Week 30: Keys to the Kingdom

I found a bunch of oversized skeleton keys in the dollar bin at my local Michael's store, and I instantly knew that they were going to be the theme of this week.  They're all pretty large and similar in design, and I thought it would be fun to see how many designs I could come up with to use was was essentially the same item in different ways.  Overall I'm pretty happy with how things turned out; there are a couple of designs that aren't as strong as the others but overall I feel pretty happy for making seven different things out of the same key item (pun totally intended).

For this key I filled the top with resin that I added some metallic blue powder to, then added some star cut outs and rhinestones to give it a sort of "space" feel.  I'm not 100% pleased with the results, but the concept is good and if I can find some more of those keys I'll try again!

I decoupaged some origami paper to this key, and added some cut ribbon to give it a bit of "fringe" up at the top.  Again, I'm not 100% pleased with the results, but it was totally worth a try!

This key I painted with nailpolish to give it a Tim Burton sort of feel.  The detail work at the top took forever with my hands, but the bottom spiral was pretty easy thanks to some masking tape.  : )

For this key, I added a butterfly that I got off a Goodwill bracelet.  I think this might be my favorite of the group this time, even if it is the hardest to photograph  .

I turned this key into a charm necklace by adding a bunch of odds and ends I had  from various charm packages I got at craft stores.  A bit of wire wrapping on the end evened the key up so it hangs nicely as a necklace.

I wire wrapped the length of this key, and added a whole bunch of different accents like gears, freshwater pearls, tiny heart charms, and an itty bitty cameo.

This key I turned into a lariat necklace.  I didn't want to run the chain directly through the keyhole, so I added a large jump ring to the hole at the bottom and ran the chain through that.  It seemed to balance the necklace better and didn't cover up the keyhole plate with chain.  I also added three freshwater coin pearls as an accent to keep it from being too plain.

I know I don't get too many points for creativity this week as they're all necklaces, but honestly the keys were just too darn big to do anything else with!  Other than the lack of variation in the end product, I'm happy with the variety of the necklaces themselves.  Coming up with seven different styles was pretty challenging, and I'm happy that it encouraged me to try some things that I wouldn't ordinarily have done.  That said, I might take it easy next week.  : )  Thanks for stopping by!