Ten Two Studios

So, you’ve made a few matchbox shrines, and have them displayed in a shadow box or on a shelf. Now what? Well, my first thought whenever someone asks me what to do with a piece of altered art is to turn it into something wearable. Fortunately, matchboxes really lend themselves to being made into jewelry with just a few tweaks. In this lesson, you’ll learn one way to turn a matchbox into a necklace.

To make your own matchbox shrine necklace, you’ll need:

• From Ten Two Studios, matchboxes and matchbox wrappers in the design of your choice. I used the Pretty Poisons Matchbox Wrappers for this sample,

• Cord of your choice. I used three strands of fine hemp for the sample, but one strand of fine satin coring would work, too.
• Beads, if you wish. I used a handful of skull beads. If you want to color your beads, you’ll also need some alcohol inks.
• A small hole punch.

Here’s a tip you can use for lots of projects: most plastic beads can be colored using alcohol inks. I just put a few drops of alcohol in a bottle cap, threw in some skull beads, and dripped some inks on them. After stirring them around in the color for a few seconds, I removed them, and set them on a piece of waxed paper to dry. The stark white beads were a nice mellow caramel color when they dried. Yay!

While the beads were drying, I covered my matchbox. I have instructions on doing this using the matchbox wrapper sheets posted here if you need them.

To convert my wrapped matchbox to a necklace, I started by punching two holes in the top of the inner tray, positioned as close to the corners as possible. I also punched two holes in the bottom of the tray, closer together, so I could make a tassel later.

I cut three strands of hemp cord, and threaded them down through one top hole, across, and up through the second. I pushed the matchbox tray down so it was centered on the cords.

I tied a knot in the cords just above the holes. This hides them, and keeps the matchbox from sliding around.

I slid beads against the knot, and knotted above them.

Then, I braided the three cords together, knotted them again, and added more beads. I kept knotting, braiding, and beading until I reached the ends of both sets of cords, then knotted them together.

I slid the matchbox cover over the tray, and up the cords, just to be sure I didn’t do a bunch of work on the bottom, and end up not being able to slide it on later.

I cut another three strands of cord, and slid them through the bottom holes, then knotted them beneath the holes, and added beads.

I clipped the bottom cords short to create a tassel.

Now, it’s time to fill the matchbox with goodies. One of the advantages of putting the hanging cords in the tray portion is no matter how heavy the goodies are, the tray won’t fall out when worn.

You might want to seal the cover portion of the matchbox if you’re making something that will get a lot of wear. A few coats of matte medium or Diamond Glaze will do the trick.