Photo & Mixed Media Jewellery Inspirations

Jewellery Making Project - Using Photo Jewellery Products
By Nicky Townsend

Use Altered Art techniques along with our Photo Pendants range to create a multitude of fabulous pendants and jewellery with a vintage look or even a fresh, modern feel.  You can use scrapbook papers, copyright free images or even family photographs to decorate.  Finish off with charms or, for a steampunk style, add a scattering of tiny watch components which are also available on our website.  You can use glass cabochons to complete the pendants or set charms inside using a super product called Glossy Accents, which sets clear and hard and holds the charms in place.

MATERIALS REQUIRED

Bezel settings - see full range here

A selection of images, photos or fancy paper

Glue ‘n’ Seal  - see here

Glossy Accents (see here) or Glass Cabochons - see full range here

A selection of Charms (see here) or Watch parts (optional) - see here

TOOLS

Scissors

Paintbrushes

Pencil

STEP 1

Choose a photo, image or paper that you’d like to use as the background in your piece.  Place a Glass Cabochon onto the paper and move around until you’re happy with what you see through the glass then draw around the glass to create a template.

STEP 2

The next step is to seal the paper or photo to lock in the colours and prevent any ink from bleeding out.  Use Glue ‘n’ Seal for this.  Paint a thin coat over each of your templates; you must seal both sides back and front.  Leave to dry and then paint on another coat and leave that to dry completely.  It’s easier to do this before cutting out the template especially for smaller templates

STEP 3

Cut out your sealed paper templates.  Take a small dab of the Glue ‘n’ Seal on a paint brush and paint into the base of the Bezel setting.  Press in one of your paper sections and use a dry paintbrush to smooth down from the centre outwards this also removes any air bubbles that may have got trapped underneath the paper.  Don’t forget to pay attention to the edges.

STEP 4

In my design I used a simple striped background paper and decided I’d like to embellish this with some detail.  I picked out some tiny images from a scrapbook paper; these also need to be sealed with Glue ‘n’ Seal and cut out once dry.  I then painted an extra layer of Glue ‘n’ Seal onto the background paper and placed the images inside the Bezel.  To finish, coat with another layer of sealant and leave it to dry thoroughly.

STEP 5

To finish with glass cabochons squeeze a thin and even coat of Glossy Accents over the back of the tile, let it spread out naturally to cover the whole area and press firmly into the Bezel.  You will need to press firmly from the centre out to the edges to squeeze out any air bubbles that may have got trapped underneath.

To set charms or watch components into the bezel place your chosen Charms into the Bezel and arrange them.  Now squeeze Glossy Accents  into the Bezel starting close to the charms and working your way out to the edge.  Fill the whole recess, completely covering the charms with Glossy Accents .  Once the recess is filled take some time to prick out any air bubbles which may have appeared.  Use a pin or gently tap the surface of the bubble with a dry paintbrush.  Leave to set completely, this usually takes around 24 hours to set to a hard clear finish.  Once dry you may notice that there are some areas that have appeared unfilled, simply squeeze on another layer of Glossy Accents  and leave to dry.  You can repeat this as often as needed.

TIP - When using Glossy Accents  it is important that the bottle isn’t shaken at any time as it creates air bubbles. These air bubbles will then pass through the nozzle and appear in your finished piece, which you don’t really want. 

STEP 6

I finished my pendant with a tiny resin rose cabochon from my own bead stock to add another dimension to the finished piece.  If you don’t have any of these available you can simply use a charm attached with a jump ring to finish or one of the Lucite Flowers which are available on the International Craft website.

RESOURCES

All materials available at www.internationalcraft.com

Free scrapbook papers are available to print at http://freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/free-digital-scrapbook-paper-circa.html

DESIGNER CONTACT DETAILS

Nicky Townsend

Website: www.enchantedhandmadejewellery.com

Digital Images for Pendants & Charms

PaperStreet Supplies carries a large supply of printable images for use in altered art photo charms, bottle cap pendants, scrabble tile charms, domino pendants, magnets, pocket mirrors, pin-back buttons and more. With instant downloads you can start your mixed media or altered art project immediately!

