How to Create a Reliquary Pendant

May 20, 2013

Create a personal keepsake with this free DIY reliquary pendant tutorial.

Create a personal keepsake with this free DIY shrine pendant tutorial.

I love keepsake jewelry, and this reliquary necklace is perfect for capturing mementos. You can adapt this pendant design to make your own personalized jewelry; encase a family photo, dried flower petals from a special event, or perhaps a lock of baby hair.

The following is a DIY tutorial for making a glass bezel shrine necklace.

Jewelry findings for this necklace include rectangle glass bezel, brass blank, small honeybee charm, rhinestone chain, triangle filigree, and antiqued-brass ball chain from www.rings-things.com

Step 1: Gather the necklace components

Here are the parts you’ll need:

Use metal shears to cut the brass jewelry blank to size.

Step 2: Cut and shape the brass blank

Measure and cut a brass blank 1 x 1-3/4″ in size; metal shears work great for this. File the blank to soften the corners.

Mark the brass blank for hole placement and use a metal punch to punch the holes.

Step 3: Mark and punch holes

Measure and mark the following holes:

Three hanging holes placed 1/8″ from the top and spaced to match the holes of the triangle filigree
Two wire-lashing holes placed 1/8″ from each side and 5/8″ from the top

Punch holes in the marked positions with the two-hole punch.

Use Novacan Black Patina to antique the brass blank of the shrine pendant.

Step 4: Patina the brass blank

Clean the blank with a micro-fine polishing pad. Use a cotton swab to apply patina to the blank. Polish with the polishing pad to a desirable finish.

Add a paper image to the brass blank to make a colorful background for the reliquary pendant.

Step 5: Add an image

Center the glass bezel on your patterned paper and use a pencil to mark the position. With craft scissors, cut out the paper just smaller than the bezel’s exterior edge.

Glue the paper image in place and allow to dry. Gather small personal charms to encase in your reliquary. Use glue to hold small bits in place, then glue down the glass bezel.

Step 6: Adorn and encase

Glue the patterned paper to the brass blank. Glue on the bee charm (first remove the loop if desired) and rhinestone, checking the position with the glass bezel. Glue on the glass bezel. Allow to dry.

Lash the glass bezel in place with wire and use jump rings to connect the triangle filigree to the reliquary.

Step 7: Make cold connections

Lash the bezel in place with wire; this is both an adornment and cold-connection reinforcement. Attach the triangle filigree to the pendant blank with jump rings.