Recently I was told that the term “bling” is out fo date, on its way out. So what do we say instead?! And it got me thinking about the LOOK of crystals and “bling”. How can we rethink the way a crsytal has to look? I've been playing alot more with spray paint in the last year and, after looking at some of Susan Lenart Kazmer's jewelry in her most recent book,
Resin Alchemy, I wondered what paint would look like ON crystals. And coming back from CHA, I wanted to do something matte – the shape of crystals but with a totally different finish.
To create this piece, I trimmed a length of Crystal Sheeting into a pattern to create a necklace base. I then attached Crystal Pendants and Beads to the base using jump rings. I used a piece of chain, threaded with ribbon, to link the ends of the base together with a lobster claw clasp closure.
Here's the video of this process:
After the necklace was created, this is what it looked like:
Pretty, but it needed SOMETHING. So I took the necklace outside with a can of spray paint. I first sprayed the necklace while it was laying flat.
As the front of the necklace became covered with paint, I picked up the necklace and sprayed the back to get paint into all of the nooks an crannies for a uniform, matte look.
I hung the necklace to dry, wrapped around a roll of labels to keep it from sticking to anything while drying.
After about 8 hours, the necklace was completely dry. I then inked the crystals with Surfacez Ink in black to give it a distressed, weathered look. I attached another piece of chain across the top of the necklace, to pull the edginess of the look together. My daughter Katie told me she loves it – and isn't that the measure of “cool”, if a teenager wants it?!
Supplies:
- Crystal Sheets
- Crystal 1.5″ Pendants
- Crystal 1 Meter Garland
- Clearsnap Surfacez Ink in Black
- Cousin Corporation Pliers via Prima Bead
- Cousin Corporation Chain via Prima Bead
- Cousin Corporation Lobster Claw Closure via Prima Bead
- Rustoleum Spray Paint
- Westcott Scissors
- Hug Snug Seam Binding
- Glue Gun
- Roll of Tape
- Jump Rings
So what is your take on the term “Bling”? Do you like the new trend of matte, bright colored (neon!) accessories on the market, like this Matte Finish Crystal Necklace?
so cute!