Make Your Own Glass Glob Bracelet

Intro: Make Your Own Glass Glob Bracelet

If you have any problems understanding any part of this instructable, you can message me at black-tokyo-rose.piczo.com

Glass glob bracelets are made by finding a cool subject or pattern from an image in a magazine or other sturdy paper product, and magnifying it with a glass glob to make it more visible. Making a glass glob bracelet is fun and fairly easy, but can be time-consuming if you don't already have your materials together. So let's go over what you're going to need for this project.

STEP 1: What You're Going to Need: Hot Glue Gun

Hot glue gun. You can find one at any craft store or super center, like Walmart. Remember to be careful when using one. They really do get very hot.

STEP 2: What You're Going to Need: Scissors

This should be self-explanatory.

STEP 3: What You're Going to Need: Certain Paper Products

Magazines, soda labels, card stock. Basically, anything not printed off on the computer or Xeroxed. The ink will run because of the glue.

STEP 4: What You're Going to Need: Glue

Craft or school glue, as long as its wet glue and not a glue stick. That's very important.

STEP 5: What You're Going to Need: Bracelet Base

Plain bracelet base from craft store. See the image to know what to look for. It has to be made of sturdy links with some flat-top links so you can glue on the globs.

STEP 6: What You're Going to Need: Globs

Globs or Gobbers- as I call them, little glass globs, like marbles with flat bottoms. You can find them at the craft store as well, but you can also find them in a pet store in the fish tank decorations area or in a home interior store because they're often used for weights and to fill up vases.

STEP 7: Getting Started

Start out by plugging in your hot glue gun. That way, by the time you need it, itll be nice and hot. Then go through your magazines or labels or whatever you have and pick out some images or words that you like. Its ok if the images are small; the globs will magnify the image when you stick them on. The best thing to do is to go through the magazines with your little globs and run them over the images to see how they'll look. After you've found your image, trace your glob around them and cut them out. Don't worry about getting it traced perfect because you will have to trim off any imperfections after it's been glued on. Glue the images on the globs. Don't use alot of glue. You only need about one, tiny drop. Then rub it around so it coats the whole bottom of the glob. Wait for the glue on the globs to dry (which should only take a few minutes) and then trim up the edges of the papers around the globs if they need it. After you have finished making all your glob images, you're ready for the next part!

STEP 8: Planning Your Bracelet's Design

Plan out where you're going to put your globs on your bracelet base before you glue them down.

STEP 9: Gluing It All Down

Take your globs and the hot glue gun and carefully glue them onto the bracelet base. When you've finished gluing all the globs down, give it a minute or two to cool down, then you can pull off the excess strings of hot glue and your bracelet is done!

STEP 10: All Finished!

You don't have to follow these steps exactly if you don't want to. These are more guidelines, really. If you want to add a little something extra, like bottle caps or safety pins with beads strung on them, to double the funky, go for it!

Hope this was helpful and fun!

Comments

[RaNDoMLeiGH]

These are pretty fun. If you sell at crafty places such as ArtFire, Etsy, or at craft shows, you might consider making some pendants or magnets.

I got supplies from
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SunAndMoonCraftKits

and was pleased with the quality and prices. I got their squares, rectangles, bails, and some super strong rare earth magnets. I searched for "digital collage sheet" on Etsy and found a ton of products for super cheap, so if you don't have a  bunch of magazines you can get artwork online.

Some tips: you don't need expensive glue. The Aleene's works really well, as does Mod Podge. Elmer's tends to peel off. There's some goop you can get called Diamond Glaze, in the scrapbooking section, which works well but is more expensive and IMHO not worth the extra few bucks.

Wear gloves (nitrile, plastic, latex) when you're gluing because you'll wind up with glue all over your hands if you're doing more than 5 or 6 pieces. The glue won't hurt you but it's, well, sticky. Or keep a wet washcloth nearby for wiping fingers.

If you're using a design you've downloaded, get it on a laser print out instead of inkjet. Office Depot, Staples, Kinko's, places like that can print them out for you. Inkjet will smear when you glue it.

For a nice finished back, first coat the paper with a bit of glue to seal it. When dry, paint it with an enamel paint (such as nail polish). I use white first, to match the paper, and then black or some other color on top of that. Sometimes if you use a dark color first it will show through the paper.

If you screw up just soak the piece in really hot water and after a few minutes the whole paper bit will slide right off. You probably can't reuse the paper, but the glass will be just fine. Clean up with acetone (polish remover) if there's any gluey residue.

Superglue works a treat to hold the bail or magnet in place. I don't recommend supergluing on the paper part, although when one of my pendants delaminated, I was able to superglue it back together. The slippy surface of the previously glued-on paper made  a good surface for the superglue and didn't do weird things to the paper, probably because the paper was sealed with the craft glue. Superglue sometimes makes the paper turn translucent which is why I don't use it for the whole process.

The piece is not waterproof, so don't wear it in the shower or while swimming. But it will hold up OK to regular wear.

Hope these tips are useful!