Pin-to-Pendant Converter

I love making and wearing pins and brooches. But when it comes to selling my work I experienced, that people prefer to buy pendants over brooches. And you can bet, there will always be that person who likes the design of that specific pin but would only buy it if it comes also as a pendant.
To get rid of that dilemma I came up with a tiny little extra – a Pin-To-Pendant Converter – which slides easily over the pin needle and makes the pin ready to wear as a pendant.

So, here is how it’s done:

First you need to extrude a tube with a tiny little hole (for the pin needle). So, condition black clay, insert the smallest core adapter and the disc with the 2,5 mm hole. Extrude a tube and cut it into longer sections.

Lay the tubes out on a tile and cure them for half an hour at the highest possible temperature recommended by the clay manufacturer. I would recommend 160°C for Kato clay and 130°C for every other clay brand. Make sure that the tubes are laid out very straight.

While the tiny tubes are in the oven, roll out black clay on a #3 setting and wrap it around a 5 mm knitting needle (or any other metal rod that you like to use). I use the 5 mm needle to make sure that the 3 mm buna cord with the clasp will fit through the hole later.

Smooth the seam by rolling the needle on your work surface. Make sure that the seam is totally closed.

Texture the clay if you like.

Nun benutze eine dünne Stricknadel (2-2,5 mm) um einen Kanal in den rohen Clay zu pressen.

This leaves an indentation/channel in the clay.

Now apply liquid clay into the channel that you just created. Make sure, that the small tubes are completely cool, remove them from the tile and cut the ends straight.

Press one of the tiny tubes carefully into the channel. Bake the tube again for at least 30 minutes.

Once the clay is cured let it cool down and remove the knitting needle from the tube. This is easy if the clay is still slightly warm.
This is how the tube looks like now.

Now measure your pin needle …

… and cut off a matching piece of the double-tube.

Slide the double-tube over the pin needle …

… and close and secure the pin back.

Now you can thread your cord through the bigger tube and wear your pin as a nice pendant.

Have fun;)

You are allowed to share this tutorial freely but please give credit and link back to this page.
Also please DON’T TAKE MONEY when you teach it to another person. It’s a free tutorial, so please keep it that way and teach it for free!
Thank you!