Marble Picture Pendant

Having trouble with photo transfers— or just not ready yet to take the plunge? This project allows you to turn your own photograph or found image into a pendant that’s “pretty as a picture”. You only need a few supplies to get started— and you probably have those around the house!

• Polymer Clay (any color, less than 1 oz.)
  • Because you’ll want a color that coordinates well with your picture, you’ll probably want to select your image first.
• Flattened glass marbles (clear)
  • You can find these in different sizes and even different shapes. Keep in mind the weight of the “marble”. You won’t want to wear something that’s terribly heavy.
  • Try to find marbles with little or no iridescence on the surface. This “oil slick” appearance can be very attractive, but it also makes it much more difficult to see your picture through the marble.
• Images on paper—magazines, catalogs, photos, scrapbook paper, wrapping paper, doodles, sketches, handwriting, stamped papers, etc.
  • There may be copyright issues when using images and papers not of your own creation or design. This is mostly an issue if you’re intending to sell what you make, so if you’re just making things for yourself, use whatever you like!
• White glue or decoupage medium (anything that will dry clear)
• Eye pin (or craft wire)
• Superglue (optional)
• Alcohol (optional)

• Work surface
• Latex, vinyl, or nitrile gloves (optional, to cut down on fingerprints)
• Pen, pencil, or craft knife
• Scissors
• Baking parchment / paper / cardboard (optional)
• Piercing tool (optional)
• Ball stylus (optional)
• Oven (plus thermometer and timer)
• Wet-dry sandpaper (optional)
• Denim polishing rag

Use your flattened glass shape as a “viewfinder” to select the picture or design you want on your pendant.

(For best results, choose a marble with a minimum of rippling or other distortions on the flattened side. Ripples can sometimes reduce the clarity of your picture pendant.)

 

Holding the mable over the desired image, trace around the marble with either a pen/pencil or a craft knife.

 

 

 

Cut out the picture using your line or scratch as a guide. Hold up the cut-out to your marble. Trim the paper as necessary to make it the correct size.

 

 

 

Put a tiny dab of glue on the flat side of the marble. Smooth it thinly over the entire flattened side.

 

 

 

 

Place the picture, pretty side down, onto the glued surface. Smooth it flat. Don’t worry if glue gets on the back of the picture. At this point, the glue will still be white, but you should be able to see through the marble clearly enough to position the image just as you want it.

Eliminate any bubbles you see by smoothing them out toward the edge of the image.

Set the marble aside with the glued side up. Allow the glue to dry thoroughly.

Condition the clay. Roll a bit of it into a ball. How much clay you need depends on the size of your marble and the size you want your finished pendant to be. Experiment as needed.

Flatten the ball slightly against the work surface. To avoid the ball sticking to the surface, you can use a scrap of baking parchment or other paper on top of the work surface. You can also transfer the pendant to the oven without removing it from the paper, to avoid distortion, fingerprints, and “shiny spots” that form when clay cures on a shiny surface.

Place the marble, pretty side up, onto the non-flattened side of the ball of clay. Press the marble gently and slowly into the ball. As the clay “smooshes” out at the sides, stop pressing the marble down. Begin instead to “smoosh” the clay up around the edges of the marble.

 

 

Bring the clay up as high and thin (or low and thick) as you like, around the marble. (If it’s too high, there will be less of a “window” for your picture to peek through. If it’s too low, the rim of clay won’t hold the marble on its own and will probably need a dab of super glue or other strong glue to hold it in place, after curing.) If the clay becomes too soft and sticky to be easily worked, let it rest for a while before proceeding.

Smooth out the edge of the rim and “pet” away any fingerprints you see.

Add whatever embellishments you like, or leave it plain. There are a variety of ways to embellish these pendants. In this example, I've decided to use an appliqué technique. Roll out a thin snake of clay. (I choose a shade to coordinate with my clay base.) Slice the snake into smaller segments. (If you want uniformly sized pieces, measure your cuts with a ruler or use a Marxit tool or a comb to mark equal increments on the snake before cutting.) Roll one segment into a tiny ball. Carefully put it in place and gently indent the center with a ball stylus to create a rounded impression. Continue until the desired effect is achieved.

You may pierce the clay or insert an eye pin at this point. This is also a good time to carefully wipe or dab the exposed portion of the marble with a cloth or towel dipped in alcohol. The idea is the remove any fingerprints or other traces of clay that may have have smudged the glass.

Place into a cool oven and bring the temperature up. Cure as the clay manufacturer directs.

Turn off the oven and allow the piece to cool slowly. (The glass marble in the piece could crack if subjected to sudden temperature shifts, so it’s best to play it safe. If you wish, you may remove the pendant from the oven, but don’t dunk it in ice water.)

Once the piece is completely cool, you can pull out the eye pin, dab it with superglue, and put it back in place. If there are any rough spots or fingerprints you want to get rid of, then before you glue the pin back in place, use the wet-dry sandpaper as usual. Whether or not you decide to sand, you can use a soft denim rag to buff the clay into a gentle sheen. (Buffing with a power tool is not recommended, as the glass marble could crack if the buffing wheel were to grab and fling the piece.)

Congratulations! Your marble picture pendant is ready to string onto a necklace!

 

• To add a little spice to your design, try a variety of clays—mica clay, Granitex, clay with inclusions, glow-in-the-dark clay. You can also use chopped cane remnants or other little scraps to make interesting marbled effects.
• If you have a cane you’d like to use, make a smaller “base” of scrap clay under the marble, then apply the decorative cane slices on top of that.
• Don’t be afraid to use a contrasting color for the little details you add to the pendant.
• If you prefer, you can cure the piece in two stages. Simply cure the pendant unembellished (but with the eye pin already in place). Then, when the piece has cooled, go back and add the desired embellishments, using a tiny bit of liquid clay to improve the bond between cured and uncured clay. Re-cure for a shorter period of time.
• If you apply embellishments that “seal” the eye pin to the pendant, you won’t need to remove and superglue it back into place.
• Try antiquing the piece with acrylic paint. Just get a little paint in the crevices and wipe most of it away before it dries. Be sure to remove all the paint from the marble—or protect the marble with a bit of masking tape beforehand.
• Experiment with different colors of marbles; they don’t all have to be clear. With some colors, you may still be able to see a picture underneath, but if not, you can forego the picture. Just use a bit of white clay or metal leaf or foil underneath to increase the reflectivity of your glass gem. (This can be especially effective if you use a bezel of metallic clay or treat the bezel with a metallic finish, such as mica powders or rub-on wax.)
• Colorful marbles backed with foil can be applied to larger pieces of clay (especially clay that has been stamped or otherwise textured) to make interesting pieces. What little girl wouldn’t love an extravagant set of dress-up jewelry sparkling with glass gems? You could also make a gorgeously sparkling crown or “bejeweled” hilt for a sword, come Halloween.
• When using larger marbles, especially, you can make a Marble Picture Pin instead of a pendant. Simply omit the eye pin. Instead, add a pin back. You can glue it (with superglue or an epoxy glue) once the piece is cured and cooled, or you can use a mechanical connection (like a piece of clay) to hold it in place.
• In addition to using these as pendants, consider other applications, such as key chain dangles, mobile phone charms, zipper pulls, and magnets.