Decal Penny Pendant

Remember those sweet little vintage Meyercord decals we were all sticking to everything chippy a few years back? They used to be so popular that I’d have to pay around $12 a sheet. Today, I find them often for under $5.

I’d been thinking about using them in a pendant and today decided to experiment with something I’d never crafted with, a penny. Now, before you nail me on the legalities of defacing US currency, I did an exhaustive search on the subject and feel that my project is well within the law as I am not altering any coins for fraudulent purposed as defined by law. So, that being said, (and with due respect to our late president Lincoln,) I went to work with a hammer and a screw. Why not a nail or drill, you ask? Ok, people, you should follow me around in a day. I grab what’s closest and this screw was sitting there in the garage looking sharp enough.

I hammered a hole from both sides of the penny on a piece of wood and gave the penny a few more whacks for good measure to flatten out any warping that occurred in the process.

I placed the penny over a slice of wine cork cut to keep the penny from being glued to the foil lined pan once baked and dusted it with Amazing Glaze embossing powder.

I placed the penny in the toaster oven to melt the powder.

Once cooled, I began soaking a small decal in warm water to remove it from its backing.

I slid the decal onto the glazed penny, patted dry with a paper towel, and turned it over to trim with my Xacto blade any extending pieces of decal.

I dusted the decal with Amazing Glaze and popped it back in the toaster oven to heat.

Before the piece was cooled completely, I twisted a toothpick into the hole to keep the glaze from plugging it up.

And here is the finished decal penny pendant, jump-ring attached, being modeled by my lovely daughter, Sarah, in her jammies.

I also experimented with spray painting a penny, adding the decal and then baking with the embossing powder. A few strange things happened, bubbling paint, cracking decal, but I thought in the end it looked kind of chippy chic.

UPDATE: Click HERE for a more recent link to the project done by tweenagers!