We are lucky to have a macadamia tree in our garden which drops nuts in beautiful hard shells. This project uses the macadamia nut shells to make a pretty necklace. It would make a great Mothers Day or birthday present. The project needs help from an adult as the holes in the beads are made with a drill.
Time: 2 hours plus several days drying time
Age: Over 10's
Level: Hard
Materials
Macadamia nut shells (we used 13 in our final necklace but started off collecting around 20.
Varnish (we used clear gloss nail varnish)
Macadamia nut shells ready for washing and sorting
Collect the macadamia nut shells and wash them well. Allow them to dry out thoroughly for a few days.
Sort out the shells and discard any which are cracked, mouldy, too big or too small.
Get an adult to drill a hole in the end of each nut.
Holes drilled
Choose colours for your beads. We started with blue, green, white and yellow paint and used these to mix different shades of blue and green in the cups of an egg box.
An egg carton is a good container to mix up lots of different shades of paint
Paint each bead. The egg box cups are useful as you can dip the shell in the paint and roll it around.
Dipping the macadamia nut shells in the paint
Beads drying.... add another coat if needed
Varnish the beads. We used clear gloss nail varnish and used a skewer to hold the bead without having to touch the outside.
Use clear gloss nail varnish if you don't have craft varnish
Line up your beads in size order then rearrange to have the largest bead in the middle, getting smaller towards the ends.
Arrange your beads smallest ones to the outside
Thread the beads onto a matching colour of ribbon
Tie the ends of the ribbon with a knot to stop the beads falling off the end.
Ready to wear
Your macadamia nut shell necklace is now ready to wear. If you're giving it as a present, why not make a pretty
gift box to put it in?
Categories
#Hard
#Over 10s
#Mothers Day
#Christmas
#Birthday
#Necklace
#Jewellery
#Natural Materials
#Seeds
#Cheap 
