Thursday

[jewelry] Nail Polish Pendants

I accumulated a lot of nail polish at the height of my "OMG Must make all the nails GLITTER" obsession. Because Santana's all coughy-coughy and I'm not painting my nails that much any more, what the crap am I going to do with all this polish?

Pendants!!


Nail Polish Pendants

The process is pretty simple. I ordered round and square glass tiles, plates in a variety of finishes, and chains from Sun and Moon Craft Kits.

I painted the back of the glass with clear polish. Then glittery polish or glittery top coats and then a solid background color. Then a top coat. Then glue it into the plate. Voila.


Nail Polish Pendants

I do the painting out above the garage (so no fumes in the house) and it took a week to do 20 pieces of glass. I did 6 - 8 at a time, all with different polishes, and let the pieces sit for hours or overnight between coats. I didn't use everything I painted as pendants- but I'll glue magnets to the back of the rejects/seconds to use as refrigerator magnets.

Here are the one that I liked best:


Nail Polish Pendant


Nail Polish Pendant


Nail Polish Pendant


Nail Polish Pendant


Nail Polish Pendant

This one might be my favorite- it's a multi-chrome polish that changes color depending on what angle you're looking at it:


Nail Polish Pendant


Nail Polish Pendant


Nail Polish Pendant

Crazy, right?

I'm going to start painting the last of the glass pieces I have. I'll save these necklaces to give out as Christmas presents this year (hurray for finished Christmas presents in APRIL).

22 comments:

Patricia said...

Wow! What a great idea!

Natalie J said...

That is genius! Love love love. :)

Sara said...

Amy,

Those are gorgeous! What a clever idea...I don't do nail polish so I would never have thought of that.

Maybe you should consider selling some!

gayle said...

Wow! Who would have thought nail polish could be so beautiful??? (Can you do color-blending, like in yarn?)

amy said...

I'd like to try color blending/mixing. I saw some nail polish pendants on Etsy that I love that really look like beautiful cross-sections of rock. Very interesting- although I have no idea how they did it!

Danielle said...

These are awesome...I was wondering what craft kit you got from the site

Danielle said...

please email me back and let me know thanks...lol

amy said...

Danielle, I don't have your email address, so I'll respond here. I didn't buy kits, but 1 inch round and square glass tiles (cabochons). And then plates/backs in a variety of finishes with matching chaines. And E-6000 glue.

Danielle said...

Can u get everything at like a c moore or micheals craft stores?

amy said...

I'm not sure about A C Moore, we don't have them around here. Michael's and Joann's do have jewelry making sections but I haven't seen anything like this (crystal-clear cabochons, matching pendant trays) at either of those stores before.

Danielle said...

So u would have to order thos things probably...I'm super excited to make these

amy said...

Yes, you'd probably have to order them from online, but it doesn't have to be from the place that I linked to. There are lots of independent sellers on Etsy that also sell cabochons, pendant trays, chains, jewelry bails, etc.

Reggie said...

These are so lovely...what a great idea!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

clg0513 said...

I just made a couple using my daughter's hunger games inspired China Glaze nail polish. OMG they are so cute and she is going love having Hunger Games inspired jewelry that none of her other friends have.

Ashley Schulthies said...

Cute idea! I'm going to have to do this.

Christina said...

Im curious. I have the pendants, but not the trays. Do you think it would stay on without using the trays to protect it?

abend said...

What type/ brand of nail polish did you use? Does using a a higher quality nail polish work better?

amy said...

RE: Not using the trays - If you don't want to use a tray, you can glue on a bail instead- it's just a little piece that you glue to the cabochon but still allows you to thread a chain through it. There are a bunch of different styles at Sun and Moon Craft Kits under the "Findings" category. I preferred using trays to hide the backs.

RE: Type/Brand of polishes - I used ALL kinds: China Glaze, Sally Hanson, Kleancolor, Essie. They all worked great. Personally, I'd use cheaper stuff for these pendants and save the more expensive stuff (Chanel, Illamasqua, etc) for my fingers!

Anonymous said...

hi, i was wondering are these pendants all ready to have a chain added?

Anonymous said...

couldnt you also just use the clear glass blobs .. that you can get from dollar tree? and then for the back maybe something like a type of fabric say silk or even felt?

Pau Milce said...

wow! i loved the idea!

Audrey said...

Where did you get the necklace chains & what style/kind are they?