Changeable Crescent Moon Necklace (Tutorial)

by Rena Klingenberg.

We’re going to make a metal crescent moon pendant that can be worn two ways.

On the left side of the photo below, the crescent is worn horizontally; on the right, it’s worn vertically with a dangle attached to the bottom:

If you’re familiar with my tutorials, you probably know that I love versatile jewelry elements that give me a variety of options! 🙂

Supplies:

• Metal sheet – 22 or 24 gauge.
  I used 22 gauge copper sheet.
• A scrap of paper and a pencil – for sketching your crescent moon pattern.
• A round bottle lid, approximately 2″ (51mm) in diameter – to draw around for your moon pattern.
  I used the lid of a spice bottle.
  You might also use a lid from a pill bottle, cosmetic product, condiment jar, etc.
• Scissors – to cut out your paper pattern.
• Sharpie marker – to trace around your paper pattern onto the metal.
• Metal-cutting shears.
• Nylon, plastic, rubber, or rawhide jewelry hammer – for flattening your metal.
• Jeweler’s steel block (or other smooth, sturdy surface for hammering).
• Metal centerpunch or other sharp pointed metal tool that can make a dent in your metal sheet.
• Metal hole-punch – I used a Eurotool EuroPower punch.
• #0000 steel wool – for smoothing the edges of your metal.
• 2 jump rings.
  I used oxidized copper jump rings, 9mm size.
• Dangle to hang from the bottom of the vertical crescent moon.
  I used a lone earring dangle that lost its mate.
• Chain – for wearing your crescent moon pendant.
  I used an oxidized copper chain.
• Flat nose / chain nose pliers – for opening and closing jump rings.

How to Make a
Changeable Crescent Moon Necklace:

Caution:

Be very careful when handling your metal sheet – the edges and corners can be razor-sharp!

We’ll start by sketching a crescent moon pattern on a small piece of paper.

For my moon, I used the lid of a spice bottle for a template:

On a piece of scratch paper, draw around your bottle lid to make a circle:

My circle is approximately 2″ (51mm) in diameter:

Then, to make the moon into a crescent, place the bottle lid off-center on top of the circle you just drew.

Now draw a semi-circle around the lid to make the top curve of the crescent:

My final crescent moon sketch looks like this:

Now use scissors to cut out your paper crescent shape:

Your finished paper pattern should look something like this:

It’s time to set out your metal sheet.

I’m using a copper sheet that’s had several previous projects cut out of it:

Now place your paper crescent moon pattern on your metal sheet, and use a Sharpie to draw around the pattern onto the metal:

When you remove the paper pattern, your crescent moon sketch on the metal should look something like this:

Now it’s time for your metal-cutting shears.

I’m using these shears:

Cut out your metal crescent moon, being very careful not to cut your fingers on the sharp metal edges:

Your cut-out moon may look something like this:

Your metal moon may be a bit warped after being cut out.

So place it on your steel jeweler’s block, and use a nylon, plastic, rubber, or rawhide jewelry hammer to flatten out your metal:

It’s time to smooth the edges of the metal pendant.

Use a small piece of #0000 steel wool to thoroughly sand and smooth every edge, point, and flat surface of the pendant, so that there’s nothing sharp or rough anywhere on the metal:

We’re going to punch two holes in the metal crescent moon – one at each end.

So first we’ll measure to see exactly where we want the holes to go.

Lay one of your jump rings over one of the points of your crescent, leaving a bit of room between the crescent point and the edge of the jump ring (as shown below).

We want to make sure the points of the crescent won’t catch on the jump rings when the necklace is finished.

Then use your Sharpie marker to make a dot at the bottom of the jump ring:

Then use the same measuring technique on the other point of the crescent, and mark where the hole will go there.

So you should have two marks where you’ll make the holes in your crescent moon:

Now we’ll punch the holes in the points of your crescent.

So hop over to my How to Punch a Hole in Metal (Tutorial) for that . . . and then come back here to finish the crescent moon necklace!

Now your punched moon pendant should look something like this:

It’s time to add your jump rings to the holes you just punched in your metal.

So use your flat nose and chain nose pliers to twist open your jump rings and thread one through each hole in the metal:

To make the horizontal crescent moon necklace, attach the ends of your chain to the jump rings, and twist the jump rings shut:

Or, to make the vertical crescent moon necklace with a dangle, choose a dangle (an orphan earring works nicely for this):

. . . and thread it onto the bottom jump ring of your moon; then use your flat nose and chain nose pliers to twist the jump ring shut:

Then thread your chain through the top jump ring:

Your changeable crescent moon necklace is finished!