I think if all keychains had tassels and pretty gold things to look at, we’d lose them less often. Or maybe that’s just me.
I decided to make this Valentine’s appropriate keychain, but really it’s cute all year long. Using some air dry clay, gold paint, and tassels, this keychain is perfect as a gift for Valentine’s, a birthday, or just a little treat for yourself.
Looking at this, I kind of want to go get all my keys recut so they’re all gold. ….I may have a problem.
Let’s get making shall we?
Materials
- Air dry clay
- Rolling pin
- Wax or parchment paper
- Heart cookie cutter
- White spray paint
- Gold paint
- Bamboo skewer
- Plastic container
- Embroidery thread
- Gold lame cord
- Cardboard or small book
- Needle
- Scissors
- Jump rings
- Keychain
I know I know. The materials list is long and there are so many steps! Aside from drying time, this DIY really doesn’t take all that long, and is a lot simpler than it may seem. I glammed it up a bit with gold lame cord rather than using just embroidery thread for the tassels, so you can certainly cut corners if you choose to.
Clay Heart Instructions
1 Roll the clay out onto parchment paper using a rolling pin about 1/4 inch thick.
2 Use your cookie cutter to cut out several shapes. If the surface of the heart is rough, wet your finger and lightly smooth it over.
3 Carefully poke a hole in each heart using a bamboo skewer. Place the heart back onto the parchment paper and allow to dry for 24+ hours (read your air dry clay packaging for more details).
4 Once dry, spray paint white. Once dry again, dip your heart in gold paint and place it back on the bamboo skewer.
5 Suspend the skewer over a plastic container to catch the dripping paint. Every half hour or so check on the progress. If the paint is thick, you may need to wipe the extra paint, or lightly spread it evenly over the bottom of the heart with your finger.
6 Loop a jump ring through the hole.
Alternate: If actually dipping in gold paint is just too much work for you, go ahead and use a gold leaf pen instead.
Tassel Instructions
1 Loop embroidery thread over a piece of cardboard or a small book. Whatever you choose, keep in mind that the length is double the final tassel length. Keep winding until you are satisfied with its size – the tassel will be twice as full as what’s currently looped around. Cut off the excess thread.
2 Cut a piece of lame cord and place it down. Slip off the embroidery thread and place it in the centre of the lame cord. Tie a firm double knot in the centre and trim the ends, making sure the cut ends are facing up.
3 Fold the tassel in half, making sure the cut end of the lame cord is hidden inside. Cut a 15 inch piece of lame cord and carefully wrap it from top to bottom around the top to create the tassel neck. You’ll want to make sure none of the threads overlap.
4 While keeping the lame cord secure with one hand, place a needle underneath with the other and thread the bottom loose lame cord end through the eye. Pull the thread up underneath the tassel neck, then tie a firm double knot with the top thread. Thread it back through behind the tassel neck and cut off the ends.
5 Cut the thread loops to create your tassel.
6 Attach a jump ring.
(If my explanation was a bit confusing – my pictures aren’t super clear – check out this tutorial)
Finally, put it all together!
Now of course, you don’t neeeeed to add all those tassels, but it just makes it that much more fun, am I right?
I love this and love that you added tassels to it- so cute!
How could I not add tassels!? 😉
Oh! I love those tassels!! Looks great on the keychain 🙂
Thanks Ashley! Tassels really do make everything better