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Nail Polish Jewelry Reversible Pendants (Tutorial)

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

We’re going to paint nail polish on plain wooden pendant blanks, and add a metal charm on one side – for two different looks in one necklace.

Here’s a view of both sides of this reversible pendant:

And another two-sided pendant:

This one is a solid color of gold-glitter nail polish all over, with a different metal charm on each side:

This nail polish jewelry project is creative and easy for people of all ages – and would be especially fun for tweens and teens at a birthday party or slumber party!

(Be sure to have plenty of glitter nail polish for young jewelry artists.) 🙂

Supplies:

• Pendant blanks – I used soft pine wood circles from my local craft store, measuring 1.5″ (38mm) diameter and 1/8″ (3.2mm) thick.
  I punched the hole in each pendant with a Crop-a-Dile Big Bite punch.
  Your pendant blanks can be whatever shape, size, and material you wish – as long as you can successfully paint them with nail polish.
  
• Nail polish – in whatever colors you like.
  I bought 15 bottles of nail polish in a variety of colors – regular, glitter, etc. for a total of $12 at my local dollar store.
  
• Nail polish top coat – to seal your colorful design.
• Metal jewelry charms – at least one for each pendant.
  Here’s what I used in the three pendants I show in this tutorial:
  
• Jump ring.
• Chain or cord to turn your pendant into a necklace.
• 2 pliers – flat nose / chain nose, for opening and closing your jump ring.
• Nail polish remover, for clean ups or in case you make a mistake.

How to Make a Nail Polish
Reversible Pendant:

Start by cleaning your pendant blank with a damp paper towel, to remove any dust, etc. that may keep the nail polish from adhering to the surface.

Then dry the pendant blank completely before painting it.

Before you start painting nail polish your pendants, I recommend testing each nail polish color first on a piece of scratch paper, to get an idea of what the color and coverage will be like (this is an especially good idea if you’ve never used these colors before):

Choose a nail polish color to paint your pendant. I painted each of my pendants in a solid base color on front, back, and edges.

Paint two coats of your base color nail polish on each surface of your pendant blank, drying completely after each coat:

When your last coat of base color polish is dry, use some of your other colors to paint a design on top of the base color on one side of your pendant.

(I left one side of each pendant a solid color, so my metal charms would show up well.)

You may need to use two coats of polish on your design, drying completely after each coat:

When you’re finished painting, brush on a protective layer of nail polish top coat on all surfaces of your pendant; then let it dry thoroughly.

Now it’s time to put your necklace together.

Twist open your jump ring and thread it through your pendant and metal charms.

Hang the jump ring on your cord or chain, then twist the jump ring shut.

Your necklace is finished!

Here’s the side of my pink pendant that has the metal charm:

And here’s the side that has the painted design:

Here’s another pendant with a design on one side and solid color on the other.

I painted the pendant black, then added a magenta and peach nail polish design to one side.

The other side is solid black with an antiqued brass coin charm:

You can also keep the entire pendant a solid color and hang a charm on each side of it, like the one below.

I painted gold glitter nail polish on the entire pendant:

And hung an antiqued brass leaf charm on one side:

With a black charm on the other: