Creativity In A Nutshell

Do you remember those fun times, playing checkers when you were little? Or maybe you still play checkers! Either way, show off your checkers skill with these beautiful checkers earrings.



What's The Plan, Stan? 


We are going to make some super fantabulous earrings, using plastic checkers pieces, not the old fashioned (but equally sweet wooden ones).


Ingredients:

• Two checkers pieces (For this project, I used the white ones, however, you can use the black ones for a totally different effect.)
• Alcohol Inks (One or two colors - I used Wild Plum and Stream)
• Alcohol Ink Blending Solution
• Alcohol Ink Applicator and felt rectangles
• Stayz On opaque white ink pad (NOTE: When embossing, and then coloring with alcohol inks, regular old ink pads simply won't work. For the vintage earrings, we used that technique to create a resist technique, which is cool, but not what we're going for in this project)
  
• Floral Stamp (I used a beautiful one I found in the Michael's $1 bin)
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Silver Pearl Ex Pigment
• Glossy Accents
  

Tools Of The Trade:

• Drill with small bit (NOTE: you won't want to use too small of a drill bit, as it is more likely to get stuck and or break on you. I've done this - please, learn from my mistake)
  
• Scrap piece of wood
• Heat Gun
• Trash bag (hopefully one devoted to art use)
  

Process:

• Drill your checkers pieces, close to the edge, but not too close :)
•  Mix clear embossing powder with a pinch of silver Pearl Ex Pigment in your mixing tray (or baby food container top :)
  
•  Cover your work surface with a trash bag : Prepare to Alcohol Ink! Apply your two alcohol ink colors to the felt and stamp away. Add the Blending Medium as you like. Let it dry, then do the opposite side, and the edges. Once you are happy, allow both checkers pieces to dry completely.
  
• Stamp one side of the chipboard with stayz on opaque white ink. Sprinkle with embossing powder/Pearl Ex Pigment on top of the stamped image and heat with your handy dandy heatgun.
• Allow to cool. At this point you can gently add more Alcohol Ink and or Pearl Ex Pigments. I left mine as is.
• Coat with Glossy Accents (or similar). Allow to dry completely
• Add jumprings and ear wires and voila!
  

C'est Fin!

Bead Artist Showcase
You work could be right here! Submit your own BLANK to Creativity In A Nutshell via email to cagarp@plymouth.edu. Feel free to include pictures, anything new you tried and suggestions you have for improvement.

More Similar Fun Stuff!

• Alcohol Ink Pendants  
• Domino Pendants
  

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