DiY Beach Rock Necklace

Summer doesn't seem that long ago, I hope yours was filled with beach walks and treasure hunting along the way. But now what do you do with the treasures?  They’re hard to store, and a window sill can only take so many bits before they collect dust and loose their magic.

So why not get into a little DiY groove and make a soulful beach rock necklace?  Here’s a list of supplies available at an art or craft store.  You’ll need some small tools, many you may already have around the house. The whole spirit of DiY is improvisation, so make it your project and experiment as you go.  Hey, most of your materials are free!

You’ll need:

Favorite beach rocks or shells or?

Super Sculpy

Silver or aluminum metallic paint

A small paint brush

Small tools with flat blades

Wood files - rough and smooth

Medium grit sandpaper

2-part epoxy glue

Leather, ribbon or cotton cords

First break off a blob of Sculpy, smash it in your hands till it warms a bit and gets soft.  Decide which way you want your rock to hang, creating the “top” and push the blob on.  It should be 50% bigger at this point because you’ll be carving away material.  Finger pinch the sclupy into an estimation of your desired shape, if it starts creeping down over the rock too far, use your small blade to trim it back.  Now you can either cut away or push the sculpy to better refine your shape.

To add the loop roll out a piece and trim to a narrow strip, cut the ends so its about 1” long and “connect” it to the top of your sculpy cap, by gently pushing the 2 ends to the top.  At ANY point if you don’t like what you did, cut it off and start over. Gratifying!  The more you do the better you’ll get.

You can keep forming and sculpting the cap, right on the rock – or gently take it off and work on your table top.  When you like your shape its time to bake it.  You must use either a ceramic or glass baking dish, sculpy wont burn (unless you forget it) and your dish will clean up with soap and water. Before baking, while the sculpy still’s soft, refit your cap onto rock, this impression will make a clean final fit. 

Bake your sculpy in a pre-heated 200 degree oven for 15 minutes – no more!   Once its cooled you should not be able to make a mark w/ your fingernail.  Err on the side of underdone because overdone turns it dark and brittle and it will shrink too much.  After you bake it you can file or sand to refine your shape, a rough file will leave an interesting texture.

Once completely cool, paint with a white base coat like “Bin” or thinned white house paint.  I like thin coats so your sculpting efforts get noticed. Then top coat it with aluminum or silver paint.  I found a ½ pint can at the hardware store.  I like a metal look but there’s no reason for you not to go crazy with color, just use enamel paint for the best color and hardness.

Once completely dry, epoxy (use a 2-part epoxy, again from the hardware store) your cap to the rock, find something around the house to prop up your pendant in a vertical position while it dries, let it set up over night. I love a jar of dried beans for this. Next choose a leather cord or lace or ribbon or whatever suits you.  We’re not going to bother with clasps and end caps, just tie it where you want.

And voila! You’ve made a smashing one of a kind necklace, to layer with your Kate Hines Pearls!