Metal pendants are made from various materials, but most often they consist of an alloy of zinc, aluminum and copper. It makes cheap stuff. Some manufacturers may save on some component, thereby reducing the quality of the product. Unfinished details, roughness, brittleness, an unpleasant yellowish tint on the front side of the jewelry and abrasions on the back - mean that the casting technology was not followed. Therefore, you should not chase the low price of such products.
Varieties of metal accessories
The accessories for creating jewelry are different in color: it can be bronze, golden or silver. There are combined options with patterns, drawings, additional decoration with rhinestones and enamel. Metal pendants are created by twoways: by casting and stamping. Stamped products are very light, bend well. They can be superimposed on each other, glued, give a new shape. If you bend a casting, it will simply break. Hats for custom beads are made from some types of stamped pendants.
Design and sizes of accessories for creating jewelry have an unlimited number of options. Metal pendants can be double-sided - such products are used in the manufacture of earrings. Pendants and other jewelry are made from large one-sided models. Small elements are used in their work by scrapbookers. Volumetric 3D figurines are actively used by puppeteers and florists.
Decoration of finished products with acrylics
Ordinary metal pendants for jewelry can be made bright and original by decorating with microbeads, epoxy resin or painting with acrylic. For this you will need:
- different pendants with small and large details;
- acrylic paints and microbeads for decoration;
- epoxy;
- alcohol;
- acetone;
- thin brush;
- cotton pad;
- cotton swab;
- wood spatula;
- stationery knife;
- epoxy resin tank.
Let's start making an original and bright accessory using acrylic paint:
- Degrease the surface with alcohol.
- We take the pendant with the largest segments. We dip the brush into acrylic paint of medium consistency and fill each fragment with the desiredcolor. We must try to dilute the color so that it is not too liquid, and the surface itself is leveled during application.
- If the color does not lay down very neatly and gets past the fragments, do not try to remove the excess until the product is completely dry. All shortcomings can be easily corrected later by gently running a clerical knife along the sides. Try to remove the paint with small sawdust, without touching the edges of the base layer, so as not to accidentally remove it. Then all the work will have to be repeated from the beginning.
- We brush away the resulting debris with a dry brush.
- We connect the components of the epoxy resin. Mix thoroughly according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- We cover the painted surface with epoxy resin using a thin brush.
If among the selected metal pendants there is one with small elements, it can be decorated in a different way: first, paint over the entire surface and leave it to dry completely. Then, with a cotton swab with acetone, gently wipe the convex parts, slightly sliding over the surface.
Decoration of blanks with microbeads and epoxy resin
A metal scrapbooking pendant or a pendant with a large central part can be decorated with epoxy and microbeads:
- Paint the middle with acrylic paint and leave to dry completely.
- Pour the microbeads of the desired color on top and carefully spread over the surface with a wooden stick.
- Carefully fill the center with epoxy. It canreplace gel nail polish and compare the result.
- We cover all pendants with a transparent container to avoid dust on the surface.
- Leave to dry completely for 24 hours.
Improved metal pendants for needlework are ready. Now you can use them to make earrings, pendants, decorate photo albums and other crafts.
Wire twisting technique
Some craftsmen create accessories for metal pendants with their own hands using wire. This popular technique is called Wire wrap (wire twisting) and consists in drawing up patterns of their thin metal threads, which are braided with stones, beads, beads and other decorative elements. The work uses special tools. The finished product is sometimes artificially aged, covered with a patina, and then polished.
Etching copper and brass to create a pendant
Metal pendants for needlework can be made using the metal etching technique - from copper and brass. The surface of the workpiece is leveled before work, beating it off with a rubber mallet, after which it is cleaned in a hot solution of citric acid. Take out the plates with tools or a cloth so as not to leave fingerprints. The back must be sealed with tape or coated with nail polish. The drawing is applied in different ways: with a permanent marker, acrylic paints, using stickers.
For etching you will needferric chloride, it is dissolved in hot water, in a ratio of 1 to 3. Optimum temperature: + 50-60 degrees. Billets are placed in a container with a solution: brass face down, and copper face up. The metal pickling process takes about an hour. Now it remains only to cut out the decorative elements, sand the edges and polish them. Holes are made in the blanks and used as part of the decoration.
