Thursday, October 25, 2012

Caged Skull - A Charmed Halloween Tutorial

Time for the last tutorial in my "Charmed Halloween" series.

CAGED SKULL



Supplies and Tools Needed:

For the Charm:
Plastic skull, about 3/4" x 1/2" (Mine was from a purchased bracelet)  
Two tiny green iridescent beads
Dark annealed steel wire, 24 & 28 gauge
Round-nose pliers
Flat-nose pliers
Wire cutters
Epoxy glue (I used E6000)
 
For the Tag:
Small shipping tag
Brown ink pad (I used Staz-On)
Desired images (I found mine at The Graphics Fairy)
Modge Podge
Paint brush
Scissors

1. Cut the bracelet apart and choose a skull.

 
 2. Glue one bead into each eye socket. Tip: Slide the bead on a piece of wire, apply a small dab of glue, place into the socket, hold for a minute and then slide wire out while holding bead into place with your finger.


 3. Cut three 6" pieces of 24 gauge wire and one 6" piece of 28 gauge. Place the center of a 24 gauge piece in the flat-nose pliers and bend the ends upward to form a "U" shape. Repeat for the other two. Bundle the wires together and secure at the center bottom by wrapping several times with the 28 gauge wire.


4. Trim the short tail of the 28 gauge wire that extends downward. Slide the skull on the long tail that extends upward.


5. Spread the 24 gauge wires apart and gather them together above the skull to form the cage.

  
 6. Wrap the 28 gauge wire around the other wires several times to secure them into place and then trim the 28 gauge wire.


7. Spread the 24 gauge wires so that five are extending outward and one is extending upward.


8. Trim each wire extending outward to about 1/2" and use the pliers to curve them downward over the wrapped area.


9. Make a wrapped loop in the wire extending upward.
(Find out how to make a wrapped loop here)


For the Tag:

Remove the string from the mailing tag. Use Modge Podge to glue an image collage to one side of it. Let dry. Repeat for the other side. Once dried, rub with brown ink to age the images. Use the string to tie the charm onto the tag.

Front of Tag


Back of Tag


 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.


More tutorials from the Charmed Halloween series:
"Spider


Thanks for stopping by! 

 

6 comments:

  1. I love this. What a clever design, and the tag is fabulous! Thanks for sharing the tutorial!!!

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  2. This one gives me the eeeby jeebies....eeek...heehee!! Love it Kat!!xoxo

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  3. Oh my creepiness, I loooove this! Super cute series of charms Kat! Can't wait to give this one a try!! And I love my charmy:)

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  4. "Oh my creepiness" -- love that! Yes, this is wonderful too... and we have that exact bracelet. Love the curlies at the top of the cage. These are all fantastic!! TFS!!

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  5. Isn't Halloween fun? You and I have skulls on the brain this year ;)
    I love all your Halloween charms.

    <3 Christina at I Gotta Create!

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  6. Totally cool have posted a link to my blog :-)

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I look forward to reading what you have to say. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!

Have a great day!
Kathy