A summer recipe for a bar necklace

July 25th, 2008 in patterns & designs, jewelry making

Below14th Studio, contributor

Here is the base and frit for this piece.

Here is the finished pendant.

Photo: below 14th studio

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Today I'd like to take you through the steps of making this bar pendant, which is an unique and fresh design for the summer.

For this particular design, you need a 4”x1” piece of white glass; a piece of clear glass of the same size; and some teal and red frit. For findings, you need 2 silver-tone pendant bails, 2 1 inch pieces of silver wire, and a 16 inch silver chain.

The base of the pendant is the white piece of glass.

Here is the base and frit for this piece.

In order to help the frit stick to the base, apply a tiny bit of clear glue (any glue will do) and spread it very thin on the white base.

Make sure the glue is not too thick or it might show in your final piece.

Using tweezers, apply the frit, bit by bit, to the base, creating the design.

Using tweezers add the frit to the white glass.

After creating the design with your frit you are ready to finish the pendant.

After creating the design, cap the piece with clear glass so that the frit fuses underneath it and is completely encased. It will give your necklace a lot of depth.

I always measure my clear glass cap and make sure it is slightly bigger than my white base because once it starts to melt, I want it to melt over the edges of my white glass and make them round and smooth.

You’re done with the hard part! Your piece is ready to be put in the kiln and fused.

The kiln schedule for this piece depends on your kiln and environment, so I can’t recommend a schedule that will fit every kiln. If you have questions that you’ll like to ask about your specific environment, please ask them in the Comments section or Email them to me, at shopkeeper@below14th.com. I fired this pendant for 8 hours and annealed it properly.

Next, you add the bails by gluing them to the pendant. I like to epoxy the back of my pieces instead of gluing them because epoxy is infinitely stronger and gives glass a very finished look.

Finally, I added a little twist by using these pretty oxidized silver wires to complete this design. I just wrapped them gently over the bails, to reinforce the chain and give the design a little kick!

Add bails and a chain to complete your pendant.

I love how this necklace turned out and I hope you like it too. Check it out in the below 14th shop.

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posted in: patterns & designs, jewelry making,

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Comments (2)

jewelelegance writes: It's really amazing.What about it's maintenance?Is there any special tips for taking care of it?
I have visited your site and loved your cool collection.

Jewelelegance Posted: 2:35 am on August 12th

trusk4u writes: Wow! This is really awesome! I really like the different shape and the way it lies on the body. But, then again "below 14th shop" has some of the coolest stuff around! Posted: 7:44 pm on July 29th

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