Beading Heart Pendant by Emily M. Miller

When I received my goodies from Helmar I jumped right in and started gluing everything I could get my hands on. Right away I noticed how three dimensional the Gemstone glue is and thought it would be a great match for some of our heavier glitter products. Oh how I LOVE going 3-D!

Things You Need:
Helmar Gemstone Glue
Art Glitter Glass Beads: #800 Vermillion Large, #813 Crimson Lake Large, #801 Deco Pink Large, #803 Solar, #803 Solar Small, #806 Sonata Small, #808 Sterling Large, #817 Pearlies Large, #810 Clear Large
Art Glitter Ultrafine Opaque Glitter: #291 Fire Engine Red
Art Glitter Transparency Sheet
Art Glitter Noodger
Paper Plate
Scissors
Wire
Round Needle Nose Pliers
Spray Lacquer

Start with a piece of wire and wrap it around into a loose circle with needle nose pliers and twist ends into a stem with the ends extended. Draw a glue heart onto transparency sheet (sitting on paper plate) and lay wire post in middle of heart. I sprinkled a few Sterling Large beads first for a base and filled in with some Crimson Lake and Clear Large beads. I let this dry about half an hour and put on another layer of glue with more of the same beads in an random pattern.

This glue is really fun, it stays flexible! So after applying the beads you can let it dry 10-15 minutes and then push the beads around, into the glue to solidify your shape. I used a 'noodger' to get my edges just so. Once the edges of the heart are dry, a few hours or so, you can cut the transparency off, go in close to just under the beads for a clean look. It will completely dry in a day or two, depending on the humidity in your area.

Left is the front, right is the back side where you can see the extra silver beads I used that will help hide my silver wire. I wanted to show you how fun the clear beads made this project. Once the glue is completely dry use a spray lacquer on the beads. The beads are not solvent resistant and can tarnish over time otherwise.

Next I decided I wanted to try the same technique on a smaller version so I could glue and bead the backside without the pendant getting too heavy. I used a few Solar, large beads, then some Pearlies and covered the rest with Solar small beads. When using multiple size embellishments, start with your largest size first and fill in to the smallest size. After the edges are dry and you have cut the transparency off you can turn it over, glue and bead in a couple of layers again.

It really is not heavy, which made me very happy. When I showed these to Barbara Trombley she noticed that the project does use a lot of beads. So I started thinking. With this glue, maybe I don't need to layer the beads.

So one more try! This time I started off with a pretty thick base of glue. I let it be a little gloppy, planning to push it into shape later. Let it dry for about 1.5 hours.

Then I sprinkled on my large beads: Sterling, Solar, Vermillion, Deco Pink. Then covered the rest with small beads: Sonata. I pushed them into the glue a little and as you can see on the left heart below there is still open glue.

Fill it in with Fire Engine Red Ultrafine Glitter. Now the right heart above is covered and looks redder. If you compare the backside of this heart to the backside of the gold one above you can see how the beads are not touching the transparency, they are just sitting on top of the glue.

Apply your glue thickly to the back like before, let dry 1.5 hours, bead and glitter like before. Dry and spray with spray lacquer.

I have to admit, this last one is my favorite. Which one is yours?
For more things Art Glitter and a little towards the left side of the brain check out my blog: blog by emm .com  Thanks!