Wood Pendant Necklace

Turn scrap pieces of wood into jewelry. In this instructable I made pendant necklaces by sanding small pieces of wood and stained them with a non toxic stain. Use different types of wood (cherry, maple, ash etc) for different colours and picking wood pieces with an interesting grain pattern makes for unique jewelry.

Step 1 Material:

• Wood
• Pendant bails
• Mineral Oil (baby oil)
• Strong coffee

  Tools:

• Wood cutting tools (saw, Dremel etc.)
• Sandpaper (varying grits)
• Pliers
• Paint brush
• Rag

Comments

[thedestroyer]

what about using a non toxic water based paint such as the (cheap) basic watercolors that are made for little kids? i imagine that would be cool to use for colored pendants... also if one wanted to go for a completely organic approach, you can make a really dark dye out of black walnut husks (the green shell around a black walnut). you soak the husks overnight in water, then boil them in the same water the next day until you get the desired shade. you can store extra in upcycled plastic bottles in the freezer. if anyone tries this though, you do want to wear gloves at all times when handling the husks/dye...it's powerful dye and stains take FOREVER to get off of hands and won't come out period of carpet/clothing/hair (yes i got some in my hair) etc. This can be used for multiple purposes, not just wood staining. should you fancy a natural hair dye, there are instructions for using it for that online, as well as dying material and obviously wood...

[SIRJAMES09]

the problem with using water colors, is that even after they completely dry, if they get wet again(from sweating or otherwise, the paint woulld come off on you or your clothes.
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this is a neat idea!! the black stain from walnuts....

Blue stain/paint from duck droppings(their poop)

Various other colors from different flowers, reeds, grass, etc...

I have never tried the walnuts, but I have made paint from roses, & from the ducks...

[ChrysN]

I've heard of using walnuts. Roses and duck droppings sound interesting.

[SIRJAMES09]

just make sure the droppings are not fresh. *wink* LOL

[Weather_blue]

If you tie-dye at all, the fiber-reactive dyes like you'd use on cotton or rayon also make pretty interesting stains. This guy's a massive inspiration: http://www.dharmatrading.com/autogen/featuredartists/html/202/

I figure if the dye's safe enough to put in clothes...

[ChrysN]

Thanks for the link, his stuff looks amazing!

[ChrysN]

Great suggestions, I've heard of using walnut husks for hair dye before.

[KwartzKitten]

What a simple and elegant idea!

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[LoneWolf]

Example of neat pendant you can make out of wood (sorry about the horrible picture quality, only one I have on hand):

[ChrysN]

Nice!

[LoneWolf]

Thanks! I didn't make it though, it was handmade by a man that owned a small shop in the Rocky Mountains...but I tried to make one based off of it but it didn't come out real well.

[Ladytiger]

There's a technique called "sand scorching" that would be neat with these, you heat some sand up in a pie tin in the oven, then dip the piece of wood into it, it gives  the look of a woodburning tool but smoothly all over. Do it before you sand, and get different shades depending how much of the char you take off.  Would also be a neat "negative" color technique - char the piece, then inscribe with dremel and get lighter letters on dark background..

[flamesami]

or you could inscribe, char and then sand down so you have an even surface with darker bits. pyrography for people who dont have pgyrography irons

[stephensmat]

Looks like a great project, but before I give it a try, there's a question mark:

Pendant bails are pretty cheap en-masse on ebay, but they come in various sizes. What size is the bail in the pictured pendant you made?

[ChrysN]

The bails that I used were 22mm.

[theHERO]

 Would it be okay on skin if I were to use just a run of the mill wood stainer?
Great idea by the way!

[ChrysN]

Jimofoz  mentioned below (www.instructables.com/id/Wood-Pendant-Necklace/#CW6BVVQG2HDXV83) that most modern finishes are non-toxic once they are dry. 

[theHERO]

 Thank you!
Wow, that shows how lazy I am :/

[Goodhart]

Oh, I don't know about lazy....maybe your just enervated ?

 

[Seppuko]

This looks really nice!

[ChrysN]

Thanks!

[Highjump44]

 i did it on a spare piece of wood sanded it with one paper  stained it w/coffee and burned my moms intials into it for my moms b day but im just going to get a series of grits and borrow a handheld sander and good absorbing wood and do it over good idea

[opanocat5]

 I improvised on my necklace. I used an old shoe lace, Maple wood offcuts and a splash of mahogany wood stainer! Eat that Bluepeter!

[AmyLuthien]

I wonder how well food coloring would work?  Then you could have different colors (red, blue, green, purple.)  I may give it a try for giggles!

[ChrysN]

Cool, I'd love to see how it turns out!

[AmyLuthien]

Actually, I think it turned out really well!  I used two different kinds, regular old food coloring and some soap coloring I'd picked up cheap once upon a time.  I've included a thumbnail sized picture here, if you'd like to see it full-sized, click here:  www.luthien-tinuviel.net/ibles/Picture 006.jpg

Oh, and that's just a scrap piece of birch I had lying around.  I also rubbed some mineral oil on it, and a very minimal amount of color came back off.  I think you'd probably want to seal this with something other than oil or it might bleed onto your skin/clothes, or perhaps it just needs to be worked in more (I didn't spend a lot of time on that!)

[ChrysN]

Wow, I looks really nice with colour.  Thanks for posting.

[AmyLuthien]

No problem, thanks for the idea! 

Just a quick update, I applied a clear coat varnish to it this afternoon, and it didn't bleed or run at all.  So perhaps just letting it soak in and dry over night then oiling it will do the trick.  Will just have to experiment! 

One thing of note that I noticed when using the food coloring, it didn't alter the surface at all, so you wouldn't have the extra step of having to sand again after staining it.

Now I have to go pawing through all my bits and pieces of scrap wood, Christmas presents, here I come!  :D

[jimofoz]

 I'd stay away from the veggie and animal oils for a finish. There's a good chance they'll go rancid and start to smell. Stick with the mineral oil. 

Actually most modern finishes like acrylics and polyurethanes along with the classics like lacquer are non-toxic once they dry and can be used safely. 

Another nice thing about wood pendants is the wood can be carved. I used a Dremel tool to carve in names, then filled the name with paint and sanded off the excess paint leaving only the color inside the carving.

[ChrysN]

Yes, carving or pyrography is a great way to personalize it.

[Creativeman]

Hey, you're on you way:  newsletter attention! Yeaaaaa...hope you win in the contest. Cman.

[ChrysN]

Thanks, good luck to you too!

[static]

 Far out jewelry for those at the bottom of the totem pole.  Too poor to be able to afforce a peice of aluminium or copper to polish up :) Good work

[mdog93]

could you dissolve instant coffee in baby oil, then apply that to the wood?

if so, it might avoid splintering and raising the grain etc. It might also last longer.

just a thought.

[bucklipe]

Instant coffee  is water soluble, so the baby/mineral oil won't work as a medium.

[ChrysN]

Interesting idea, I'll try it.

[mdog93]

I tried it and it worked a little but not very well, the coffee didn't seem to dissolve properly, perhaps i didn't get it hot enough to start with.

Then i tried adding veg. fat or lard to make a wood wax and that didn't separate but the wood didn't take on much colour froim it unfortunately.

I think with a bit of tweaking it could work though.

[tinadalton]

Try putting the coffee in rubbing alcohol.  The alcohol will evaporate fast and still let the color set in.

[mdog93]

cool, do you reckon the coffee would dissolve in rubbing alcohol then?