Memory Necklace

I have been wanting to try my hand at jewelery making, but didn't want to start another hobby, but today I felt the need to make a memory necklace featuring Grandpa. I saw a great Idea over at sodderbug.com and thought I would give it a try. I had most of the supplies here, but needed a few things from Micheal's, and since I just had knee surgery yesterday, I couldn't drive, but a friend offered so I took her up on it! The first thing I did was grind down the edges of my stones, it would help the copper tape to stick. I printed out this photo of Grandpa onto cardstock and glued it to the back of the stone, then sealed it with mod podge. Then apply copper foil to the edge, along with a layer of flux to ensure the solder will stick. Then I attempted my first soldered pendant. It really wasn't too hard at all, a little practice and I was doing fine! It helped to have the pendant propped up, it gets very hot, and this helps make sure the solder is even around the edges. Once I had the edges soldered, I added a 7mm jump ring to put the chain though, my needle nose pliers came in very handy for this part! Here is the finished necklace, this is the most perfect picture of Grandpa, and on the pendant it almost looks like a water color painting. I couldn't make just one, I think there are a few other family members would would really love one, so I made several more! I also made some cute gift boxes to put them in and plan to make sure we all have them for tomorrow.