Artsy Monday - Domino Pendants

Domino Pendants

Supplies

Dominos

Alcohol Inks (I used Adirondack inks by Ranger)

Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink tool or plastic gloves and cotton balls

Tim Holtz Alcohol Blending Solution

Paper Towels

Felt (for tool)

Archival Ink - Black

Gold Zig Painty pen

Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze

Rhinestones

Ultimate Glue

Rubber Stamps

Toothpicks

E-6000 Glue

Charms

Cord, twine or pin back

For this Artsy Monday post I am creating pendants from dominos. You can also use Mah Jong tiles or any other non-porous bits that you have hanging around.

To get started you want to make sure that the surface of your domino is clean. I normally wipe mine with a paper towel and a little bit of the alcohol blending solution. If you don’t have Alcohol blending solution you can wipe yours down with soap and water or rubbing alcohol. Let them cry completely before continuing.

When working with alcohol inks I like to have the lids of all the colors I am using removed before I begin. Alcohol inks dry quickly and I don’t want to be fumbling with a lid and have the ink dry prematurely! They also stain clothing, furniture, floors… so be sure your work space is covered and you are wearing old clothes.

To create the background I normally use 2 or 3 colors. With this demonstration I have chosen two colors (Watermelon Red and Pitch Black) plus gold metallic. Alcohol ink colors do not blend together so you can use dark colors along with bright colors and get a great contrast like I did with these.

Make sure you have a new piece of felt on your tool and then add drops of color to the felt. I add three drops of my main color and then two smaller drops of each of my accents.  

**Tip** When adding alcohol ink to the felt take the tip of the ink and place it on the felt BEFORE squeezing the ink bottle. Squeeze gently and then release. Once you have stopped squeezing the bottle you can remove the tip from the felt and go to the next color.

After you have applied the ink to the tool you will pounce the color onto the dominos. Move the tool around making sure you cover the entire surface of the domino.  You can continue to add more color until you like the result.

*** If you do not have an inking tool you can get the same effect by using a cotton ball and the ink. You will definitely want to use rubber gloves with this option!***

If you feel you have too much color you can add a couple drops of the alcohol blending solution and pounce over the domino. This will remove some of the color and provide you with some interesting patterns.

*** If you do not have the alcohol blending solution you can remove the alcohol ink from the domino with rubbing alcohol. You can experiment with the alcohol by dropping it onto the inked domino and blotting it with a cotton ball. Have fun with it. Worst case you wipe the entire domino with alcohol and start over ***

I created the backgrounds on all of these dominos without having to re-ink my ink tool. Set the dominos aside to dry.

While they are drying you will get look at the rubber stamp designs you have chosen. I like collage style stamps for this technique. You can get lots of looks from a single stamp.

Using an archival ink you will ink the stamp and place it face up on your work space. Place the domino on the part of the stamp that you like and press gently to get the image. When working with alcohol inks you do not want to use an alcohol based permanent ink for your image, it will remove the ink of the background due to the alcohol content of the ink pad. I am using Archival Ink made by Ranger. This is a fantastic product and works very well with alcohol inks.

*** If you are not comfortable taking the domino to the stamp, place the domino face up on the table and gently stamp onto the piece with the inked rubber stamp. Press straight up and down, do NOT rock the stamp or you will smear your image, pull straight up and let dry.***

Let you images dry completely. To speed up the process you can use a craft heat tool.

To finish the edges I use a zig paint pen. The one I have has gold on one end and silver on the other. They provide a beautiful shiny color for the edges.

Shake the pen to mix the paint and then slowly cover the entire surface with the paint.

Let dry completely.

Now for the fun part!

You can add jewels to the pips of the domino with Ultimate glue. I take a toothpick put a small amount of glue into the hole. Gently place the jewel into the glue and press down using a clean toothpick.

Add E-6000 to back of charm

To add charms and/or beads to the front of the domino you can use E-6000 glue. It is permanent and once dry forms a strong bond between the domino and metal or beads. For light weight crystals and jewels you can also use glitter glue to adhere them to your domino.

Once you have decorated the domino to your satisfaction let it dry completely, really. The glue has to be completely dry before adding the final glaze!

To seal the piece place it in a cardboard box on an old cooling rack and spray with the Krylon triple thick glaze. I generally apply 3 coats of glaze, letting the piece dry completely in between each coat.

Before and After Glaze

Once the glaze is dry you can string it on a cord or if your dominoes are not drilled you can add a pin back using E-6000.

I currently have a selection of 3 sizes of drilled dominoes on my Etsy shop.

Final Pendant 

Thanks for stopping by!