Having a blast trying out my new Belt Sander!

Hello everyone! I've done a little tutorial for you using my Proxxon Jig Saw STS 12/E and my brand new "Belt Sander BS/E". I'll tell you what, I've been so excited to receive my new belt sander! I had a terrible time deciding whether I wanted to try the jigsaw or the sander out first and chose the jigsaw first and then received the Delta Sander OZI/E to try! These tiny tools are just amazing folks! If you use or need some tiny tools, then I would definitely recommend the Proxxon brand.

Items needed for this project:

Proxxon Jig Saw STS 12/E 
Proxxon Belt Sander BS/E
1 or more scrap pieces of gourds
Wood burner tool or carver if you have them
Embossing fluid and powder
metal leaf glue and metal leaf
wire
beads
drill
necklace cord
alcohol inks (orange and red)

I started by cutting out several pieces for a necklace from gourd pieces:

 After cutting out a few pieces, I chose one that I wanted to use as the focal point of my necklace. To start with after the cutting out was finished, I used my new belt sander to smooth out both the side and the bottom of my piece.

You can also hook this sander up to a dust collection system which I have but haven't hooked it up to yet. (Hopefully by the next project.)  I used a 120 grit sanding belt and you talk about smooooooth when I was finished. It worked great and you can get that belt into some small spots too. Once everything was sanded, I wood burned some maple leaves (my favorite thing) onto the front of the pendant (the part that wasn't sanded) and stained them with orange and red alcohol inks. I applied embossing glue to the back of the piece and then added embossing powders and heat activated them to the back of the piece.

I then brushed metal leaf glue around the sides and overlapping the front and applied metal leaf pieces that I had in my box.

Once all that was done I added some wire and beads to the front, applied Kamar Varnish to the piece both front and back, drilled a whole for the cord and put it through the piece with a bead on either side. Turned out pretty good right?

These pendants are so lightweight also, as gourds are very light once they have dried out and been cleaned.

This is a great project and these Proxxon tiny tools (micromot) are just life savers in getting the job done. Make a visit over to www.proxxon.com/us and then come back here and let me know what tool you think you'd like to play with!

Barbara