Splatter Pearls

I love pearls. They are, after all, my birthstone. I used to think that June really got jipped in the birthstone department, since pearls aren't really a stone (and I didn't like them at the time), and the alternate stone is one almost no one has heard of (Alexandrite). Now, I love them and love that June is unique in the respect that we get this awesome thing from the sea instead of just a normal gem.  So now I have pearl necklaces, earrings and bracelets and love to wear them. But though they do go with everything, they are a bit formal and sometimes that's just not the look you're going for.

In comes this awesome tutorial I found. The author of VJuliet knocks off some Chanel pearls that look like they've been splattered with paint. They look awesome! Modern and funky, a completely different take on pearls, colourful and fun. I shared the idea with my mom and she sent me a bunch of glass pearls (I really don't think I could stand to do this to real ones) and decided I'd give it a shot. Since I have a massive nail polish collection I had pretty much everything I needed.

I started by stringing the peals onto a necklace. I strung all the ones I had and got them to a length I liked. I kind of like that they're different sizes instead of the normal uniform size strand. Then, as per the instructions, I took my nail polish and a straw and started trying to splatter. It was pretty much a failure. I tried taking a paint brush and splattering the nail polish. This also didn't work. I tried and tried and tried the straw, but just couldn't get it. I searched nail sites for splatter nail tips but couldn't find anything that worked consistently. Finally, I picked up some coffee stirrer straws at Target's food court a few days later. I figured maybe the smaller diameter would work. It did! I still didn't have as much control over the aim as I would've liked, but it did work pretty well. I used the colours in the tutorial (fuchsia, dark purple, blue) and added a pretty lime for a pop as well. I did do the two sides, though I would recommend doing four sides in the future for even coating. Or at least, make sure you get the sides too!

Closeup of the splatter on the pearls

I'm really happy with how my pearls turned out. I think they look awesome and really fun and funky. I like the longer length (and so does Grayson, unfortunately) and I think the colours come together nicely. I did have a lot of clean up though. The nail polish splattered beyond the confines of the magazine I was working on, I used up the entire sample size of the fuchsia polish and most of the purple as well, and I had nail polish all over both hands. It took at least an hour of airing out the kitchen to get the smell out too. Next time I think I'll put down wax paper (a few tacky spots picked up some magazine) and work outside with gloves on. But all in all, it was a super successful project, and I love moving things into my "Completed Crafts" folder :)

The aftermath of the magazine. Next time, wax paper for sure!

The pearls, all ready to wear

I like the length, but it's way too easy for G to grab!

In case you're wondering, the way I find all these awesome tutorials is by trolling (see definition 3) craft sites. Some of the best are Pinterest (of course, though there are copyright issues and not everyone links to a tutorial or real site or anything), CraftGossip, and Craftgawker. But the best by far is a Tumblr site called Truebluemeandyou. It is AMAZING, and my absolute favourite. There are other sites that I know have tutorials, and if I have time I check them out, but between the last three I mentioned, I've usually seen the newest posts.