Homemade Cracked Marble Necklace Tutorial
Mix a bit of science and craftiness to make your own unique Homemade Cracked Marble Necklace. They’re cheap, easy and fun to make.
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Homemade Cracked Marble Necklace Tutorial
There are so many fun and interesting things for kids to do these days. A lot of them rely heavily on technology. Technology is GREAT but kids need a break from that stuff.
Saturday I was on my phone for a few hours looking for various projects and things. Do you know what?
It made me grumpy! I woke up happy and was feeling great. But by the end of the afternoon I was flat out snippy.
I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was that flipped the switch. My kids have been fighting like crazy and being home all day with them for sure does not help.
I assumed that was it. Looking back on it later though I really think looking at my phone scrolling through Pinterest was a huge reason.
So getting kids (and adults) off their iPads, phones, computers and TV’s even for an hour is so necessary. I find the things I enjoyed doing as a kid are STILL fun for kids. I am going old school with this one y’all.
In fact, this craft was actually my 3rd grade science fair project. I got 3rd place so it’s gotta be good right?! Haha! Check out how my science project turned into these super cute cracked marble necklaces my daughter and I made together.
Homemade Cracked Marble Necklace Supplies:
There are a couple of ways you can make these marble necklaces. So the supply list looks a bit long but you don’t need everything.
- clear marbles or flat glass beads (I buy the flat ones at the Dollar Store)
- necklace backs or caps
- necklace chain
- acrylic paint in your choice of colors and clear sealant like mod podge or triple thick (optional)
- craft glue/adhesive
- cold water
- an oven
- baking sheet
If you are using marbles you’ll want to use round necklace caps. If using flat glass beads then you’ll use the flat necklace backs. We used necklace chain for our cracked marble necklaces but really you can use any material to hang your pendant from.
We didn’t do this but you can also make rings out of the flat ones. Rings could be really fun and another way to use up your cracked beads if you don’t want a bunch of necklaces or if you’re a big ring person. If you want to make rings you’ll need ring blanks to glue your bead to.
Homemade Cracked Marble Necklace Tutorial:
Remember you don’t have to make necklaces out of your cracked marbles. You can stick with the science part. Boys love to make cracked marbles but not not be as excited to make jewelry after.
Make sure to explain the science part of cracked marbles. Since glass is not a good conductor of heat, the outside of the glass cools faster than the inside. The outside glass is already shrinking while the middle is still expanded from the heat. When the marble is introduced to the ice water, it goes through thermal shock which makes the inside crack. Basically, the hot inside can’t keep up with the cool outside.
- First I put the marbles/glass beads on a cookie sheet and placed them in a preheated oven at 500 degrees (Yep that’s what my pan looks like. Keeping it Real!).
2. Let them cook for 20 to 25 minutes.
3. A minute or so before my alarm was set to go off I got out a bowl and put in super cold water with some ice cubes.
4. Once the timer goes off take the marbles out of the oven and dump them directly into the ice water. Make sure the kids are watching because it’s super fun to see the marbles hit the water. As soon as the hot marbles or beads hit that cold water, their insides crack causing them to look like crystals.
You can crack the marbles individually if you move fast. You can give each of your kiddos a spoon with a marble on it and let them dunk the marble into the ice water. That way they can each see their marble crack.
They are SO pretty! Occasionally one will crack all the way in half, in which case we throw it away but usually they just crack on the inside.
Cracked Marble Necklace
Now that you have your cracked marbles you can turn them into a necklace or ring.
We used flat glass beads from the dollar store and they worked perfectly. Marbles work great too but are usually more expensive.
Using flat beads means using a flat necklace back. If you use marbles to make your necklace then you need round caps.
Since our beads are clear you could see the back through the bead. My husband thought it looked fine but I wasn’t feeling it.
I decided to try and fix that so we painted the back of the beads in fun colors. This worked perfectly to hide the backing plus it gives you a chance to make colored pendants. This is an extra step so feel free to skip it.
Once the paint dried I sealed it off with triple thick. You can use any kind of clear sealant you have.
Let that dry and then glue the flat necklace back to the cracked flat bead or a round cap to the top of the crack marble. Then thread your chain through the new homemade pendant and you’ve got yourself a new cracked marble necklace.
Homemade Cracked Marble Necklaces are such a cool craft to do with your kids or by yourself. You don’t have to make them into jewelry. Magnets would be fun too.
They would also make great presents. Think mother’s day or teacher appreciation.
Again, you can always do the cracking part as a science project and not turn the marbles into a necklace. Just have some fun with the whole project.
Do you think you’ll make Homemade Cracked Marbles or Beads? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!
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