Matisse Inspired Statement Necklace Made From SVG in Tinkercad

This project combines my love for quirky jewellery and my fascination with Matisse. I got the idea to make Matisse inspired necklace by watching Tatty Devine's jewellery collection. I'm using plastic instead of acrylic, so this project will be accessible to most people with 3D printers.
I'm also explaining how to process pictures/outlines/prints into SVG files to be used in Tinkercad and create unique pieces of jewellery.


You will need:
3D printed parts
Plastic filler (Tamiya), spray-on filler (optional)
Sanding paper, knife for cleaning the prints
Acrylic paints, spray-on varnish
Jewellery findings- chains, eye pins, jump rings etc
Thin pliers

I was focused mainly on Matisse, so my search was quite limited, but you can obviously find different shapes to make your necklace. Search for clean pictures/prints, outlines, stencils, and don't allow too many small details. For my 3-part necklace I used an SVG file I had on my computer for ages. I'm no artist, but I had a vision for my necklace and I ended up using paper to cut those shapes out. I then had a friend convert my misshapen paper into a clean looking JPG.

The remaining two necklaces (Algae and Wave) I made myself using a combination of Paint, Paint 3D, photo editor and then used https://convertio.co to convert everything to SVG.

Check each picture, I added notes to explain the process.

1. Upload all three SVG files and play around. Check different positions, different angles etc.
2. I wanted the shapes to look as thought they overlap each-other, so I had to cut into them.
   First, click on the middle shape, duplicate it, and then make it hollow. Click on the left and middle shape and press 'GROUP' button. Left object has been cut now, middle hollow object disappeared, but the original solid remained. Repeat this process and cut into the middle object.
3. Flip the entire necklace 180°, so we can access the back. I'm using a thin metal rod to connect all pieces, so I had to cut appropriate shape at the back. It's simply a small rectangle with a small rod down the middle. I duplicated it and distributed the connectors in places where parts meet. I then duplicated each connector, converted them into hollow objects and cut them out of all shapes.
4. Flip the necklace 180° to face the top and add holes for necklace chain.

METHOD 1
For this method you will need eye pins and a lighter. Create a small (1.2mmx10mm) rod and insert it into the necklace and create a hole (2nd picture). Once the necklace is printed, you will heat up an eye pin and insert it into that hole.


METHOD 2
Third option is creating a small hole and affixing it to the necklace. Use two cylinders (3mmx3mm and 1.8x1.8mm), align them, so the smaller one it straight down the middle of the larger one. Convert the small cylinder into a hollow object and group them both together to create a hole.

I found my Wave Bib in a very clean picture with no complex background. I cut the desired object out of the picture (using Paint 3D) and converted it to SVG. The file ended up very neat and, once uploaded to Tincercad, resulted in a clean object.

Algae Bib really tested my patience, but was well worth it in the end. The picture I used was not only a screenshot, but it had a very busy background, not to mention that the actual shape was white, not black.

1. I used Paint to invert colours and then moved to Photo editor to play with white balance. Sometimes that's all it takes, changing the light to make the background disappear and the object to pop-up. In this case it didn't work. Background changed into uniform white, but parts of the black object washed out. I converted it into SVG and uploaded it to see what it would look like. As you can see it was pitted all over
2. I had to cover those washed out parts using Paint 3D. Once the whole object was uniformly black I was able to play with the actual shape of the necklace. I removed one part completely and moved the middle part down.
3. Converted it to SVG, uploaded to Tinkercad, adjusted the size and added holes for the necklace chain.

I used PLA and printed it at maximum quality and very slowly. Most prints with flat top layer end up with 'scarring'. If you don't mind those marks, print your necklace using coloured filament and leave it at that.
If you are like me, and hate those 'scars', you will have to finish your print-outs with the usual combination of elbow grease, sand paper and filler.

Focus on the top parts of the necklaces, don't worry about the sides, they need no processing.

This is what the processed parts look like. They have been filled using Tamiya putty filler, then sanded (120 and 240 grit) and sprayed with a spray-on filler and sanded again. Some pieces will need one more round of sanding and filler but most will only need two.

Use a double-sided tape to affix the necklace to an small object (like a piece of wood) so you can move it around as you paint without smearing the paint. Use a good quality acrylic paint, as opaque as you can get. Once painted (2-3 layers), use spray-on varnish to seal the colour and smooth the surface.

Use a lighter to heat up the end of an eye pin, once heated, push it through the holes visible on the sides. Heat will melt the plastic around the eye pin and after few seconds, once the heat subsides, it will remain lodged within the necklace.
Attach jump rings and chains.

For three-part necklace, use small wires to connect pieces together (See picture) and add glue to the holes to keep everything secure.