Tutorial: Use Heat Transfer Foil to Create a Stylish Laminated Pendant

This tutorial will show you how to create a super stylish pendant using heat transfer foil and watercolor paints to embellish a photocopy. In the spirit of the DIY Wedding idea, I decided to ask my friend Phil Guie to draw an image for his girlfriend, my friend and fellow NewNew team member Kari Love, something that he knew she would find very romantic. I took Phil's drawing, an adorable depiction of the eternal love between the Unicorn and the Narwhal, and put a frame around it, then shrunk it down to the right size to be worn as a necklace. With no further ado, here are all the steps you will need to follow to make a shiny, uniquely romantic laminated pendant for the one you love.

Step #1: Assemble Your Materials! You might not have all of the materials for this project just lying around, but the're all things that are good to have on hand and should come in handy for millions of future projects.

Materials:
1. Black-and-white photocopy of an image you would like to make into a pendant. A black-and-white laser print should also work. It's fine to make your copies on regular 20 lb copy paper.
2. Gold foil joss paper or other decorative paper for the back of the pendant.
3. Heat Set Laminate Pouches, 10 mil thickness. You should use small pouches, such as those made to laminate business cards, for this project, because when you are laminating small items, a small pouch is less likely to trap ugly air bubbles that will cause you trouble.
4. A regular home iron.
5. Metallic heat transfer foil. Transfer foil can be purchased in New York City at the Pearl Paint Craft Center on Lispenard St. or online at one of my favorite suppliers, Dharma Trading Co.
6. 1/16" eyelets and an eyelet setting tool. 1/16" eyelets can be hard to find. I ordered mine online from this company.
7. A 1/16" hole punch. You can find these at most art supply stores.
8. A hammer.
Things not pictured that you will also need: A glue stick, scissors, Metal jump rings, and a necklace chain to put your pendant on.
And, finally, you will need access to a laminator.

Step #2: Transfer the foil onto your image. Set your iron to the Cotton setting, no steam. Place the foil on top of your photocopy with the shiny side facing up. The foil should transfer after a few seconds of heating with the iron. After you peel the foil sheet off of your image you may want to gently rub the image with a finger to make sure all the foiled lines are clean and crisp.

The photo below shows the copied drawing pre- and post-foiling.

Step #3: Make your image beautiful by painting with watercolors. You could also color it with colored pencils or markers.

Step #4: Glue your image to the back of the joss paper so that the back of your pendant will be an attractive gold color instead of just white. Any decorative paper or magazine image will work to make an attractive back for your pendant.

Step #5: Cut your image down to its final size.

Step #6: Laminate your image. You can laminate multiple pendants together, but you should leave around 3/8" of space between them to make sure the laminate seals completely around each one.


Step #7: Cut your pendant out, leaving about a 1/16" seal of laminate all the way around.


Step #8: Make a hole with your 1/16" punch. For rectangular pendants, it helps to measure and make sure your hole is in the center so that the pendant hangs straight.


Step #9: Insert an eyelet into the hole and set it with the eyelet setting tool and a hammer.

Step #10: Add a jump ring, slip your pendant onto a chain, and give it to the one you love!

Stella - lookcloselypress

Coming up this week.....

--On Saturday from 2-6:00 Rational Animal is leading a project that aims to make 500 comforters to line the kennel cages of animals awaiting adoption in NYC shelters. The project is called 'Mother's Comfort' and 45 quilts have already been made with the help of volunteers from Rational Animal and Etsy. Contact Rational Animal if you're interested in helping on Saturday or with future Mother's Comfort events. (photo thanks to Milo, my rescue dog)

--Shecky's annual Girl's Night Out is coming up next week in Manhattan. Shop commercial and handmade items, drink and eat a bit, go home with a goody bag! Tickets are still available for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

--'Harnessing Brooklyn's Creative Capital: The Impact of Self-Employed Creative Professionals on the Borough's Economy' is a forum March 5th from 8:30-10:30 AM at the Grand Army Plaza branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. This forum will address the challenges faced by self-employed creative freelancers such as writers, photographers, and designers, and will explore strategies to support this part of Brooklyn's economy. Admission is free but reservations are recommended. Sponsored by Center for an Urban Future and Brooklyn Economic Development Coorporation.

I recently found out about the following organizations that aim at distributing unwanted materials to people who can use them for art and craft activities and education. Definitely worth checking out if you're an artist, crafter, educator, or work for a nonprofit organization:

--The Materials Resource Center in Ronkonkoma, NY is a resource of recycled materials waiting to be reused in art or educational projects. It looks like they may have materials available such as small clear ziploc bags (perfect for storing small craft items), beads, buttons, cardboard, etc... They also lead workshops for children and teachers and have a mobile recycling center.

--Materials for the Arts is another local organization aimed at getting unwanted materials to art and nonprofit organizations that can put the materials to good use. If you are involved in a school or nonprofit organization, you may be eligible to receive donated materials from Materials for the Arts.

--Joanne------