Make a Washer Necklace

This was a spur of the moment project using pieces I found. It was after dinner time, the night before my daughter's birthday. First I went next door to look through my Father-in-law's basement. He has jars and jars of screws and whatnot, but I couldn't find one for washers. But I found one single washer in a junk box that would be perfect. Back at my house I asked my husband for some of his random hardware parts and found another single washer that was smaller. Just what I wanted. I also sorted through my daughter's beads looking for an accent piece, but they were all too small so I decided to use a nut.

Now what could I hang it on? I asked if anyone had a leather shoelace, nope. Looked at my daughter's craft string... too thin and I wouldn't have time to braid it. I was searching through drawers and cubbies, and finally in my grandmother's old sewing box. I found black elastic cording. Jackpot.

The only thing left was to pick out two colors of nail polish. My daughter has bottle after bottle of every color so I had plenty to choose from. She loves purple so that was a quick grab. And I thought the green looked nice with it. Both shades had a metallic kind of swirl to them. (She was out playing with her cousin so she didn't have any idea what I was doing.)

So, mine was a very simple example. If you have more time, and can go to a craft store to choose embellishments, you can do so much more than what I've shown you. I've seen some beautiful decoupaged washer pendants using scrap book paper and Mod Podge. Some have intricate wire wrapping, bead work, or charms. Others use multiple washers in a row. If you have the tools you can personalize the pendants by stamping in text. The necklace itself is up to you too. A few easy ideas are leather, ribbon, or a chain.

There are tons of washer necklaces on Pinterest. I started a board just to pin my favorites. You can see them here.