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How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace

July 1, 2013 6 Comments

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Independence Day is Thursday, and if you’re on the lookout for a quick DIY accessory, this project is definitely it. It makes use of plexiglass, which is an awesome crafting material, particularly for easy jewelry projects.

Supplies

tthin acrylic sheet, a.k.a. plexiglass (like this)
X-acto knife
ruler
jewelry chain
2 jewelry pliers
small jump rings (I used 7mm)
hole punching tool (The crop-a-idle is my go-to.)
permanent marker
red, white & blue acrylic paint
paint brush
toothpick (optional)
jewelry clasp

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Directions

Begin by scoring your plexiglass with an x-acto knife, creating a 3.375 (3 and 3/8) by 1.75 inch rectangle. These measurements are approximately correct to keep the flag’s proportions accurate..

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Bend your plexiglass along the scoring lines, and it will snap cleanly apart where scored. Cool, right? :)

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Draw a dot in the top two corners of your acrylic rectangle, approximately the same distance in from each corner. Using a punching tool, punch a hole in each dot’s location.

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Paint a blue rectangle in the upper left of your acrylic rectangle. Then, paint your red stripes, being careful not to mix the two paint colors where they meet on the flag.

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

When that’s dry, paint your small “stars” using white paint and, if you’ve got it on hand, a tiny paint brush or toothpick. Let dry.

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Attach your jewelry closure to your necklace chain either with your jewelry pliers and a jump ring, or by opening a link in the chain, attaching the closure, and closing it.

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Close your closure, forming your necklace into a closed circle. Holding the necklace by its clasp, find the exact center of the chain. Break the chain at its center point so it looks like this:

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Attach your finished, dry flag pendant to the chain using two jewelry pliers and two jump rings. The best way to open a jump ring is pictured below, and to close it, you bend it back using exactly the opposite motion used to open it.

How to open a jump ring - HandsOccupied.com

That’s it! This pendant necklace is quite affordable to make, and the finished result is really fun – perfect for the Fourth!

How-to: Painted Acrylic Flag Necklace - HandsOccupied.com

Filed Under: Fourth of July, How-to Tagged With: accessories, crafts, diy, flag, fourth of july, independence day, jewelry, patriotic, pendant

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author, designer & creator specializing in yarn crafts like knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé. Her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now.

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Comments

  1. SaveOn

    July 1, 2014 at 9:38 am

    Hi Heidi!

    We absolutely love your blog, but we especially loved this post! These necklaces look so cute yet so simple to make! We love your idea so much that we featured it on our own blog: http://bit.ly/1lO5QAE

    Reply
    • Heidi

      July 1, 2014 at 10:04 am

      Why thanks! It looks like I’m in good company! :)

      Reply
  2. Cindy deRosier

    October 31, 2016 at 6:20 pm

    I’m the Editor of Fun Family Crafts and wanted to let you know that we have featured your flag necklace! You can see it here:

    http://funfamilycrafts.com/painted-acrylic-flag-necklace/

    If you have other kid-friendly craft tutorials, we’d love for you to submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can get one from the right side bar of your post above. Thanks for a great project idea!

    Reply
    • Heidi

      November 3, 2016 at 8:42 pm

      Thanks for the feature!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 17 Last-Minute Amazing Decorations to Make for the 4th of July | Crafttuts+ says:
    July 3, 2013 at 8:53 am

    […] Paint an Acrylic Flag Necklace […]

    Reply
  2. 12 Ways to Save On the Fourth of July | SaveOn Blog says:
    June 30, 2014 at 2:12 pm

    […] On the lookout for a quick DIY accessory? Create your own American flag necklace. […]

    Reply

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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Weekend knitting design aftermath. Remember kids, Weekend knitting design aftermath. Remember kids, it’s always good to stop, swatch and block it. 🧶
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Learn how to do the magic loop method for knitting Learn how to do the magic loop method for knitting in the round in 90 seconds. / Using the magic loop allows knitters to work in the round with a single, long circular needle at a range of circumferences. 
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Since it won’t be clean for long, swipe to see w Since it won’t be clean for long, swipe to see what my home studio looks like these days. Nothing will ever quite be like the old Hands Occupied Studio, but I’m pretty pleased with how I shoehorned everything in this space. Function over form + a layer of yarn cuteness-meets-chaos is how I’d describe my creative space needs. 😆 When I was still renting the studio, those needs included “doesn’t rain suspicious brown water from a crack in the ceiling for a year,” so this is an improvement! 😆
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In todays new bl0g post + video tutorial, you’ll learn about the magic loop method for knitting in the round, how to do it and why to use it, and when it came to be. The 🔗 is in my b1o. 🧶 
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Finally organizing & putting the finishing touches Finally organizing & putting the finishing touches on my home studio. After losing my studio space last fall, it’s feels really great to *occupy* this new space all the way. 😉
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I started by removing general clutter & returning straggler supplies from various WIPs, videos & design deadlines to their homes. Next, I hung a third peg board in the space - this one is mostly for display and less for organizing tools or projects. For the first time ever, I’m displaying projects from my book, plus a couple other faves. (The best thing about designing more yarn crafts besides knit & crochet is that I have some really fun -and delightfully pettable 😆- samples around.) I finished by adding a square dowel to my small supply storage tower to keep it from tipping over, plus re-arranging and de-cluttering the closet. 
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This cleaner space already has me feeling so much more creative and less overwhelmed. Now to find a safe spot in the basement for the tower of project samples in Rubbermaid tubs I liberated from my WIPs closet. Also why are there five?! 
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