DIY Costume Jewelry Embellished Ring Holders

One of the treasures I am lucky to find out here in the suburbian wilderness is lots of costume jewelry. I can get a large handful of bling like the items above sometimes for less than a dollar at tag sales and rummage sales. Oh, it's so hard to be a rhinestone in a diamond world...but enough about me- onto today's DIY project.   I started buying a few pieces that interested me but they sat in a box for six months because I could not figure out what to do with them, other than look at them sparkle in the sunlight and croon to them "My Precious....."

You can purchase even the pins or earrings that have missing stones: as those are usually the ones that are SOOOOOPER CHEAP.   For this project, you can fill in the missing stones with glitter glue of a similar color, or cut off parts of the item as I did to a few. I had some plain white ring holders that have also been collecting dust in my studio waiting for inspiration to strike. You can purchase a ring holder like this here, or visit your local paint your own pottery studio and make a few solid colored ones.   These would make great DIY bridesmaid gifts.   Look for a ring holder that has a flatter edge to make both drawing the design and attaching the jewelry a bit easier.

I asked Sexyhusbandomine for help finding a tool that I could use to remove pin backs, or in many cases clip on or screw on earring backs. He gave me this great pair of smaller sized wire clippers. Please wear eye protection while removing the metal parts from the backs of the items you find- you will be surprised at how far the tiny pieces of metal can fly!

Next I took a Porcelaine 150 pen- also known as a Pebeo pen. You can purchase them here. They work just like a magic marker--mistakes can be wiped away with water--but once they are heat set in your oven the ink is really permanent and will not come off. I used a fine point pebeo, but a bolder tip is also available.  I suppose you could also do this with either a sharpie or a paint pen- but the ceramicist in me wanted the most permanent material possible- so I am a big fan of Pebeo because of its durability.   LET'S GET STARTED.  Deciding to create a lace edged border, I first drew scalloped edges around the rim of the ring holder.

Then inside each scallop I added 3 little loops. If you would like to be more meticulous or realistic with making lace you could have some examples nearby. I worked from memory- just trying to capture the lace "vibe."

Then I added some loops on top of the scallops.

On this one I kept going to get more lace- adding more loops and dots.

Using the Pebeo pen, this process really does not take long. I finished these two in about fifteen minutes. (The directions on Pebeo say to then let the ink dry for 24 hours but I skip that step as we will not be eating off of these ring holders, and my experience is that cooking them immediately does not effect the durability) I set them aside for another 15 minutes, then popped them into a cool oven. I preheated the oven, with the ring holders in them, to 300. Once I was sure the oven was at that temperature, I set a timer for 30 minutes. When the buzzer rang, I turned the oven off and let the ceramics cool in my oven til I could remove them safely.

I used E6000 which is a clear super strong glue to attach my piece of jewelry to the edge of the ringholder. E6000 does not set up immediately, so place a few pieces of scotch tape over the embellishment and allow it to dry overnight: otherwise you could come back an hour later and find that your jewel has traveled an inch or more. It's a lot of fun to choose which item will go with each ring holder-- every piece of jewelry will change the look of the ring holder.

 

I experimented  with adding some color to the ring holder itself and liked the way this one came out

Lots of fun ways to bling up the place you keep your rings!