Crossed Keys Necklace DIY
In case you didn’t know I’m a little obsessed with Wes Anderson films. Since I can’t live in one I decided to dress like I’m in one with this Society of the Crossed Keys Necklace!
I wish I could be in a pastel world of adventure with someone who gives me books with inscriptions like: “For my dearest, darling, treasured, cherished Agatha, whom I worship. With respect, adoration, admiration, kisses, gratitude, best wishes, and love. From Z. to A.”
But alas I live in the real world. No snow chases for me. BUT I can feel a little like Agatha with this crossed keys necklace. I’m pretty confident the necklace in the movie is ceramics however I wouldn’t know where to even start with that. Plus I should not be trusted with breakable pendants.
I went to Michael’s and bought a set of pendant trays, ribbon, and Mod Podge Dimensional Magic. I already had hot glue, a glue stick, and scissors at home but if you don’t you will need to pick those up as well.
Then I bought these Donut pens. Because who goes to Michael’s and doesn’t impulse buy something. They have no part in this DIY I just love them.
My pendant trays were pretty deep so my idea was to fill them with hot glue to raise the surface and then attach the image and Mod Podge Dimensional Magic on top. The problem was that when I filled it with hot glue it dried to quickly and didn’t make an even surface. Genius that I am I realized I could just heat it up and the glue would re-melt and even out.
If this looks like a terrible idea its because it is. At least how I did it was. The metal gets REALLY hot REALLY fast. My oven mitts are burnt down in the fingers and don’t protect well when grabbing small pieces of BURNING METAL. I wanted to keep the melted glue even so I panicked and put the pendant down on a stack of folded dishcloths… that it melted through. Long story short I finally got it somewhere heat resistance and flat to dry. I would suggest trying out a hair dryer or maybe a flat iron.
To get the image that would go inside I used a variety of photo apps to finally get this image.
I really didn’t think I would end up with something even remotely this good. So I’m pretty over the moon about it. Maybe that’s just me but if you think it’s crap just let me have my moment. Thank you. If you do think it’s pretty ok here is a pdf version: Crossed Keys Template
In a very unlike me move I printed out a template and sampled a bunch of different toppers to see which ones worked best. BEFORE I tried it a couple times and totally ruined it. What worked best was to trim the printed image until it fit into the pendant tray then cover each side with a layer of tape and trim again.
Make sure the tape goes on flat and doesn’t have any ridges. You could skip this step but when you add the Mod Podge Dimensional Magic the colours bleed and the paper looks like its oily. Once the tape sealed print out is trimmed use a glue stick on the back end and stick it on top of the hot glue filled pendant tray. I left it to dry awhile before coming back and putting a layer of Mod Podge Dimensional Magic all over the top.
The product goes on cloudy and clears as it dries. Make sure you have it on a flat surface let it dry for at least a couple hours. I left mine overnight. If bubbles appear just pop them with a pin.
Ideally, I wanted to hang the pendant on a velvet ribbon like in the movie. Not going to lie I think I will still keep an eye out because that would make this necklace perfect. But, in the meantime, I’m happy with this ordinary non-velvety ribbon. Cue the adventures!
