Headline News Necklace and Earrings

Make Jewellery Magazine Issue 31

What first attracted me to Helen Cant's Headline News project in November 2011's Make Jewellery Magazine is that I already had several of the focal beads. My stash already contained the acrylic telephone charm and the large news print beads. As I've done quite a few of Helen's project from the mag, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised we share the same taste in beads...

Anyway, to start the necklace, I threaded the newsprint beads onto headpins with a small hematite bead at each end. I then joined the
two beads with jump rings to some silver plated chain to form the back of the necklace. The necklace was going to be long enough to slip over my head, so I didn't both with a clasp.

Next, I joined the other end of the newsprint beads together with another length of chain for the front part of the necklace. I attached the telephone charm in the middle using a jump ring.

To decorate the rest of the necklace, I added a selection of red, black and silver beads from my stash, mounting the on headpins and joining them to the necklace with jump rings.

Now for the fiddly bit. I bought the antique brass cameo settings recommended by the project from Zap Creatives. Following Helen's instructions, I installed a typewriter font, Special Elite, onto my computer from Font Squirrel. I then used MS Word to create a small black circle with the words "Out Of Office" in white typewriter font. I printed out the circle and then cut it out with small sharp scissors. I glued the circle into the cameo using PVA and then sealed it with Diamond Glaze, adhesive varnish that dries to a glossy finish:

After a lengthy drying process, I attached the cameo to the necklace and then bravely repeated the whole process twice to make some matching earrings:

So, an excellent addition to the office punk look I like to cultivate at work using stuff (mostly) from my stash...

Melx