I  was inspired by Maggy of Red Ted Art and her new Google+ endeavour of weekly challenges on her hangouts.  This week’s theme was to craft an item using stones.  I’ve been thinking about making myself a necklace from a little polished rock for a while but haven’t done so.  This challenge was just the excuse I needed to try it out.  So out to the back yard we all went last week to go scouting for rocks and stones.

We chose a few smaller ones and a larger one as we weren’t  yet certain of the type of craft we would pursue.

The first step was to give them a good wash to rid them of algae and moss.  The children took turns with this important job.

I had a peek into my craft box to see what I could see for inspiration as I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do.

I came across some wire left over from a project about three years ago.  The pretty colours of it were calling out to me, especially the light blue.  And it was decided that I would try to make a garden stone pendant necklace.

These are the items we used for our garden stone pendant:

A stone of your liking

Jewellery wire

Waxed cord or a shoelace

craft or needle-nose pliers

2 beads with larger holes in them (optional)

 This is how I designed the garden stone pendant necklace:

The first thing I did was make a loop in the wire about 3cm from the end.  I then used the pliers to wind the remaining short end of the wire around itself to hold the loop in place.

Then I began to wrap the wire around the stone going horizontal.  When I reached the bottom, I then began to tightly wind the wire around the stone vertically and weaving it over and under the horizontal wrapping.  It was a little slippery at times, but just go slow and be patient, it’s really not so bad.  I was so excited about trying out my garden stone pendant that I made it in one try and didn’t stop to take photos, so these two are a ‘recreation’.

I just kept winding around up, down, sideways and diagonally until it looked ‘right’.  This was the time I was almost out of wire, which was a good coincidence. I took the wire back up to the top of the stone and wrapped the end around the ‘neck’ that had been created at the beginning.  Cut off any wire you don’t need, being careful to clamp the end in to the neck a bit so there isn’t a sharp end that could scratch you.

You can use a shoe lace to thread the pendant onto and tie the lace around your neck.  This would be a great way to up-cycle and recycle those old laces.  I didn’t have a spare shoe lace (these seem to be in short supply these days with the convenience of Velcro on shoes…so many crafts gone to the wayside, I’m sure).  In my case I used some waxed cord that was left over from a couple of bracelets that I have made.  I purchased it at a bead shop, and it really doesn’t cost much at all.  I could have just tied the ends together as with a shoelace, and called it a day.  But I decided to go just a little bit further.

I  used the same technique on the back of the neck of the necklace as you would do on the closure of a shambola style bracelet; using a type of macrame knot.  There are lots of u-tube videos demonstrating this technique, and they are explained a little differently, so I’ll let you decide which one works for you. By using this method you don’t have to worry about the tie coming undone and the necklace falling off.  It also allows the necklace to be adjustable in length.  Next I threaded on a little bead onto the end of each of the cord  ends and tied a little knot to hold each one on. I just think this adds a little something extra to necklace.  To help secure the knot, just add a drop of white glue onto the knot and let it dry.

Although most of the crafts I have on my blog are for toddlers and younger children as I am a childminder I also have to have some things up my sleeve for older children and tweens.  This is one of those crafts that is not meant for the younger ones due to the choking hazard.  You know your child best to know when they are mature enough to wear an adjustable necklace.  In the meantime, your child can always help you to make this and you can wear it yourself!  Wouldn’t this be a great keepsake if you made this with a stone you picked up on vacation?

Keep up with us and you may see what we will fashion out of the other stones.  In the meantime, if you just can’t wait, please drop in to see the Red Ted Art video that was recorded this week showing some very cute stone crafts.  In addition, you may find some of these crafts on these blogs:

Maggy Woodley of Red Ted Art with Stone Pets and Stone Ducks

Trish Stanley Inspiration Laboratories with Stone Towers

Christine Mosler of Thinly Spread

Aly Hodge of Plus 2Point4 with Stone Monsters

Anna Ranson of the Imagination Tree with Alphabet Stones

Anthea Barton of Zing Zing Tree with Stone Collages

MummyMummyMum with Stone Dominoes

Artful Parent with Glitter Stone Valentines

To see another craft for older children/teens/adults, why not make your own covered journal.