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Cold Connection: Easy Riveted Pendant (Tutorial)

by Rena Klingenberg. © 2003-Present Rena Klingenberg. All Rights Reserved

In this tutorial, we’ll use an eyelet rivet (a rivet with a hole) to fasten two pieces of metal together into a single pendant.

This riveted pendant tutorial is an easy two-part project.

Here in Part 1, we’ll start out by making two metal pendant blanks, each with a hole for the eyelet rivet:

Then, in Part 2 of this tutorial, we’ll use alcohol inks to color our two pendant blanks:

And finally, we’ll hop back over here to Part 1, to rivet the two pieces of colored metal together.

Supplies:

• 24-gauge metal sheet, large enough to make 2 pendant blanks:
  one 40mm x 50mm (1.57″ x 1.97″)
  one 30mm x 40mm (1.18″ x 1.57″)
  You can get metal sheets for jewelry making at most of the major online jewelry suppliers; I usually get mine at Monsterslayer.com .
  I used yellow brass:
  
• Ruler – to measure and mark your pendant blanks on the metal.
• Ultra-fine point Sharpie marker – to draw the outline of your pendant blanks on the metal.
• Metal-cutting shears or tin snips – to cut out your pendant blanks.
  This is the cutter I used:
  
• 1 metal eyelet:
  
  I bought a box of hundreds of these 1/8″ (3.175mm) eyelets in various colors, in the paper-crafting aisle at my local craft store:
  
• Metal hole punch, made to handle 24 gauge metal, and capable of punching a hole of the right size for your eyelet.
  There are several different metal punches that would work for this.
  I used a Eurotool EuroPower punch, and its 1/8″ punch bit:
  
• Jewelry file – to smooth and round the edges and corners of your metal pendant blanks.
• #0000 Steel wool – to do the final smoothing on the edges and surfaces of your pendant blanks.
• Jeweler’s steel block – for a hammering surface.
• Nylon, plastic, or rubber hammer – to flatten your metal pieces.
• Texturing tool – to give one of your metal pieces a textured surface.
  I used the sharp, flat end of one of my hammers.
• Hammer for flattening the end of your eyelet – preferably a hammer with a ball end.
• Jump ring – for hanging your finished pendant.
• Cord or chain.

How to Make an
Easy Riveted Pendant

Caution:

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

We’ll start by making 2 metal pendant blanks – one small and one large.

My larger one is 40mm x 50mm (1.57″ x 1.97″)

My smaller one is 30mm x 40mm (1.18″ x 1.57″).

First we’ll measure and mark the outlines of our pendant blanks on the metal sheet, using a ruler and fine-point Sharpie marker:

Now use your metal-cutting shears or tin snips to cut out your pendant blanks, along the the lines you just drew:

If your cut-out pieces of metal are warped or bent, you can place them on your jeweler’s steel block and gently pound them flat using your nylon, plastic, or rubber hammer.

Your metal pendant blanks should look like this:

Now let’s find out what size of hole we need to punch in our metal pendants.

If your package of eyelets didn’t state the eyelet diameter, you can simply measure the stem of one of them, using your ruler.

My eyelet here is about 1/8″ in diameter:

Now use your ruler and Sharpie pen to measure and mark where to punch the hole on each metal pendant blank.

Remember, the holes will need to line up together at the top center of each pendant blank, where the eyelet will go through both of them:

Now it’s time to punch the holes, one at a time.

Hot Tip:

On a piece of scrap metal, practice marking holes and punching them out – to develop your technique before you punch the holes in your metal pendant blanks.

I’m using my 1/8″ punch bit, to fit my 1/8″ eyelet:

After punching, your pendant blanks should look like this:

Now it’s time to smooth off the edges and corners on both of our metal pieces.

Start with a file to smooth and round all edges, and to round the corners slightly:

Now use your #0000 steel wool to smooth and buff all edges, corners, and both flat surfaces of each of your metal pieces:

It’s time to texture one side of your larger metal pendant blank.

I used the sharp end of this hammer to create a pattern diagonally on the metal:

When you’re finished with your texturing, your pendant blank may have curled up a bit.

You can place it texture-side down on your steel jeweler’s block, and gently pound it flat using your nylon, plastic, or rubber hammer.

Now your larger metal pendant blank should look something like this:

Now we’re ready for the really fun part – coloring the metal!

So hop over to the Color part of of this tutorial – where we’ll use alcohol inks to color our two pendant blanks.

After coloring your metal pieces, come back here and we’ll rivet the two colorful metal pieces together into a single pendant!

OK, now your colored pendants may look something like this:

Here’s how we’ll rivet them together.

Hot Tip:

On a the piece of scrap metal where you practiced marking holes and punching them out, practice riveting eyelets in these holes.

That way you can perfect your riveting technique before you rivet your two metal pendant blanks together.

Place the eyelet on your steel jeweler’s block, with the large flat end of the eyelet against the steel block:

Now place your smaller metal piece face-down on the steel block, with the eyelet stem threaded through the pendant hole:

Place your larger metal piece face-down on top of the smaller metal piece, with the eyelet stem now threaded through both pendant holes:

Now use the ball end of your chasing hammer (or whatever hammer you’re using that has a ball end), and GENTLY start tapping on the stem of the eyelet to flatten it out uniformly around the pendant hole.

It’s better to use a series of gentle taps for this, instead of a couple of big whacks:

Now your two metal pieces are fastened together into a finished pendant.

Your flattened eyelet should look like this on the back of your riveted pendant:

. . . and the eyelet should look like this on the front of your pendant:

Now you can put a jump ring through your eyelet rivet:

And you can run a cord or chain through your jump ring to turn your pendant into a necklace.

I used 2mm dark turquoise leather cord to bring out the dark lines in the blue-green part of my pendant:

And your easy riveted pendant is now a lovely piece to wear!