How To Make Scrabble Tile Pendants

Now that you have all of your supplies you can start making your own pendants. I usually try to work on 50-60 at once, and doing it that way puts my time at between 4 and 5 minutes per pendant and about 1 hour per process.

Step 1: Preparing Your Images

When you place an image on a Scrabble tile, you need to leave a smidge of paper around the edges so you have something to grab onto and trim back flush. I usually leave about 1/8" around all 4 sides.

You can cut out the images in one of two ways: by using a Scrabble tile as a template and cutting around it, or by creating a cardboard cutout and cutting inside of it.

I just find an image I want to use, lay my Scrabble tile on it, cut out about 1/8" leeway on all 4 sides, and voila!

It's more accurate to create a cardboard cutout, like a stencil, you can lay over a picture, because you can see exactly how it will look on your tile. Make sure your cardboard cutout leaves room around the tile too. Just lay it over an image, center it, and cut with an Xacto knife.

For me, it's easiest to cut out many at once so I have enough to glue a large batch at a time. I place my cut pieces in a tupperware container to keep them safe until I'm ready to glue them on the tile.

If you're using digital collage sheets, they should be sized to what you need already so you can just use a paper cutter to make straight line cuts and cut out every image. This makes for quick work - yay!

Stickers can be cut to size after they're placed on the tile, so there's no cutting ahead of time with these.

Step 2: Affixing the Image

Pour Mod Podge into a small container (baby food jars work great for this), making sure the opening is wide enough to dip your foam brush. It's even better if you can use a resealable container so it's always ready to use.

Get a generous amount of glue on the foam brush by dipping the tip in. You don't want it dripping, so dab off the excess on the side of your container.

Using even pressure, make a couple of passes on the blank side of your Scrabble tile. There should be a good coat but not enough that it can run or drip. If you slop some over the edge of your tile, use the side of your foam brush to brush it back off.

I usually squish the corner of the brush onto the tile to get a glob of glue on the tile, then sweep the brush back and forth to smooth it on and pick up the excess.

Next, turn your image face-down on a VERY CLEAN surface and brush an even layer of glue onto the back of the image.

Take a corner of the image in your hand and center it on the tile. Using wax paper or a bone folder, smooth the image onto the tile, taking care to remove lumps and bubbles.

If the image sticks down before it's centered, peel it off from a corner, add more glue to the back of it, and try again.

Once the image is on properly, lay the tile image side up on a drying rack and grab another tile to begin the process anew.

Step 3: Trim & Finish the Image

After the image has dried from Step 2, lay the tile image-down on a clean cutting board. With your Xacto knife, trim the excess off the image. Hold the tile in the center with one finger, pressing firmly, and start trimming. Trim one whole side then turn, trim the next and repeat until the excess slides away. Don't pull at the excess and don't use a dulled blade or the paper will tear. It's important to note that your image will tear away if it hasn't dried completely from Step 2, so make sure you give it enough time.

As you're trimming, make sure your blade is straight up and down - an angled blade will leave bare paper edges and looks unprofessional.

Optionally, you can use a file instead of Xacto knife but I've found this makes tiny tears in most papers and looks rough on the edges.

Once the paper is trimmed flush and looks clean, make a pass over the top of the image with Mod Podge, using the same method as you used to brush the glue onto the tile in the beginning.

Using your finger, smooth glue over the edges of the image, bonding it to the tile. This helps prevent the image from popping up at the edges and coming off. It will also help smooth any rough edges left on the image.

Let it dry again - this time it will dry quickly since there's only one layer to dry.

Step 4: Apply Diamond Glaze

This is where you really need to have bright lights, and magnification if possible. If your bottle of Diamond Glaze gets shaken, wait 20 minutes before using it. Shaken Diamond Glaze will produce bubbles, and bubbles are a major pain to remove from a tile.

Lay out all of your tiles to be glazed with about 1" space around each side. I use a flat cookie sheet so I can transport from my work area to a clean, dry area to let them set up.

Very carefully turn your bottle over so air bubbles don't form. You shouldn't need to squeeze the bottle of Diamond Glaze much - just let it flow slowly out. Start at the outer edges of the Scrabble tile and steadily work your way around the outside. The middle of the tile should fill in on its own.

Once the middle has been filled in, point the tip of the Diamond Glaze in the middle and squeeze gently to mound up the center of the tile. With practice you'll get a feel for how much to apply. You can stop and check how it looks by getting level with the tile and seeing how much it mounds up. It should have a convex shape to give it that 3d look.

If your tile isn't full enough, carefully add more, checking often to see how it looks. If you put too much Diamond Glaze on, it will fall off the side and run all over the place and it's pretty difficult to get it rounded again since there's a path for the Glaze to keep running off. Let it dry, trim the spill off with an Xacto knife and try again starting with the outer edges.

Once you've got enough glaze on, check very thoroughly for bubbles, fuzz or any other imperfection on your glaze. Bubbles can be swiped off one corner by using a toothpick. You can also try using a straw and blowing them off, but too much wind will blow the glaze off too.

Repeat this for every tile and then walk away. Don't mess with them, worry over them, or even look at them for at least 12 hours. Just let them set up because you can't fix any problems once they start drying anyway so save yourself the stress and forget about them. :)

The tiles will fully set up in about 24 hours, sometimes up to 48 hours depending on temperature and thickness.

Once your Scrabble tiles have set up completely, take your Xacto knife and trim any blurbs or spill spots until they're square and neat looking.

Step 5: Affixing the Bail

Using E6000 or another industrial strength adhesive (with plenty of ventilation), put a dab on the flat side of the bail and carefully center it on the back of the Scrabble tile (the side with the letter). Squeeze once to squeeze out all the bubbles, then lay the tile face down so the bail side doesn't get bumped.

Let the tile dry for however long your adhesive suggests.

If you plan to drill and use a headpin, do it now instead of the bail.

Step 6: Trimming the Fat

Now that the bail is fully dried, take your Xacto knife one last time and trim off any glue that may have seeped around the bail.

Once the tile is trimmed, you're all done! It's a several step process and spans a day or two, but most of the time is drying time and it really is a pretty simple project to complete.