February 5, 2016

DIY Friendship Etched Pendants with the Silhouette Curio

This post is sponsored by Silhouette America but all opinions and ideas are my own. :)

One of my close friends from a few years back asked me if I could stamp some puzzle pendant pieces for her to give to her class friends before they all go off to college. The accommodating person that I am, I said yes, but then she wanted additional things on it - on the back of the pendants, she wanted a word on each pendant that would form a sentence when all the pendants are linked together. I loved the idea, but with the stamped letter in front, there was no way I would be able to make a clean stamp on the back as well - we brainstormed on what we could do about it, and then I remembered - I can etch with my Silhouette Curio



Supplies:


Set your mat stack to 6 and adhere contact paper, sticky side up with the backing intact. I did this to add some more stickiness to my mat to give the charm extra hold. You want to keep the backing so you can see where the charm area would be placed when cut.


Cut out your charm (for my contact paper, I used blade 3, speed 4 and thickness 5) using the ratchet blade. Since my charm was irregularly shaped, I first scanned it full-size and then traced it on Adobe Illustrator before transferring it to the Silhouette Program. Remove the backing and then attach your charm to the sticky contact paper. 


Type out your word onto the program and fill. I cheated and used embossing fill for the insides of my words since I wasn't very familiar with the sketch fills yet. I set the embossing fill to 0.04. Set the charm outline to no cut! Use the etching tool and send it to the machine to etch. 


Once I was confident with the settings, I cut multiples of them. If you are nervous, you can use tape to provide additional hold onto the edges of the charm. Add your hardware and you are done!


In my case, I'll be sending these to my friend to finish since she has the matching chain and jump rings. I love the phrase that she thought of - and I'm pretty sure her friends will adore them too! You can make a set for your friends for Valentines or for any occasion, really. I am thinking of making some from my friends from college, too!




Do you like etched jewelry? Hope you enjoyed this short tutorial! Happy crafting, friends!

15 comments :

  1. I dont own a curio but This sounds very interesting and offers lots of possibilities

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    1. The etching and engraving and deep cutting are very exciting, for sure :)

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    2. Any updates to our other questions please.

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  2. Would you mind sharing where you bought copper puzzle pieces?

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    1. Hi Melanie! I believe my friend ordered them at this Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/208520642/copper-puzzle-piece-blank-20-gauge?ref=shop_home_active_7&ga_search_query=puzzle

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  3. Would you mind sharing where you bought copper puzzle pieces?

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  4. Very interesting blog, looking forward to more wonderful! jewellery outlet uk

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  5. Hello. I'm afraid I'm a bit confused.
    Did you cut out an area of the contact paper to set the pieces into or did you just sit them on top of the sticky contact paper?
    Also are the settings you mentioned (blade 3, etc) what you set the Curio to when you did the etching with the etching tool?
    Thank you for the tutorial and answering my questions.

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  6. Very interesting blog, looking forward to more wonderful! Swarovski jewelry

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  7. Love these ! What font did you use? THANKS

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  8. nice looking designs for earrings and looks different and trendy as well my sister will love to see this because she likes earrings

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  9. Hi, I wanted to know can we etch sterling silver jewellery piece the same way you did for brass puzzle piece. Will etching on silver charms be possible with curio

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