would hang on. If you wish, you can add extra beads and/or other embellishments such as glitter or micro glass marble rounds. For the sake of these directions, though, I will only describe the steps to make the charm, and show you the two I made to start with. Since your imagination is the only limitation, I know there are literally hundreds of variations on this, and would love to see what any of you come up with if you decide to try this, too. Please post in the “printables gallery” at Scrap Artist, and be sure to include in your title “faux soldered charm” so we are sure NOT to miss it!
The first step is to create a tiny digital masterpiece. This can be a simple scrapbook page, done on an itsy bitsy canvas, or you can choose to create a more whimsical design using altered art and collage techniques. You can choose to use family photos, which will produce a treasured little digital memory art piece, or you can use other subjects, such as Hope Wallace’s absolutely enchanting fairies available for sale at the Scrap Artist store. Unable to choose, myself, I did one of each type. Make sure the design area of your canvas does not fit the dimensions of the entire casing, just the interior dimensions.
Once your design is complete, print it out, cut it out, and seal it with several coats of acrylic sealer. Leave sufficient time between coats for drying, and resist the temptation to move things along….believe me! I’m completely aware of what a disaster can be created from impatience!
Then it is time to glue your little art piece into the casing. Make sure the interior of the casing is clean and dry, and that there are no little pieces of lint or dust. You can use decoupage glue, or your favorite adhesive. One of my preferred products for this purpose is called Liquid Laminates. You could also, quite obviously, use your dimensional adhesive, as well. It is up to you. Whatever you use, be sure not to proceed till you are quite certain that the adhesive is dry before moving on to the next step.
The final step is to fill the casing with dimensional adhesive. It is VERY IMPORTANT not to fill up the casing in one full swoop. You must little by little, squeeze the liquid into the casing, making sure that you get an even coverage, but a very thin coat, each time. If you see bubbles appear, don’t panic. Have a stick pin close by so that you can pop them.
The most important thing about this project, and something that I cannot stress enough, is that you should try not to get anxious to move onto the next step, and by so doing, ruin the work accomplished previously. The dimensional adhesive can take quite a long while to dry, and as it does, the fogginess created by it, will also clear up. That is, only if you haven’t used too much at one sitting. I recommend that you take a few nights with this, and let each glaze fill dry for 24 hours.
Once you are satisfied with how much glaze you have added, you are good to go! Embellish away!! Attach your homemade digital masterpiece as a charm for a necklace, in your scrapbook, on your keychain, a ribbon, anywhere, really! Do use a thick enough jump ring so that it holds, and will not fall off of you. As with every project you do, remember to have fun and enjoy the process! Don’t sweat the small stuff, as my mom always says! If you get a bubble or two, it can only add to the handmade charm of the piece…(pun intended, he he!!) I hope some of you will be inspired to try this! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!
Here is a list of standard loose chain lengths to assist you in your project:
Name Length
Choker 14 inches
Princess 16-18 inches
Matinee 20-24 inches
Opera 32-34 inches
Bracelets 6-7 inches