Pretty Wearables

I'm pretty obsessed with turning paper in to jewelery.

I am a paper hoarder/hound, scouting out and collecting all sort of ephemera from shops, wrappers, book stores, antique-eries, and the ilk.  I've found a great way to use solder and flat bottom glass gems to make some pretty kick-azz necklaces.

 

Supplies :P

I start with selecting an image I like, then covering the bottom of a glass gem with Diamond Glaze and sticking it to the paper. 

 

The image on the left is from an old anatomy book "for nurses" I found at the thrift store, the image from the right is a book of vintage children's books I purchased at an antique store. As you can see, the glass gems come in multiple sizes. This is what they should look like when they're all dry. 

For these pieces I used phrases cut from a dictionary and from an antique book I collected for free at a Library sale...note, Libraries can be great places to find papery treasures for cheap; check and see if they have anything they're getting rid of. The background is wallpaper from an old building downtown from where I live. A shopkeeper was renovating the space and they found this up in the attic. She graciously shared her find with me :)

After the glaze is all dry, cut out around the edges. the tighter you cut the better. Next tape around the edges with copper mosaic tape. This is the second hardest step as the edge are round and the tape is not, but do the best you can. Afterwards smooth the whole edge down with a bone folder. Then

The trickiest part comes next, soldering the edges. There's no real trick to it you've just got to practice. I purchased a soldering kit from the Craft Ware house, it's pretty convenient because it has all the things you need to solder correctly in it and it's specifically made for jewelery crafting.

When you've finished soldering and the glass is cooled down, filled the back in with Diamond Glaze. This smooths out the crack between the solder and the paper and seals it against moisture.

Finally rinse well (you've got to used flux to solder which is toxic), let dry and glue a bail on the back. I used to try to solder jump rings on the top of the piece, but they just never looked very good;  a bail will give you an elegant finish.

Voila!

For this piece I experimented with the backing, using a piece of a necklace I bought in the sale section of Walmart. 

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