A Bit Of Grunge (Board)...

This quickie blog is about a necklace I made recently.

A very nice lady that I talk to on this here social media thingy, asked if I would share how I made it. I have such lovely, funny conversations with her that I’m only too happy to share - I won't name her, she may not want the publicity lol ;-)

I needed a necklace for a birthday do I was going to that evening and unbelievably, I had nothing that was the right length for the top I was wearing.

So out came the Big Shot and an hour or so later, I had me a necklace!

The first photograph shows the ‘ingredients’ that I used. These are the items that I have in my ‘stash’ you could of course use anything that you have in yours. That’s the beauty of crafting handmade pieces, it’s all open to your own interpretation.

Firstly, I got the O.H to punch a hole in the centre of the two shapes and a hole in the top of one of the petals of the base shape. I’m rubbish at that bit, I don’t seem to have the strength in my hands to work the very naff hole puncher that I have.

A Crop A Dile is on my ‘Must Have’ list – which grows longer by the day!!

I used the Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Florals Die to cut Tim Holtz Idea-ology Basic Plain Grunge Board into the flower shapes, I only used two of the shapes for this necklace. You could use as many layers as you want.

I painted them with white gesso (forgot to include the pot of gesso in the photo, sorry) I used Indigoblu GeeSo Good White Gesso but any other brand will do the same job really.

I swiped Tim Holtz Weathered Wood Distress Stain over the shapes, I put about three coats of stain on, drying between the layers so I could get some intensity of colour in random spots. I dabbed Wild Honey Distress Stain lightly on the edges of the petals. (I also used a light spray of Cosmic Shimmer Mica Spray in raspberry) I stamped a bit of pattern with Black Soot Distress Ink using a Rubber Stampede wooden stamp called Declaration of Intention on the base flower to add a bit of interest. I stamped it randomly, I wasn’t bothered about lining it up or anything – I just wanted a bit of pattern rather than the actual picture.

I pressed the top flower layer into a Versamark Watermark Stamp Pad (which I’ve also not included in the photo - useless!) covered it with Stamps Away Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (Utee) heat set it and then repeated with a second layer. I then repeated again for a third layer but before I heat set it, I inked up the swirly part of the Inkadinkado wooden Happy Birthday stamp with Dew Drop Brilliance Galaxy Gold Ink. You need to get this bit ready to go as soon as you melt the third layer so you can move quickly and stamp into the melted enamel before it starts to set. This will give you an embossed pattern from the stamp. Press the stamp into the molton enamel for about 20 seconds, lift off carefully and you should have a nice impression from the stamp with whichever colour ink you have used.

The enamel works as a kind of seal on the grunge board, a kind of protective layer, stiffening it at the same time. I didn’t bother using the Utee on the base flower as most of it isn’t on show anyway.

Join the two layers together with a brad of some sort, I chose a pearl type one in a co-ordinating colour. I’ve got some lovely vintage themed ones with clock dials, keys, script etc on them so I’m going to use those on the next couple of necklaces that I make. I fully intend to make some more of these – I can see them becoming quite addictive!

I finished the pendant off with a simple bronze coloured chain and teal green bead.

I felt that this was all it needed but you could use leather or suede thong, some lovely ribbon or a beaded chain, depending on what style you are after. You don’t have to stick with a floral them either, lots of other shapes would work too. How about a lovely tweety bird or a birdcage, a birdhouse, a heart, an owl, a fox ? – you can get dies in any of these shapes or you could even try to cut your chosen shape by hand – good luck with that lol !

I was inspired by a tutorial by Ellen Schrik in the August issue of Craft Stamper magazine. I had been flicking through the magazine that morning and had read a tutorial on making a pendant using Utee. So when I began looking through my necklaces for that evening and couldn’t find one that I was happy with, I remembered the tutorial and thought haha! - that technique will be perfect for a bit of grunge board. The pendant in the tutorial was made out of card but the finished result with the g.b works just as well and I think may be a little bit sturdier (?)

So that’s how I did it – nice and simple and I hope it inspires you to create your own unique piece!