Driftwood Pendants
Introduction: Driftwood Pendants
What could be more fun than making one pendant with what you find, for example, on the beach? Three pendants.
In this instructable, I will show three examples of what you can make with driftwood. But these are only examples because every piece of driftwood is different, also you can choose your seize, you will always have a unique piece of jewelry. In addition to driftwood, I used some beads, sea glass, a leather lace and a palm blossom bract. I give a list of what I have used, but mainly use what you like, the possibilities are endless.
Driftwood can sometimes contain woodworm, which you can remove in various ways. For small pieces of wood, the easiest ways are:
1. Put the wood in a plastic bag and place it in the freezer (-18 ° C). The woodworm is then guaranteed to be dead. Count on a week in the freezer for small pieces, larger pieces two weeks. I prefer this way because you don't have to worry about it.
2. Heat the wood in the oven at 60 ° C for an hour and let it cool down in the oven.
Supplies
Driftwood
Three small beads
Silver wire 24 gauge
Silver necklace
6 silver necklace chains
Two tiny silver screws
Leather lace
Seagrass
Bract palm blossom
Piece of cotton thread of about one meter
Two paper clips
Glue
Toothpick for glue
Two wooden beads
Danish oil
Brush or cloth
Scissors
Knife, I used a regular kitchen knife
Bucket
Something heavy to keep the bract under water
Pair of tie wraps
Sandpaper
Hand drills
Step 1: Preparation
If necessary, cut the driftwood and sand lightly. You can leave it untreated or, as I did, add a layer of Danish Oil. Apply this with a brush or cloth. Follow the instructions on the tin.
Find out where you want the holes for the leather cord or palmwood chain and drill them into the driftwood with a hand drill or decide where you want to place the screw eyes and add the screw eyes.
Cut a leather lace to the desired size.
Split strips of wood from the bract, scrape off excess wood with a knife and sand the strips.
Fill a bucket with some water and submerge the strips. Put something heavy on it, I put a pan on it so that it does not come out of the water and let it sit for a few days. The strips then become flexible. After a few days, remove the strips from the water, they now have the round shape of the bucket. Fix it with a few tie wraps and let it dry.
Step 2: Pendant 1
Choose the length of the leather lace and pull it through the pendant (see photo). You can choose whether you put a closure on the lace or you just close it with a knot. 401
I choose the knot because then I can vary in length. You can leave the pendant as is or add sea glass, for example, to the pendant. I chose some sea glass. But there are various options, depending on the shape you can also combine with silver wire, for example.
Step 3: Pendant 2
This one is a bit more difficult. Choose two strips from the bract that are as identical as possible. Then check how long the chain should be. This pendant has two holes which the palm leaf will go through. You can determine the length of the necklace with a guide thread.
Attach a paperclip with a knot to one end of the cotton thread. Pull the thread from bottom to top through the first hole. Wrap the thread around your neck and feed the thread through the second hole from top to bottom. Slide a second paperclip onto the wire you just fed through. By sliding the paperclip you can see what the correct height is.
Once you've found the right length, cut the auxiliary thread just below the sliding paper clip. Remove the thread from the pendant and remove the paperclip on the other side as well. You now know the total length. Divide this length into two equal parts and measure the strips of wood with these threads. Shape the wood off each strip on one side so that it fits through the hole in the pendant. If you pull the strips through the pendant, the wood forms a necklace that does not need a closure due to the curve of the wood (see photo). Try again how it fits and then glue the strips.
Finally, as a finishing touch, glue a bead on both sides to the wood protruding from under the pendant. With this pendant you also can choose how you finish, whether or not to treat with oil or add extras, for example sea glass. 6