Gyroscope Necklace Tutorial!

Gyroscope Necklace Tutorial!!!!

I am so excited to share this tutorial today!  I am the biggest sucker for dual-purpose, thrifty and of course anything with resin in, on. or around it lol!  Quick breakdown!
1. Gyroscope necklaces (dual purpose! 1$-2$)
2.  Paint Palette (around 1.49 and cheaper with a Joanne's coupon, also dual purpose for this project!)
3.  Whatever awesome things you find to put in it and some resin ( I reccomend using Art Resin-see my review here-http://tinyurl.com/ooxfaea) You can purchase here https://artresin.refersion.com/c/dcd5

These little guys I found online several months ago, I was more interested in the hourglasses than the necklace as a whole; that is, until I realized that I could also make use of the actual gyroscope part of the necklace too with paint palettes!  Aren't they cool?!

 
 So you have a dual purpose necklace in which you can use the hourglass in other things like this pocketwatch-be sure to shoot me a message if you'd like to see a tutorial for resin pocketwatches!

  I'm really super excited to share and I hope that I get to see your creations as well!  Stay tuned for a chance to have you and your work featured on my website that's under construction:)
Supplies needed for this project-
1.  Some of these absolutely sweet gyroscope necklaces:) you can get some here:) http://tinyurl.com/ped6fx5 (opens in new window to an ebay seller) (see 1A)
2.  Paint Pallette from Joanne's Fabric and Crafts (see 2A)
2.  Adhesive of choice to secure cabochons to the necklace.(I used resin, because obsessed)

1A    Firstly, I'll cover some key points to note about the gyroscope necklaces.  I have ordered several shipments from several different sellers and I definetly noticed a difference in quality as well as a difference in the adhesives used to secure the hourglass into place. There are some that have used hot glue to secure it and some that just used super glue, making it easier to pop out than with hot glue.  The method that I've found that works best is to bend the center piece a bit and the hourglass will usually pop out intact.  I've broken several by pushing on the hourglass itself, although if it's secured with super glue, popping it out is a bit easier.

2A
   The reason that I list specifically the painters palettes from Joanne's Fabric is because in my experience, having tried many different brands from many place I've found that the palettes from Joanne are the best quality.  It seems to be the perfect combination of strong and flexible.  The reason this is important is because pouring resin in the wrong type will leave you will cabochons that are stuck there forever.  Conventional wisdom says you can't use resin in these types of molds but you certainly can and I'm going to show you how easy it is:) http://tinyurl.com/mojvb3w (opens to my blog posting)

  So, getting started What you are going to do first is design and fill the molds.  I use several at a time and fill the molds in very thin layers so that I'm good and tortured waiting the full cure and hardening time to see how they turned out, lol.

   Once you've cured and released the cabochons from the mold you are ready to discover the next dual-purpose for the palette:)

  Using reserves from the next batch of cabochons I was pouring and curing, I waited until the resin was pretty tacky and put the resin on the BACK of the cabochon that was facing flat-side up as pictured in the center of the palette. After placing the cabochon back into a cavity I placed the gyroscope onto the top (as shown on the left) and allowed it to fully cure and harden.(When I have a piece that it matters the direction it is facing, I usually use that one in step two)

    Once the first half is cured, repeat the same process of applying the resin or adhesive of choice and do the same thing with placing the gyroscope over the cabochon and allowing it to fully cure!

     There are so many things you can do with the leftover hourglass, but here are a few things I've learned the hard way
1.  Be sure to leave each layer alone for the entire curing process including the hardening phase, because the resin heats up it can melt the layer underneath which can cause your hourglass to shift postiions.
2.  If you are using the pallette molds in this blog, its a good idea to paint the bottom half of the hourglass because of the way resin bends light it distorts parts of it (especially the middle)

 I'm so glad that I was able to share this with you today!  I love a great project at a great price!  Comment with a link back to pics if you've tried this yourself! I do want to caution, these gyroscope necklace are actually replicas of the "Harry Potter" time-turner neckaces and as such are not as great of quality as the genuine ones.  Therefore, I would recommend using them as gifts or for yourself instead of selling unless you've found a way to secure it properly which will mean that the necklace will most likely no longer spin but will be double sided which is great as well!