Special Location Pendant

Hello fellow makers,

Today I would like to show you step by step how I made this special location pendant.

Wondering what to put in yours?

What about your wedding location with some confetti from the ceremony or that unforgettable family beach vacation spot with some sea sand and tiny shells...

Why not keep a jewellery box filled with memory pendants?

The possibilities are endless and your memories will remain perfectly preserved.

Join me on my journey and learn how to make your own...

To make this Instructable you will need the following:

- A Map

I found a badly damaged world atlas at a used book store that was just begging to be used for projects.

- Some small curiosities from your location

- 3-4mm Bronze rod

Amazon - Rods

This can be found at your local hardware store in the welding/brazing section. I recommend using bronze when learning and then moving on to precious metals later.

- 2 Part Epoxy clear casting resin

Amazon - Casting resin

- Silver solder

Amazon - Silver solder

- a Butane/propane blow torch

- Some masking/painters tape

- a Hammer

- an Anvil** (at $15 I highly recommend getting something like this)

Amazon - Anvil

Any piece of heavy metal with a smooth surface can be used, before I made myself this small jewellers anvil I used an old hammer head mounted in a vice and it worked great.

- Sanding paper 220 to 1500 grit

- Metal polishing compound

Amazon - Compound blocks

- Leather safety gloves

- Modelling clay (play-doh)

- Resin release film

Most plastic films will works for this even a Zip-lock bag can be used if you can't find anything else. I recommend smearing a very thin layer of petroleum jelly on the plastic to ensure it releases.

- Pliers

Optional:

- A Dremel

- Rubber abrasives

- Felt polishing pads

Safety first!

Always wear leather gloves when forging metals, the pieces can cause serious burns even after standing for a while. Always handle your metal as if it is hot.

Now we will need to start shaping our bronze rod.

To make the same size pendant as mine (38mm X 55mm) you're going to need a rod of 150mm, but I leave about 100mm extra to make handling it easier.

Now we need to anneal the bronze rod, with the butane/propane torch you need to heat up your bronze rod until it gets to a cherry red color.

When the rod has reached temperature you can place the rod on the anvil and start hammering it down on one side, try to keep your hammer head as flat as possible whilst moving across the rod.

Tip: Pick a hammer that has a defect free head as all the scratches and dents from the head will be transferred to your piece.

While hammering you will feel the bronze getting harder, once you feel this happening you will need to reheat the rod as above.

Flipping the rod over from time to time will help keep it straight.

Keep repeating the above until you've reduced the thickness of the rod from 3-4mm to about 1mm.

Now you can reheat the rod and then place it on its side and gently hammer down the side to end up with a uniform bar that's approximately 4-5mm wide and 1mm thick.

We now need to bend the bar into shape, I did mine in a teardrop shape but this can be whatever your heart desires.

Heat up the bar to a cherry red and manipulate it into the shape you want with some pliers, be careful not to apply too much pressure as it will leave marks that will be hard to remove later on.

Try to keep the joints on the same spot as it will make brazing them together easier.

You can now go ahead and remove the excess rod, I use my trusty vintage Knipex cutter.

When I was done, I just placed the frame on a flat surface and gently hammered it flat.

Now that the frame is bent into shape we need to braze the two joints.

ALTERNATIVE: If you don't have the means to braze the joints you can skip this step by making sure the joint is sealed with modelling clay before pouring the epoxy resin, otherwise it will drain out of the joint.

You're going to need a heat proof surface to braze on (or a "helping hand" stand). I use the steel table from my old drill press to braze on.

Now apply silver solder flux to the joint (if using bare silver solder rods) and start heating up the joints using your butane torch. Once the joint is a bright red go ahead and smear the silver solder rod against the joint, if your metal has reached the correct temperature the silver solder will flow into the joint.

Leave the frame to cool completely.

After the frame has cooled place a piece of 220 grit sanding paper on a plane of glass, wet with water and dish-washing liquid and sand both sides of the frame until completely flat.

Now that our frame is done we need to prepare the pendants inclusions.

First I found the piece of map I was looking for, remember that there are usually a few different versions of the same location in an atlas so go through them all and pick one that will work the best for your design.

As I didn't want pen marks on the piece of map that I will be using I held the map against a sunny window and placed the frame over the location on the reverse and marked the inside.

Cut out the piece with sharp scissors and test fit it in your frame.

To hide the back side of the map I decided to cover it with an old book page cut to the same size.

A hand written note or poem would also work beautifully.

To make it even more special I decided to add some small curiosities from the location to the back, this can be anything as long as it is less than 1mm thick. I went with a tiny key charm and a vintage token.

Now we can get started with the resin.

First we need to prep the inside of the pendant frame, I used a Dremel with rubber abrasive bits to buff out any imperfections but you can also use 400 grit to 1500 grit sanding paper.

When all the imperfections are sanded away you can use a rag or felt pads with some compounding polish to polish the inside of the frame.

Next we need to tension the release film on a plane of glass using some painters tape, this will prevent it from wrinkling while the epoxy resin is curing.

Place the pendant frame in the middle of the frame and then seal around the frame using modelling clay, this will hold it in place and prevents resin from seeping out.

You now need to mix a small amount of resin, we won't be filling up the entire frame only about 0.5mm of it. This will create a layer for you to stack the inclusions on.

Use a hair dryer or a small flame to pop any bubbles that form on your resin.

I waited for the resin to fully cure before moving onto the next step but you can continue as soon as the resin has gelled.

We will now do the final resin pour.

First mix up some resin again according to the manufacturers instructions and set aside so that the bubbles rise out.

Now take all of your inclusions and cover them in some resin using a small clean paint brush this will break the surface tension and reduces the chances of trapped air bubbles (I painted the map and book page with resin and stuck them together to prevent bubbles when placing them into the pendant).

Next fill up your frame with the resin and pop any air bubbles.

Now you can gently place your curiosities into the resin followed by the book page/map (slide this in at an angle to prevent bubbles).

Push the map down so that it is below the rim of the frame and then add more resin over the top so that it forms a slight dome. Don't worry if it spills over.

Set it aside to cure.

After about 16 hours my resin was cured but still not completely hard so now was the perfect time to cut away any overflow with a hobby knife.

Once your resin is completely cured we can move onto sanding and polishing.

I start by placing a piece of 220 grit sanding paper on a plane of glass, wet it with water/dishwashing liquid and start sanding away the excess resin from the top and bottom.

Be careful sanding the top, you only want to sand away the "dome" otherwise you risk going too deep and damaging the map.

After the excess is removed and both sides are flush with the frame I used a small file to round the edges.

Now using 400 to 1500 grit sanding paper sand away any imperfections on the pendant and repeat on the glass plane for the front and back.

Next with a rag or felt pads buff the pendant with compounding polish until it's nice and shiny.

That's it!

All that's left to do is to add a chain/leather cord, I used some super soft deerskin leather cord from Amazon.

I hope you guys enjoyed this Instructable and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment bellow.

Please share your own creations with us.

Happy making!