New necklace with melon seeds

i wrote a month ago about the jewelry that i made with melon seeds, an idea that i got from little treasures. there are two ways to color the seeds: either with nail polish or with a marker. except i had a problem with the necklace made with marker-colored seeds: as they came in contact with my skin, clothes and whatever else, the color (despite being perfectly dry) rubbed off onto the wooden beads and parts of the seeds left in their natural color. the result: a purple and pink necklace which left color on the collar of my clothes, as well.

i really liked the purple necklace (it’s probably my favorite color) so i made another with purple nail polish. and just look what a difference between the new one (above) and the old, stained one (below)! (you can’t see so well in the photo, but the seeds of the old necklace are all pink.)

when i wrote about the first necklaces, i mentioned the difficulty i had while nail polishing the little wooden beads. maya suggested i stick them on toothpicks stuck in a cork board to paint them. i tried doing this, but using a piece of styrofoam instead of the cork board, and it was super easy and the got painted perfectly! thanks, maya! for the seeds, i painted half of one side of each and let them dry on one of those pastry shop trays that we always have hanging around here in italy (which i wash and reuse whenever possible). these trays are great not only because they’re reused, but because the nail polish doesn’t attach much to the coated surface. then, after a few hours, when i was sure that they were completely dry, i did the other side and let them dry again on the same tray.

and i put the new necklace to use right away yesterday (on the beach at erchie, on the amalfi coast, during a sunday daytrip). have a great week!