How To: Pac Man Necklace

Just a quick Q and A :P What's an ‘Eye pin’? A bare pin with a loop on the end. Whats a ‘End Tag'? I’m not entirely sure what they are actually used for… BUT I’m going to be gluing them onto the back of the Pac-Man characters so I can connect an eye pin to it. It’s just a flat little egg shaped piece of metal with two holes in it. You can find them at any good bead shop.
Here is the pattern for Pack-Man characters. You may need to play around with the size to see what best suits you.
Print the Pac-man characters out onto thick paper. Cut out characters using a craft knife. Like I said in the ‘what you will need’ section, you can use small scissors but it’s harder to cut out the detail of the shapes.
>>>>This is super important!<<<< ..................................... You need to seal the cut-outs, this is so when you put Liquid Gloss over the top it doesn’t soak in and ruin the paper. Since paper is porous, you need to give it a ‘protective shield’ and the sealer will do this! I recommend mod podge which you can buy at most art & craft stores. Lay out all your images on a plastic pocket/grease proof paper. Using your medium brush, paint a coat of mod podge over the top of each cut-out. Make sure the cut-outs don’t slide around and lay on top of wet glue; you can use a toothpick to hold the cut-outs in one spot if you like. Brush the Mod Podge around all the edges and give the front another coat, don’t worry if it looks cloudy it will dry clear! After applying the second coat, lift each piece up and move it over so it doesn’t dry in place. Once dry, flip and repeat step 2 on the reverse side. Allow the second side to dry. After the cut-outs dry thoroughly there may be “skins” of glue attached to the edges. This is normal and a good sign that the paper and edges were well sealed, just trim them with a craft knife/scissors. Note:If your cut-outs have warped or curled, press them in a heavy book overnight to make them flat!
Stick 5 berry pins into some thick polystyrene foam, place a ball of Blu-Tack on top of each pin. Firmly press your Pac-man characters onto the pins. It is important that they are level. Move the foam onto some newspaper.
Time to mix the Liquid Gloss. Depending on which brand you buy you may get a cup and mixer with it. If not, use a disposable cup/container and an icy pole stick. ALWAYS READ DIRECTIONS WHEN MIXING LIQUID GLOSS. I will explain the steps but it’s always important to read instructions for health and safety!
Mix equal parts of resin and hardener thoroughly in cup, make sure to mix really well or else it won’t set correctly. Flood the Pac-man surfaces with the liquid gloss, you can poor it on or use a disposable spoon but I found it easiest with an empty syringe/needle tip applicator bottle, so much cleaner and you can control the amount of Liquid Gloss that goes on. Move Liquid Gloss across the surface, touching up sides. Bubbles will appear after spreading Liquid Gloss. Most of these will pop almost immediately but for the ones left you need to heat the surface to burst them. You can use a lighter torch but if you don’t have one you can use matches. Light a match and sweep it across the surface. Don’t hold too close or in one spot as this may scorch the gloss. Once clear of bubbles leave to set for 24hrs at room temperature in a dust free environment.
Once dry, turn shapes over and using small brush coat with a thin layer of Liquid Gloss. Leave to dry another 24hrs. If you’re making this for a gift I advise painting the back of the characters before you put the liquid gloss over the top. It will look neater!
You need to use a strong glue, one that bonds metal. Using a toothpick or similar, put some glue onto the back of the characters. Place the End Tags on top of the glue with the smaller hole just poking out from the side. You may need to snip the End Tags smaller to fit onto Pac-man. Leave to dry.
Cut the chain. I cut mine into pieces with 5 links; I found this to be long enough to distance each character. Open the Eye Pin and thread it through the End Tag hole and chain, close. Cut as close to Eye Pin hole as possible. This will make a little ring! You can buy Jump rings but buying a pack of eye pins kills two birds with one stone and saves you money! Do the same on the other side and then continue with the rest of the characters until they are all joined. Add more chain at the end of Pac-man.
Take another Eye Pin and thread a white bead onto it. Open Eye pin and thread onto chain. Close. Snip with Jewellery cutter, leaving enough to bend into a loop. Bend it and then attach another Eye Pin. Thread Bead…Snip…Bend into loop etc. You can add as many white beads as you like. I added 6. When adding last bead connect chain onto final Eye Pin. connect chain onto other side using Eye pin and snipping it into a ring
If the necklace fits over your head and you like the length you can leave it. If you want to attach a clasp on the back first line up the characters/beads so they are equal length on each side. Cut some chain out and using the Eye Pin-ring technique attach a clasp to both sides.
It has taken you a couple of days to complete but now YOUR DONE!!! Celebration time~