Wood Heart Pendant With Turquoise Inlay

I have been planning this necklace for a while, but I haven't had time to finish it. I am on spring break finally so here you go.

This was a super exciting project to make, and I hope you will enjoy it.

Materials:

-Wood (I used Walnut)

-Cord or string

-Tie Wire

-Some type of stone for the inlay (or your choice of inlay material)

-Metal file

-Hammer

-Super glue

-Sanpaper (I used 100 through 600 grit)

-Some type of saw to cut the heart shape out (I used a bandsaw)

Just use some type of saw to cut out whatever heart shape you want. Use coarse sandpaper to bevel the edges to start the rounding on the sides.

Leave the bottom of the heart sharp or else your finished shape will be less then ideal.

Using a metal file or a Dremel, define the shape of the heart at the top. Also choose a spot for your inlay to go and file the wood away however deep you want.

You could try any shape or size of file, but i just used a squarish file.

Try multiple grooves or intersecting grooves for more character.

This is where it gets fun.

To crush the stone just wrap it in an old cloth and hammer it a bit until you have medium and small pieces of stone.

To inlay the stone simply drip some super glue into the groove and then drop the medium and small pieces in also. You can use a toothpick or some tweezers to move around the pieces. Do this all the way along the groove. You may want to do it multiple times to take care of large empty spots, but some small empty spots all over are nice.

Grind the extra stone off until you get down to the wood. The turquoise is very soft and can be hand sanded nicely. I just touched up the shape with some 100 grit then progressed up to 600 grit which is less then i usually do, but it doesn't soak up the finish as much when it is sanded too high.

Most of the heart is easy to sand, but the two humps on the top are fairly hard, so pay attention to those.

drill a small hole somewhere in the heart and make a small jump ring like the one seen in the first picture to put into it. use a bit about the same size as your tie wire (1/16). Open the jump ring and place into each side of the hole. use pliers to lock the jump ring tightly in place. put the cord through the ring and make another tiny jump ring to keep the pendant to keep from sliding around.

I just tied to slipknots in the back for an adjustable cord. The length of the Cord is a little over two times around the neck or about 36-38 inches. This necklace is adjustable from a choker at its shortest, to the bottom of the ribs at its longest. This gives a huge variety of possibilities.

I used multiple coats of coconut oil, and i will be refinishing it daily for a while until it cannot soak up any more. I love the smell of coconut oil and it is just great to have on. Another finish I like is called Briwax and it hardens a bit once it is in the wood so you can buff it nicely for a nice polish.

Many thanks to all my family and friends who encourage me to keep making stuff.

This was one of my favorite projects, and I hope you like it.

Please comment below with any thoughts, ideas, or criticism.

Also vote for me in the necklace contest if you enjoyed it.