Craftster user lasandri of sandrisuperstar made this amazing penny necklace using 36 pennies and some jump rings! I love the use of pennies, love the asymmetrical shape, and love the price to make it! For those of you who are going to ask, it’s NOT illegal to alter/use pennies to make art. It’s only illegal to deface money for fraudulent purposes. (United States Code Section 331, title 18). I love the idea of using pennies to make jewelry! [click here for the craftster thread featuring this necklace]
How lasandri made it: she drilled the holes with a hand drill using a tiny bit (she doesn’t know what size because the bits weren’t marked). She used jump rings to put it together. It took her about five hours to drill the holes and an hour to put it together (if you calculate your pay-per-hour, that makes this necklace MUCH more expensive than 36 cents!!) If you don’t have the patience for a large-scale project like this, you can easily make penny earrings using this as inspiration in minutes, or a bracelet in less than an hour.
I have seen jump rings for sale at my local dollar store, so the cost for raw materials is pretty low for this high-impact necklace!
Project Estimate:
- 36 pennies, $.36
- Jump rings, $1
- A clasp, on hand
- A drill, on hand
Total: $1.36
13 Comments
Vone
Great idea. I have coins from different places I have visited that would make great jewlery.
Nury
This is a great idea, i love it. But i don’t know if i could do it here since i live in Canada, and not sure if that would be ilegal here. But i love that idea!
Katie
A great idea would be to use a single penny to make a charm. I did this for a friend’s birthday using a penny from the year of her birth. Good luck AND cute!
heather
Ooh! Cool idea!!
Facade
If you are fortunate enough to have access to a drill press (thank you dad) it could significantly cut down the drilling time. I did a similar project using around ninety pennies that took only about an hour of drill time all together.
Cece
This is a pretty idea. I’m wondering about that black-grit stuff that gets on your hands when you handle change… I assume these will have to be ‘New’ coins?
heather
If you want to wash the pennies before you begin, try this: http://dollarstoremom.com/2012/02/penny-experiment-for-kids/. If you are concerned with the reaction of the metal with your skin, you can coat the pennies with clear nail polish or clear acrylic spray sealer.
janet fazio
what a cool idea for a homemade gift! Thanks to the person who suggested a drill press. That makes it much more accessible.