Coloring Embossed Metal Jewelry Components (Part 1) - Sunflowers DIY

Sunflower (metal) jewelry components - cut, colored and sanded.

Long before it became all of the rage to color metal jewelry components, I used to color my metal jewelry pieces with things such as Sharpie markers and acrylic paint.  I would then seal the pieces with a glaze to make them more durable for everyday wear.

These days, it's much easier to color jewelry components, particularly metal, thanks to products like Vintaj Patina for Metal and Tim Holtz's Adirondack Alcohol Inks (both are products of Ranger Ink.)  Recently, I had the chance to experiment with these products - in combination with some others - on some of my metal jewelry creations. The products alone are fun to work with, but they take on a whole different level when they are mixed together and used with other paints on the market.  Due to the sheer number of items I created that I will be sharing here, this topic will be split into two blog posts.  (Please be sure to come back later and check out the second post.)

I will be heading to Europe this fall, visiting Italy, Germany and France.  (It is my gift to myself for graduating "with high distinction" from college this past May.) :)  One of the things that always reminds me of Italy are sunflowers which are so prevalent in the fields of Tuscany.  That inspired me to make some sunflower-themed jewelry components.   The set shown below is one that I have made for myself.  The larger center piece will be made into a long, boho-style necklace; the smaller pieces will be made into matching earrings.  I plan to wear these on my upcoming vacation.

Since I was on a roll making sunflower-themed pieces, I thought it would be fun to share my process here with others who may be interested in trying this technique.  The pictorial below is for sunflower earring components.  I cut out two oval shapes from Bead Landing's pre-embossed metal sheets I purchased at Michael's.  (Of course, you can always emboss your metal yourself in order to create a truly one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry art.) I punched holes in the top for the ear wires, as well.

I used the sunflower sheet shown at the bottom of the package to make the jewelry designs.

First, with a small  paintbrush, I strategically colored my metal pieces with Adirondack Acrylic Paints in the colors Sunshine Yellow and Red Pepper.  (Don't worry about being messy; the pieces will be sanded at the end and the look will come together.)

I took Vintaj Metal Patina in the color Earth and dabbed on the color outside of the sunflowers and around the edge of the components to make them pop.

This is a close-up of how they look after the Patina was applied:

I applied a light touch of Butterscotch alcohol ink to the flowers to give them a golden glow and to add depth to the image.

I dabbed Vintaj Patina in Rust to the center of the flowers.

With a very dry paintbrush, I picked up a little Vintaj Patina in Onyx and applied it sparingly to the center of the flowers.

The painted components before sanding.

Last, I brushed a light coat of Vintaj Glaze over the top of both pieces and let them dry.  Once dried, I sanded the tops and sides of the painted pieces with a fine grit sandpaper.  As you can see, this really adds texture to the design. Simply gorgeous!

Completed pieces - painted, glazed and sanded.

I will be sharing other metal component designs in Part 2 of this topic later this month.  Please come back and join me at that time. I'd love to have you visit me here in blog land.  And as always, please don't forget to join me on Instagram, where I often share pictures of jewelry projects in process.  "See" you soon!