If you follow my blog, you know I’m a bit of DIY jewelry nut. Not only that but clothespin crafts were one of my top ideas for Wood Month here on Babble Dabble Do.  Thankfully this project satisfies both interests: Mini Clothespin Necklaces! When I spotted these at Joann’s this week I knew they would make a fab necklace. This is wonderful craft for kids and adults and would be a lovely DIY jewelry gift for someone special on your holiday list…..

After dip dying craft sticks this week I knew adding a little color to our mini clothespins would be perfect for dressing them up a little. Personally this necklace reminds me of a coral necklace my mom had: a little funky, a little spiky, and very pretty!

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Mini Clothespin Necklace

Materials

• Mini Wood Clothespins
• Liquid Watercolors
• Water
• Shallow containers/Jars
• Paper Towels
• Hemp Twine  or Lanyard/String
• Scissors

Instructions

• Step One Dye your clothespins. Combine a roughly 1:1 ratio of water to liquid watercolor in separate containers for each color.
• Step Two Soak the clothespins in the watercolor dye. Soaking overnight will yield the most vibrant results.
• Step Three Remove the clothespins from the dye and let dry on a paper towel. Once dry the colors will mellow slightly.

• Step Four Cut a length of hemp cord or lanyard and knot.
• Step Five Add clothespins one at a time to the cord. Stop when you are happy with the amount of clothespins on the necklace.

You’re done! I have to say I love the look of this necklace. I shared it with few people and they had no idea what it was made from at first.

Tips

• I recommend stopping before you get to the part of the necklace that will come into contact with your neck. The lovely coral necklace I inherited from my mother is a neck scratcher! Keep the clothespins to the center part of the necklace.
• Mini clothespins do take some dexterity to open. My 4 year old had a hard time with them. I recommend this project for kids ages 6+
• If you want to skip the dying part of this project use some of these mini clothespins: Mini Colored Clothespins or Plastic Mini Spring Clothespins

Looks Like

The Bauhaus. Huh? Really, Ana? Well the Bauhaus was a movement/school whose core concept was the marriage design and art in the form of useful objects. The school operated from 1919-1933 in Germany and had a heavy emphasis on craft. Some of my favorite architects, designers, and artists were instructors at the Bauhaus including Marcel Breuer, Joseph Albers and founder Walter Gropius. My Dad had a pair of Breuer Wassily chairs in our house growing up and I’ll never forget them! In the 70’s they seemed high tech and modern, yet they were designed in 1925! The thing I remember the most about them is sliding down the seat as a kid, boy was that leather slippery!

Why did I think of the Bauhaus when making this necklace? I found the reversal of their core concept to be interesting: we took a useful object, the clothespin, and made it into something decorative, a necklace. I also found the utilitarian clothespin to be a great foil for a piece of jewelry that looks much more complicated than it really is. After dying the clothespins this necklace took 10 minutes to make. 10 minutes.

More

Okay DIY jewelry fans out there, I have a ton of projects for you on Babble Dabble Do! Here are few popular ones: Office Supply Jewelry, Totally Tubular Glitter Bracelets, and Seed Bead Necklaces.

If you like clothespin crafts check out these sweet little clothespin dolls we made for Valentines Day!

Don’t miss out on our upcoming projects featuring natural materials all month long: “Like” us on FB to follow along! Your child’s inner Marcel Breuer thanks you!

Shared on Monday Funday and Made By You Mondays!