Puebloan-Inspired Faux Metal and Stone Inlaid Jewelry

We spent at least the first 9 weeks of school being inspired by Native American artists and art forms for part of our district's Cultural Heritage focus. Jewelry is always a popular option with students, even 6th graders who are sometimes starting to get "too cool for school". I found several examples of really beautiful, colorful jewelry made by Native American artists in the Southwest Pueblos and came up with a project inspired by the stone inlaid jewelry using mostly recycled or very low cost supplies.

Materials

Matboard Scraps (cut into geometric shapes)

Aluminum Foil (cut big enough to leave 1/2 inch border on all sides of matboard)

Masking Tape

Sharpies

Magazines

Mod Podge

Mod Podge brushes

Paper Clips

Glue Gun

Yarn or String for hanging

We looked at lots of pictures of stone inlaid jewelry- there are several examples on my Native American Art Pinterest board- and discussed the shapes, colors, space, and how the real jewelry is made. Next, I gave a demo and the students got started. Most of this project, aside from the drying, can be completed in about 30 minutes. 

Here are the simple steps:

1. Choose a piece of matboard and wrap it tightly with foil, "like a present", shiny side out.
2. Tape edges of foil down on back, write name on masking tape.
3. Scan magazines for "swatches" of interesting color and texture.
4. Cut magazine swatches into shapes and arrange on top of foil-covered matboard. Experiment with how much space to leave between shapes for different looks.
5. When happy with arrangement, use a mod podge sandwich to glue and seal magazine shapes- mod podge, paper, modpodge. Coat entire surface of jewelry with mod podge.
6. When dry, use a glue gun to affix a paper clip hanger to the back. You can break a paper clip in half and get two hangers out of it.
7. Choose a piece of yarn or string long enough to fit over your head once tied, slip it through, tie, and enjoy!

To display: At first I had some time and was feeling fancy so I cut scraps of black matboard into squares, cut two slits distanced across the top, slid the yarn through, and secured the extra yarn on the back. When more were coming in and I couldn't keep up, I stapled the yarn to a piece of black construction paper which still looked nice displayed in the hall.

I wish I would have taken more time photographing- that shiny foil was tricky!

Here are my examples. This was a lot of fun!

5th Grade Faux Metal Pendants

The end of the school year almost always leaves me with an uneven schedule- depending on the grade level and day of the week and if we've had to reschedule for field trips/assemblies/field day, etc., there is usually a need for some one class period projects. This is the first jewelry project I've ever taught at the elementary level and the students were SO PUMPED! They got to design and create a piece of jewelry and wear it home the very same day.

Last year I tried out a bas relief sculpture lesson where the students cut and layered cereal box cardboard, covered with foil, and embossed. None of us were super into that lesson, but I couldn't get the idea of shrinking it down into jewelry out of my head. We can pretend they are sweat soldered pendants. :)

To introduce the lesson, we talked about why people wear jewelry and covered: fashion, status (rich, royalty, etc.), symbol (wedding ring), safety/protection (medical alert, St.Christopher's medal, etc.) and probably a few other categories that I could tell you had I written this in May instead of July. We looked at a few photos of jewelry online before I launched into a really quick description of relief sculpture, a basic demo, then the students got right to work. I had precut squares and rectangles all around 2 inches in size for the base, then had scraps from lots of other cereal boxes that the students used to make their layered designs. Before covering with a piece of foil, the students had to decide how their pendant would hang and punch a hole. After embossing, the students chose a piece of yarn and started modeling. Some early finishers were eager to make another piece right away.

 This worked pretty well as a 40 minute project, but I would love to stretch this to 2 class periods to spend more time on history and design. I think most students would benefit from making a few thumbnail sketches and talking about which design is strongest before beginning construction.