Paper Jewelry
by
Kim
Yesterday's project. I wanted something bright, artsy, almost cartooney. It started with paper.
In the 80's, I was the paper earring queen. If you knew me then, you remember. Huge earrings were the style of the decade. They were called doorknockers. For some reason, even I cannot explain, I saved my paper earrings from the 80's. I have a big box of them. I used the heaviest watercolor paper I could buy and I added all kinds of embelishments. I taught a class on making paper jewelry....many times. It was popular.
To begin yesterday's necklace, I started with a sheet of watercolor paper. Watercolor paper comes in weights. Don't use anything under 140 lb. My preference is 300 lb, but 140 lb will work just fine. I used Liquitex acrylics. I like them because they are saturated color and there is a bit of a shine to the finish.
In the middle of my sheet of paper, I put out blobs of aqua, turquoise and white. I almost always add white when painting a background. I like the tinting I get with white.
With a wide flat brush, smear it out to cover the paper. Add a little water to your brush to help it spread. Let it dry. Or use your craft dryer, aka, hairdryer.
Add a little more texture. You can print with just about anything. This is a piece of corrugated cardboard, with the top layer removed. Brush some paint onto the ridges and press to the paper. You can see I use this a lot, it has many colors on it. One of my most expensive tools...
Doesn't need to be perfect. When you cut the flowers out, you will just see little bits of it.
Freehand cut out some scrapbook paper circles with a pair of pinking shears. You can also use whatever scrapbooking scissors with fancy edges that you have on hand. Don't bother tracing a template, just cut a circle. Mod Podge it down to the painted surface.
Now use a smaller flat brush. Squeeze two colors on the palette. This is magenta and white. Dip one corner of the brush in magenta and the other in white. Make a stroke from the top to the bottom in a C shape, and another the mirror image. Leave a bit of the center showing. And, I like the way you can see the paper zig zag edges if you don't use too much paint on the brush. More texture. Let it dry.
With a Sharpie, or your marker of choice, finish the flower. Loosely cut the flowers out.
Punch holes and string to your necklace. Add bead dangles or charms or whatever you would like to add. Make this in colors to suit you. I think it would also be really cute to hang just one as a pendant with beads hanging off the bottom. It makes a really inexpensive piece of jewelry, that is one of a kind.
Thank you for reading the latest from the Queen (retired) of paper earrings.
Use your Vitamin C!
Contact Me:
kballor@aol.com
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