Glass Pendant Necklaces Tutorial

Easy. Cheap. Adorable. How can you pass up something like this? I found places online where they sold the tutorials on how to make these glass pendant necklaces. Here’s mine for free. If you make something using this tutorial, please upload pictures of it in our Flickr group to show it off to everyone. You may be featured on Simply Modern Mom.

Supplies:

• paper
• exacto knife
• ruler
• cutting board
• glass tiles* (rectangular, circular, or square shapes available)
• bails* (I used aanraku small size)
• clear glue (I used Diamond Glaze. Mod Podge will work too, just not as well.)
• super glue or E6000
• toothpick
• wax paper
• ball chains, ribbons, necklaces
• paper towels

*glass pendants and bails can be found pretty much anywhere online… Amazon, Etsy supplies, etc. I have also found bails at craft stores.

1. Using the exacto knife, cutting board, and ruler, cut your papers to the size of your glass tiles. I prefer to cut my papers slightly smaller than the tiles (about 1mm shorter all the way around). I had squared tiles, so I rounded the corners of my paper a bit to fit the tiles better. You can use just about any kind of paper, although tissue paper may be to thin and transparent. Suggestions: magazine pages, scrapbook paper, origami paper, cardstock.

2. Clean the glass tiles with a slightly damped paper towel or cloth. Allow to dry completely.

3. Lay a sheet of wax paper over your work space, the glue doesn’t stick to it. If your glass tile has a frosted side, you will want the paper to glue to the frosted side. Apply a layer of Diamond Glaze or Mod Podge to the frosted side of the glass tile. Gently place the paper onto the glue with the designs facing down. (The polka dots in the picture below is the back side of my pendant. The design is on the other side of paper.)

4. Quickly wipe off excess glue with toothpick and dry paper towels. Turn the tile over and press down on the glass tile hard to allow the layer of glaze to even out. Allow to dry completely, approximately 30 minutes to an hour.

5. Working on the back side of the pendant again, put another layer of glaze over the back of the paper to seal it. If you are using the Diamond Glaze, you will only have to do this once. If you are using Mod Podge, you will need to use a brush and do a few coats allowing drying time between coats. I also applied glaze on the sides of the paper to protect the edges. Use a toothpick and paper towel to wipe off excess glaze or glue. Also use the toothpick to pop any air bubbles in the glaze. Let it completely dry, approximately 5-6 hours or longer.

6. Once it dried, clean off any excess glue anywhere on the glass tile with a lightly damped paper towel or carefully scratch it off with finger nails.

7. Glue bails to the back of the pendants at the top. Make sure you check your designs and note which side you would like to have as the top of the pendant. If you use super glue, apply a small amount of the glue to the back of the tile and the bail. Work quickly as it dries fast. You will also need to get it right the upon first contact because super glue doesn’t allow much time for adjustments. If you use E6000, squeeze a pea size onto wax paper. Then use a toothpick to apply a small amount of it to the back of the tile and on the bail.

8. Let it dry for about 30 minutes to an hour. Then put on ball chains, ribbons, or necklaces.

Featuring Thea, my model…