Painted Washer Necklace-Tutorial

Brave I know!  Allowing my 3 year old grand-daughter to 'paint' with fingernail polish took close supervision. I repeat close supervision.  And yet, I managed to spill some on the tablecloth.
Peyton wanted to make something and I just so happened to have some nail polish, washers and beading string........just lying around. For the sake of time, we didn't paint both sides, but I recommend adding this step because your washers will flip over on your necklace, bracelet, etc.


Variety of colors, including clearcoat



Step 1:  Paint each washer with a light color polish as your base color.  Because I was Peyton's assistant, I did this step to save time...while she was picking out her favorite colors.  Peyton, "Grammie, I want to use pink and blue and green." ......I'm sorry Peyton, Grammie doesn't wear blue or green fingernail polish! (Oh my!)

Only a light coat for this step!

 Step 2:  Using the nail polish colors selected, paint.  Peyton was the artist and she used a combination of colors and they turned out quite beaunimous! (Again, I'd recommend letting the first coat dry completely and then paint the 2nd side too)

Artist in the making!

Step 3:  Coat all the painted washers with a clear coat of nail polish and let dry.  The drying process only takes about 15 minutes (or less).
Step 4:  I used a black beading string to make the necklace and cut it about 48" long.  Double it and make a loop knot.  Because I didn't think we had enough washers to make a long necklace, I made another knot in the string about and inch down from the loop know - just to make it a little longer.

Loop knot and second knot

Step 5:  Feed the first washer onto the necklace.  Feed one end of the string through the hole from the top and feed the other end of the string up from the bottom.  Bring them both together to give you the criss-cross look in the middle and knot it. **Make sure as you are knotting, you are even all the way through.  You'll see after I fed the first two on, I made my knots a little closer.  That's because I didn't want the washers to flip over. As I got to the last two washers, I had to once again space them out a little more to be even with the other side.

Note the criss-cross in the middle.

Step 6:  Once you've fed all the washers onto the string, finish it off by adding a lobster claw clasp (or clasp of your choice) and knot it off.  Depending on the string, I'll add a dab of clear fingernail polish to seal the knot.  I added a split-ring to the original loop knot and you are done!

Lobster claw clasp and split-ring

Peyton's finished necklace!  It turned out pretty cool and her Mommy loved it!
Those of you that know me.....background for the photos was a lesson I had to teach Peyton too.  She selected the menu from last night's dinner!

Ashley is going to take a photo of the necklace on her neck and send it to me so we can showcase Peyton's talent.  The washers were 100% Peyton (3 years old) and I couldn't be happier.  Grammie loves ya  PeyPey!