Basketball Washer Necklace Tutorial

If you are a parent involved in coaching or managing your child(ren)’s sports team, hats off to you! Being involved is very time consuming but so rewarding at the end of the day. My family didn’t play a lot of sports growing up, mostly because we didn’t have a lot of money, but I’ve made it my goal to participate in any activity with my kids, whether it be tossing a ball in the summer, to cartwheels in the backyard, to coaching/managing their team. I believe in a healthy and fit lifestyle for my kids and the best way of having that is through demonstration.

These necklaces were a hit, not only with the kids, but the parents too. Many of the parents thought they were bought from a store and couldn’t believe that they were made from a Home Depot washer! Why thank you, thank you very much! ;D

Here are the supplies you’ll need for this craft….

Supplies

• Washers (I used a 5/16 fender washer, but I have no idea what that means)
• Black Cord
• Orange Scrapbook Paper
• Beads or Embellishments (Jersey Number Stickers, Letter Beads etc.)
• Sharpie and/or Black Paint
• Xacto Knife
• Sandpaper
• Glue (I used Mod Podge, but I am sure you could use any glue, like Elmers)
• Clear Sealant (Mod Podge Dimensional, Clear Nail Polish, Enviro-Tex etc.) Check in soon to see my review on what’s best

When buying your washers, look for ones that have a smaller hole in the middle and are are not too big around. I bought a large pack of black cord with 4 different sizes, but I only ended up using one size and still had most of it left over. The sealant I used was the “Mod Podge Dimensional Magic”, which turned out pretty good, but it is pricey. I made sure to use my 55% off coupon at Michaels and got it for $7. If you are unsure what will work best for your money, check in later, as I am working on a comparison review on a couple different sealants, so you have a better idea what your best option will be.

Tutorial starts now…

Step 1 – Use your sandpaper to give the washers a little scuff (on the rougher side). This will help the paper stick better. You want to decorate the uglier side of the washer, so the soft smooth side sits on the skin.

Step 2 – Trace your washer on the side of the scrapbook paper that you don’t plan on using and cut on the inside line for the outside

Step 3 – Use an Xacto knife to do the hole, unless you have a round punch

Step 4 – Draw on your basketball lines. I found when you curved the outside lines a bit, it made the basketball a little bit more realistic than drawing them straighter. I chose to draw/paint my lines of the basketball after it was glued down to the washer, but if you’d prefer to do it on a flat surface before you glue, that works too.

Step 5 – Glue the round scrapbook paper onto your washers. Don’t use too much glue, as you don’t want it leaking through. Once the glue is dry (give it a day) you can turn over the washer and see if there is any excess that needs to be cut off. I used my knife and just trimmed what I saw.

Step 6 – Figure out what your design is going to look like, do you want jersey numbers, are you putting their initial or maybe a heart? I have a few other ideas, if you were wanting to do something different than what I did. Examples below….

Step 7 – Use your sealant to go over the entire surface and wait a day or so for everything to dry

Step 8 – Once your washer is dry and glossy, you’ll wrap the cord around the necklace.

Step 9 – If you plan on using letter beads for your necklace the same way I did, be prepared that it’s a little tricky, as most letter beads are designed for bracelets, so if you think you’ll just slide the letter onto the cord and be done, well you are wrong, because it’ll be sideways. Here’s what I did – I tied a knot at the end and looped my cord through the bead, so that the letter would be the right way up and then tied another knot at the other end, so it couldn’t move around.

Tie a knot at the end of the necklace and voila, your done! Hand them out to your team and watch faces light up.

For many of you, your basketball season has ended or is ending, but these necklaces can be made for almost every sport. I’ve made other examples for soccer, volleyball, baseball, hockey and football down below..

SO many things you can do, have fun!