Janelle's color journey: Mixed Media Necklace

I'm still in the mood for mixed media collage. I'm still trying to use up some of my painted paper stash that I talked about last week. This week I want to show you how to make a necklace. I started with a box of wooden dominoes. I drilled holes in one end of each domino with a Dremel tool. I love this little power tool that is so versatile. I made a template to mark the holes on the dominoes, so that each one would have the hole in the same place. I decided to drill holes in each domino so that I could decorate them anytime that I wanted to without having to stop and drill the holes first. That way I can make a quick gift whenever I need one. With the holiday season coming up and being a busy mom, quick gifts are what I will be making.

After the dominoes were prepared I picked collage papers that were in the same color family or that coordinated with each other. I tore some of the papers into small pieces. I used regular matte gel medium and covered one side of the domino. I layered the papers over the domino adding a layer of the matte gel over each new layer until I had the domino mostly covered. Make sure that you keep the matte gel out of the hole in the domino so that the cord can go through later. I used a variety of papers, some that were opaque and some that were translucent. I let each side dry completely before adding papers to the other side. I didn't add any papers to the sides since they are so narrow. I usually make a few of these necklaces at a time.

After both sides were dry I added a little paint to the collage. On some of the dominoes I used Metamica paints to cover over the areas that didn't have any papers. I also added paint along the edges and on any of the white paper edges. I blended out the paint just a bit while still letting most of the paper show through. I also painted the sides of the dominoes. I like the extra shine that the Metamica paint adds. On some of the other dominoes I used Silks acrylics glazes and painted over the whole domino. They add a more subtle shimmer to the whole domino while still letting the papers show through. I also used Viva Decor Inka Gold to add some shimmer to one of the dominoes. Inka Gold works really well on wood and over collage.

While the dominoes were drying I used punches to cut out shapes from more of my papers. I also put a thin layer Glitterati fibers in Flamenco between two pieces of parchment paper and melted them into a mat of shimmery fibers. If you touch a hot iron to the paper over the fibers for a few seconds they melt. I used punches to cut shapes out of this as well. The last way that I got some shapes was by layering the Celestial stencil over a painted paper and tracing out the star shape and cutting it out. I choose which side I wanted to be the front of the necklace and I glued the prepared shapes to that side using more matte gel medium. I used contrasting colors most of the time so that my pretty bits of paper and fibers would pop off of the surface.

I let everything dry completely and then I used a black Pitt pen or paint to add a shadow around the shapes so that they would show up even more.

I finally added a coat of varnish to both sides and the edges so that they would be protected more from wear. Then I used hemp cord large enough to slip over the head and knotted the end to complete the necklace