A little glitter adds a 3D affect to some simple painted wood pieces. Add some wire and a crystal on top of each one to make these earrings sparkle even more. You can use this same design and make just one tree, slip a chain through the bail at the top, and you will have a matching necklace as well.
you'll need the following materials and supplies:
*2 painted wood Christmas tree pieces
Modge Podge
Foam brush
Waxed paper
White glitter
Red glitter
PYMII
About 14 inches of 21-gauge brass wire
2 - 4mm bicone AB clear Swarovski crystals
Round-nosed pliers
Chain-nosed pliers
Wire cutters
Tacky glue
*I found these painted wood pieces in the wood section of my local craft store. They cost about 25 cents.
. Set up a work area by covering a surface with waxed paper so that you don't make a mess on your counter.
2. Dip the foam brush in the Mod Podge and coat the front of each tree.
3. Pinch a tiny amount of white glitter with your fingers and sprinkle it over each tree. Repeat this but this time use red glitter instead.
4. Allow the tree pieces to dry, spray with PYMII (an acrylic sealer), and allow them to dry again.
Wire Wrapped Wire Wrapped Looped Loop
5. While the tree pieces are drying, take a few inches of brass wire, and coil the end of it.
I use this coil technique a lot, and it is a wonderful way to add some jazz to the bottom of your earrings or for a pendant. Make instant head pins with just a little wire using this coil method.
You'll need:
A few inches of wire
Round-nosed pliers
Chain-nosed pliers
Nylon-nosed pliers
1.The length and diameter of your wire will depend on what you plan to use the finished head pin for. Generally, I find that 21-gauge or 22-gauge wire tends to be good general purpose sizes for sterling silver or gold-filled wire. If you plan to use some extra heavy beads, you may want to bump it up to 20-gauge.
2.Begin by using round-nosed pliers to make a loop on the end of your wire.
Finish Coiling the Wire
Wire Coil Head Pin
3. It is up to you to decide how large you want the coil. I usually roll it a few times. Just remember that if you plan to use this wire coil head pin for earrings, you'll need to make two that are the same size.
4.At this point, you can stop if you like the way it looks. However, if I use this for a real head pin, I prefer to take one more step to finish it off.
5.With chain-nosed pliers, grasp the straight part of the wire just past the coil, and bend the wire about 20 degrees so that the wire is straight up and down (parallel) over the center of the coil you made.
Add a Crystal Bead
6. Slip one crystal bead onto the wire, push the bead down toward the coil, and make a wrapped loop on the other end of the wire.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to make another wire and crystal bail.
Glue on Bail
Glue to Back of Trees
8. Flip over the tree pieces, dab a good dot of tacky glue on the top of each tree, and set the coiled part of the bails in the glue. Allow the glue to dry.
Make Ear Hooks
Brass Ear Wires
9. With more brass wire, make a pair of ear hooks, making sure to use a jeweler's file to file the ends of the hooks smooth. (You can substitute gold-filled ear hooks if your ears are sensitive to brass.)
10. For each tree piece, use chain-nosed pliers to open the loop on an ear hook, slip on the wrapped loop of the bail, and close the ear hook loop back up, making sure that the trees are orientated correctly so they face out when you have the ear hook in your ear. If you are concerned about how the back of these earrings look, you can cover them by gluing felt to the back of each one.
Threads of Nature Bracelet
The ancient Chinese recognized five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Each was represented by a color: blue for wood, red for fire, yellow for earth, white for metal, and black for water.
Weaving a bracelet out of thread, yarn, or ribbon of the five colors helps the universe function harmoniously.
These bracelets are especially popular with children.
As you braid the colors, contemplate the cycles of nature by repeating:
“Wood prevails over earth.
Earth prevails over water.
Water prevails over fire.
Fire prevails over metal.
Metal prevails over wood.”
~Lynne Sturtevant~
Llewellyn's 2002 Witches Spell A Day Almanac
Beaded Crystal Wreath
These beaded wreath ornaments are so easy to do that you may want to make a bunch of them to decorate the Christmas tree.
Material:
Aluminum or Brass wire
Sunburst or Tri Beads of choice [any size will work]
Needle nose pliers
Ribbon bow
How to:
The amount of beads will depend on the desired size. For this wreath, I used 24 Sunburst beads.
Cut a piece of wire about one inch larger than the desired finished size for your wreath.
Feed your beads onto the wire. Using pliers, twist the wire to secure the circle of beads.
The use of sunburst or tri-beads will help in forming a perfect circle for the wreath as these beads lock into each other.
Cut away any excess wire and attach a small ribbon bow with either wire or hot glue.
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