Another Christmas Idea....But A Halloween Idea Thrown In!

This comes from Tammy Tutterow, on of Tim Hotz's designers.  Think how you can personalize these for all everyone on your Christmas list.  Necklaces, key chains and charms for backpacks and albums.

First up, to make the metal pendants like mine, you will need some sheet metal. I used copper sheeting. You can also use aluminum from soda cans. I marked out the sized I wanted on my metal using s Sharpie marker and a ruler. You will need an extra 1/4" on each side of your shape for folding the edges, so for a 1" square pendant you would cut a 1 1/2" square piece.

Cut the metal pieces out using scissors. Depending on your metal you may need heavy duty scissors. I like the Tim Holtz Tonic Scissors for cutting metal. They go right through it with no trouble. Do be careful, the edges can be sharp so handle the pieces carefully.

Along each edge, make two score lines, one at 1/8" and one at 1/4". I used my Tim Holtz Tonic Craft Pick tool to make mine. It's super fine point made it easy to make a nice crisp and thin score line right against my ruler's edge.

Trim about half of the metal away in the space between the edge and the first score line on each side. So you might wonder why? If it isn't trimmed, it will be too bulky when you make the next fold. The original edge will lay right on the fold line and will make the second fold lumpy. So why not just make the first fold line narrower? At 1/8" it is already pretty close to the edge and anything closer would be tricky to hold in place and score. It is really easier to make a wider score line and then trim the excess.

After you trim the edges, cut away the corners along the fold lines.

After cutting the corners, cut two opposite sides at an angle. I will refer to the space between the edges and the last fold line as flaps.

Fold the two side flaps at the first fold line (the one closest to the edge). Press the fold with a bone folder for a nice clean edge.

Fold the top and bottom flaps at the second fold line (the one closest to the center). Press the fold with a bone folder for a nice clean edge.

The folding gives you a nice smooth finished edge with no rough edges that would make a pendant unwearable. The extra framing from the folds also gives the piece added stability and less likely to bend or twist, also making it much more wearable.

Sand any rough edges. I prefer to use a black nail file for this type of sanding. The black files are generally more heavy duty and made for acrylic nails. They will stand up to filing all types of crafty surfaces like metal and wood.

They look awesome at this step, but just wait until you add ink!

Apply alcohol inks with the Alcohol Ink Applicator tool. (For the Halloween themed examples I used Butterscotch, Sunset Orange, and Sunshine Yellow.)

Use Rangers Jet Black Archival ink to apply black ink to the raised areas.

And now for the secret ingredient. . . Glossy Accents! Brush on a thin but complete layer of Glossy Accents over the surface. I squeezed some out on my craft sheet and used a disposable foam brush to apply it. The brushing will wipe away some of the black ink. Archival ink removes alcohol ink so if you brush away the black ink you will have the original metal color exposed. I happen to really like the randomness of it. If you don't, be careful to not brush with the foam brush, rather dab gently.

If you have a design with a lot of grooves, be sure to use the brush to dab the GlossyAccents into all of the nooks and crannies. You will probably get a foamy effect from the brush. That is okay, just continue to dab into the grooves. You want complete coverage with the Glossy Accents.

Once you have the piece covered, a few straight passes over the top should take care of most of the foamy bubbles. If you miss some, don't worry, they won't show after you add the crackle layer.

Once the thin layer of Glossy Accents is dry, it leaves a nice finish over the metal and seals it nicely. (Note: Let the Glossy Accents dry thoroughly before moving on. I let mine dry for at least one hour.)

If you like the look, you could stop there or. . .You can add some crackle. Brush a nice even layer of Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint over the piece. I would estimate that my layer was about 1/16" of an inch thick. Make sure you cover the entire piece getting the crackle down into any grooves.

This piece uses the Rays Texture Fade. It uses the same three colors as the Halloween pieces.

On this piece I used the Retro Circles Texture Fade and then added a Sprocket Gear and Game Spinner. The colors are Stream, Sail Boat Blue, and Cloudy Blue.

Finally, this piece used the Sheet Music Texture Fade along with the same combinations of blues as the circles piece. I added an Adornments charm that I added just a bit of alcohol ink too (the same color combination from the Halloween pieces). I also added a pearl Bauble on the jump ring.

To create a hole for the jump ring, I used a small diameter metal jewelry punch. You could also use the small hole punch in a Crop-a-Dile tool.

Part 2

I have been doing a little more experimenting and have a little bit of info for you-

I decided to play a bit with aluminum and see if the techniques from yesterday's tutorial worked the same on different metal. Yes, it does work. The type of metal does not seem to matter. What does matter is that you shouldn't be as gung ho with your embossing as I was with mine. Sometimes when I run stuff in Texture Fades through my Cuttlebug I back it up and do it twice. I don't know why, I know that I don't need to. But something in me thinks that if it impresses great once, imagine how good it will look twice? Or, uh, three times. Guess what, once works, trust me. Texture Fades can actually cut through thin aluminum if you run them through too much (see above). Since I was mainly experimenting anyway, I just put some scotch tape on the back to hold down the pieces and used them as is. Trust me though, especially if you are making your own blanks like I did here, don't ruin them by over embossing. Once works.

Okay, so how about the source of my aluminum? The trash can. Luckily for me, I have a never ending supply of these in my house thanks to my insane addiction to Dr. Pepper. Just be careful cutting the can open, the aluminum is very, very sharp! (wink)