Lovebird Necklace

Using metal cutting shears, cut a 2" x ¾" piece of copper sheet. Be careful, as the copper can be sharp. Use the hammer to round the bottom slightly. Cut the little corner tips off at the top. If the edges are curled, flip the piece over and "lightly" flatten with hammer. If you would like any texture, add it now with a texture hammer.

Use the fine sanding pad or a Dremel to lightly sand the edges and remove any sharp areas.

Letters: Pick the word you would like to use. Arrange the stamp letters in order as you will use them. Use a regular hammer to stamp letters: While holding the stamp vertically, bring hammer straight down and stamp with only one hard whack. More than one whack can give you ghost images. If any edges of the piece are curled after stamping, lightly tap with hammer to flatten.

Using the hole punch, put two holes in the top left and right, and one in the bottom center. Use sanding pad or Dremel tool to remove any burrs. Set aside.

Using wire cutters, cut twelve 1.5-inch pieces of 16-ga. wire. Make sure each end has a flush cut. Using the center step of a small Wrap and Tap tool, create a loop. Referring to the photo, hold the tool with the plastic flat side towards yourself and place the very tip of the wire in the middle. Place your thumb on the bottom part of the wire and turn the tool away from yourself while holding the wire until the tip of the wire meets the other side, making your first large loop.

Flip wire piece to the other side and using round nose pliers, make a small loop. Create 11 more.

Using the Vintaj® patina colors, use a Q-tip or your finger to rub color across the whole tag front and back. If you want just color in the word indentations, then use a clean Q-tip to remove the color you like. If you want more color left on the entire piece, you can let it dry for a few minutes, then use a sanding pad to remove patina to expose the metal. If you use a sanding pad, the metal will be a little brighter; if you use acetone (nail polish remover) with a Q-tip, the metal will retain its natural patina and stay darker. Using the Q-tip, apply patina to all components you have created so far. Set aside for now.

o achieve a multi-layered look, apply 3-4 colors on top of each other and let dry. Using one of the removal methods, remove what you like to expose the metal underneath. As you do this, other colors will come through as well. You can't ruin this-if the color is not what you expected, you can still layer on more color and remove again.

Using the 20-ga. wire, create a wrapped loop. Using chain nose pliers, tuck in the wire end. Stack on a seed bead, a bird glass bead, and a seed bead and wrap another loop into the top of the stone bead. Set aside.

Arrange all components on flat surface. This is where you might add other beads or charms if you have them. Once you have something you like, use two chain nose pliers to open the small jump rings and begin connecting components. Remember that not all components will have the patina at this time. That is OK.

Add 5 inches of chain to each side using the small jump rings. Add lobster clasp and large jump ring at back.

At this point, you can now add more patina. Refer back to step 7 in the Applying Patina section to now lightly add color to chain, charms, jump rings, and even to touches of the wire on the dangle. Let set for 24 hours.

With a soft cloth, add a little Renaissance Wax to seal. Let dry and then lightly buff.