Digital collage sheets contain printable, royalty free source images for use by artists,crafters & pendant makers, packaged neatly together into in digital file which can bedownloaded & printed over & over again. The digital images can also be manipulated using most photo editing programs (ie, Adobe Photoshop or the freeware Paint.NET).

PaperStreet's images are also great for collage, assemblage, scrapbooking, decoupage, and many other crafting projects. Collage sheets are available as a high resolution JPEG files types. Download links are activated upon payment review (usually just seconds).  Downloads are very reasonable and look out for their 'Buy 3 get one free' coupons which are always available on their website.

Choose from a vast selection of image sheets which include the following and many, many more

Steampunk backgrounds, Fantasy, Victorian, Vintage, Clockfaces, Gothic, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Birds.....

The image files are downloadable as A4 sheets, with which you have the option of either selecting square images or round images in various sizes ( The above sheets contain 1"(25mm) Square images)



Print and cut out these images for use in pendant blanks to create personalised pendants, charm bracelets and rings.

Seal pictures in with either Glass cabochons or Glossy Accents glaze.


Tip: If you want to use the 1" (25mm) images with our 20mm Pendant settings , then all you need to do is the following: When printing click into 'Printing preferences'. Then Select 'Effects'. Now change the "% of normal size" to 80 and print. This will reduce the 25mm images to 20mm.



Use our Pendant Settings with our Domed Glass Cabochons for a professional finish. As you can see from the bracelet on the right we have used the 16mm base pendant settings as photo charms on a large link charm bracelet .  We used the 1" circle Butterfly sheet from Paperstreet for a nice vintage theme.

All you really need here is our Hypo Cement Glue to first glue the picture to the pendant setting then once set apply a thin even coating of the glue to the surface of the photo, please be aware that the glue will set very quickly so you will need to put the cabochon in place as soon as you have applied it. Once the cabochon is in place you will need to apply some pressure for about 30 seconds to remove any air bubbles. Hypo cement will dry crystal clear enhancing your photo/image.
TIP - We marked around the edge of the glass cabochon on the image/photo to get the correct shape and size and cut along it.


Another great option is to use the Pendant settings with 'Glossy Accents™' instead of the glass cabochons. This fantastic product will allow you to let your imagination run wild!
Glossy Accents™ is a clear, three-dimensional gloss medium, which you can use to accent, brighten, dimensionalise and magnify your altered art and photo charm jewellery projects. Place Glossy Accents™ under embellishments to make them stick and on top to protect and glossify! Dries to a hard transparent finish, and also works as a glue.
If you want to give your jewellery more vintage look then try Crackle Accents™.

We used Glossy Accents in the pendant setting above. We first applied a small amount into the pendant setting and glued the butterfly image into it, then we placed in a couple ofSteampunk Watch parts with words cut out from a newspaper and then simply poured in the Glossy Accents - being careful not to let it spill over the edge and then let it set for a couple of hours - the results were amazing.
TIP - sandwich any photos/picture or newspaper clippings in clear sellotape when using with Glossy Accents to prevent the colours from bleeding.  Or you can use a sealant like Glue N Seal.
Also, using double sided sticky tape we stuck the newspaper clipping to a peices of thin card and cut to size. This added some depth to the clippings making them stand out more.


Another great range of products for making photo jewellery and for using Paperstreet supplies printable images is the Ranger Memory Glass and Frames.
Create a personalised window of art by placing a piece of Memory Glass on top of your work/photo or sandwich between two pieces. Use a Memory Frame to hold the pendant together or use Memory Foil Tape instead - here you would need to use a Leaf Mounting Bail to make this into a pendant

Layer your work to create the illusion of depth. Start with a background and add layers, distressing the edges with ink to create a shadow look aroung the image of text you are layering.






If you don't have a photo editing programme like Photoshop then click here for free download of PAINT.NET photo editing software . Then follow instructions to download and install.

http://collagesheets.paperstreetsupplies.com/digital-collage-sheets/pendant-images.html?ref=3&data=Blog