Crafting is more than a hobby to me. I work on craft projects regularly that I use in my own home and often I make things to give as gifts, especially around the holidays. Few things cheer me up more than finding a new purpose for items around my house. I love to make something new from ordinary household items. I was cleaning out my attic and going through some old games when I discovered that I had many marbles at my disposal. I decided to find a use for them and came up with this marvelous craft project.
Fried marbles are just what the name sounds like. They are marbles that have cracks running all through them from exposure to heat and cold. This process makes an absolutely ordinary marble into a very special piece of crafted art that can be used for several types of jewelry. Making this jewelry is very easy and with adult supervision it is a super fun craft to share with children.
Very few items are needed to get started on this project. There is very little mess and very little expense involved in making fried marble jewelry. Here is everything you will need and everything you will need to know to make your own fried marble jewelry.
Items Needed For Fried Marble Jewelry :
1. A bag of marbles
2. A large pan
3. A large bowel
4. Ice
5. Water
6. Shoestring or strips of material
7. Strong glue
8. A dry towel
9. Scissors
How To Fry The Marbles:
The first thing you will want to do is set your oven to four hundred fifty degrees. Give the oven plenty of time to preheat. You will want to go through your bag of marbles and choose solid colored marbles or cat eye marbles for this project. Marbles with more than one color tend to break when fried, so be sure to use solid colors. If you do not have marbles in your home already, you might want to try looking here for a great variety in color and sizes.
Place your marbles in to a large pan and place them in the hot oven for twenty to thirty minutes. While the marbles are heating in the oven, you will want to fill your bowel with water and ice cubes. Be sure to use plenty of ice to get the water as cold as possible.
Use a good potholder to take your marbles out of the oven and dump them directly into the ice water. As soon as the marbles hit the water they will begin to crack. Give the marbles a few minutes to get the full effect and then gently lift them from the ice water and place them on a dry towel.
Making Jewelry Out Of Fried Marbles :
You will want to make sure that all of your marbles are completely dry before going on to use them in making jewelry. It is likely that some of the marbles will have split in two or more pieces. You can discard these marbles or, if they split in half you still might want to use them.
Cut your shoestrings or material strips to whatever size you need for your jewelry. Remember to leave enough extra length to be able to tie on a necklace or bracelet. Lay the string or material out flat on a hard dry surface. Take one marble at a time and give it one drop of strong glue to attach it in place. Repeat this process till your string or material is covered with fried marbles. If you need to purchase material or glue for this project you might want to consider looking here.
All that is left to do is to let the jewelry dry and wear it proudly to show off your crafting skills. I would let the jewelry dry for at least several hours before attempting to wear it out. I hope you enjoy this fun craft project and share it with friends. If you are looking for more homemade craft projects, click here for more of my articles on crafts and hobbies.
Sources :
http://www.marblesmarbles.com/
http://www.joann.com/joann/home/home.jsp
