Heart Tags: Art With a Twist

Heart Tags: A Jig That Puts a Creative Twist on Love

Art with a Twist

Summary: An innovative jig designed to precisely align and drill a pivot hole through two dog-tag shaped halves, so that when joined together and rotated (i.e. twisted) they form a perfectly flat aligned and smooth heart shape pendant.

Have you ever had a project where getting things totally aligned and smooth was the difference between magic and a mess? I have that challenge a lot in woodworking - thank God for sand paper 😊.

Why is perfect smoothness important? Well, did you know that human fingers can feel objects as small as 13 nanometers. To put this into a more relatable context for you, GPT says that’s around:

1. 7,700 times finer than at a sheet of paper
2. 6,000 times finer than the human hair
3. 77 times finer than “Cheetle” (the official name for “Cheeto Dust”). You know that feeling as you flick your fingers together right before you're about to shake hands at a party were there are Cheetos?

Anyway, the point is, your fingers are very good measures of smoothness and can feel very, very slight differences between surfaces. Test it out and see,

My Design Goal

Total Alignment and Smoothness was exactly the challenge I ran into while making what I call Heart Tags, which are made from a dog-tag shaped wooden pendant that, when the halves are cut on a specific angle and twisted, they come together to perfectly form a heart with no detectable difference in surface height. Cool. This alignment is crucial because if it’s slightly off, the heart shape won’t align correctly when twisted. Not Cool.

So, I had to design and build a jig (aka Heart Tag Centering Jig) to do just that. You may think it’s weird, but when I go to bed, I like to think of ways to engineer and build things. This took many nights and I was very proud when I came up with a simplistic, efficient, and precise tool that does exactly what I needed. Below, you can watch how the jig works and maybe even make one yourself.

BTW, the Heart Tags were a hit at our county fair where I first showed them and we sold them at our non-profit wood club boutique where we use funds to make toys for disadvantage children. (Over 5,500 last year to 50 charities.)

Tools & Materials

1. 2 wooden beams (plywood works nice), approximately 1/4” or 3/8" square by 7" long
2. 3 circular wooden disks 2.5” diameter 1/8” thick (3" diameter) for the cams
3. A base platform (plywood) around 2” wide, ½” thick, and 8” wide
4. Drill bushing or metal guide insert
5. Small wood screws (for attaching cams and beams)
6. Metal rod for pivot pin.
7. Metal cutter
8. Hand drill, Table Saw, etc (typically wood working stuff or I bet you have a neighbor or friend that has these)
9. Your favorite wood for the Heart Tags (I used, maple, walnut, padauk, rosewood, & mahogany) Ring blanks are good and you can get a variety of colors.
10. Jump Rings and Leather Cord for necklaces

Note: Jig Size is not that important since it's more about the relative positions between the elements to ensure perfect alignment.

#Amazon Ad links provided above for reference

The ends of two wooden beams are attached to edges of two rotating cam. As you rotate the cams inward, the beams act like sliding arms guiding (or hugging) a heart tag half forcing it to be perfectly centered widthwise. A third cam, near the bushing, ensures that the heart tag half is also aligned exactly lengthwise to its exact midpoint and over a centering bushing — the Drill Zone. This makes sure your drill hole lands exactly where the twist point needs to be.

Once the heart tag is aligned, you drill through the bushing. The hole ends up in exactly the right spot which ensures that when insert a pin and twist the two halves of the tag, they match up perfectly flat and symmetrical – smooth as silk for your fingers.

Step 1: Build the Base

1. Cut a rectangular base for the jig from plywood or MDF
2. Mark the center of the base — this is where the drill bushing will go.
3. Install a metal drill bushing in the center (length and width) of the base.

Step 2: Prepare the Rotating Cams

1. Drill a center hole in two of the cams and mount them along the base center at equal distance from opposite sides of the Drill Zone. The distance between the cams does not really matter since the key part is to make sure the cams pivot points are on the base center line. (Tip: Make the cam distance (X) at least 4-5 times the length of your work piece.)
2. Take the third, cam and screw it in place around the length of your piece from the drill zone bushing and along the base center line . This cam needs to be a bit offset so it can position the piece lengthwise every time.

Step 3: Install the Centering Beams

1. Attach the wooden beams to each cam edge so that when the disk rotates, the beam swings inward toward the center. The beams need to be opposite and of equal distance from the center of the cams.
2. This makes sure the beams will meet directly over the centering bushing when aligned.

Step 4: Test

1. Test the jig to make sure the beams and center cam guide the heart tag to dead center by drilling a test block and seeing if the hole is exactly in the center of the piece (length and width).
2. Don’t’ work if things are off a bit widthwise, you can fine tune the centering using tape layers. (I had to do that.)

Now that your jig is ready, here’s how you use it:

1. Place one "heart half" between the two wooden beams.
2. Rotate the outer cams inward so the beams slide the piece perfectly centered over the base centerline.
3. Now rotate the alignment cam so the tag center line matches the drill zone bushing. (Tip: Add a tick line on your tag so you can make this vertical alignment easier. Once the alignment cam is set then all further pieces will be set lengthwise.
4. Hold or clamp in place the tag to ensure the piece remains tight on the base.
5. Drill through the bushing using a drill bit slightly smaller in diameter to your metal pivot rod.
6. Repeat with the second tag half.
7. Press a small metal rod (I used a tig welding rod) into one of the heart tag pivot holes. No glue needed since it's a tight pressure fit.
8. Now take the other heart tag half and press that firmly into the other half.
9. Twist the two halves — and voila! A perfect, symmetrical heart. (If you are off a bit, no worries, you can adjust with tape on the jig or do a little sanding to get to the smooth alignment you want but this jig gets things very, very close if made right.)

1. Precision: You get a repeatable, accurate hole every time.
2. Speed: Once set up, you can make batch after batch without fuss.
3. Simplicity: Just a few parts, no fancy measuring needed.
4. Satisfaction: That smoothness of the two halves whether in dog tag or heart tag position ... priceless.
5. Best of All: Makes a great gift.

One of the most magical parts of the Heart Tag design is the opportunity to create a message, image, or emotion inside the twist. Because the heart is made of two flat, capsule-shaped halves, any design or drawing you place on them appears abstract or even meaningless — until the pieces are twisted into the heart shape.

The surprise happens when the full image is revealed.

One of My Favorite Designs

For example, on one half of the tag, I sketched of a man, looking to the right with a smile. On the other half, I drew a woman facing left, smiling back at him. When laid flat, it looks like some strange pattern — almost like a Rorschach inkblot.

But once twisted into the heart shape, their eyes meet. Their smiles align. Suddenly, it becomes a shared moment only appearing when the parts are twisted.

This ability to **embed a story or message** adds emotional depth and turns each Heart Tag into something truly personal.

Bonus: I added Creative Ideas for Your Hidden Heart Tag Art

Note: this Ible was mainly about the jig here's a short video showing how I cut the heart tag halves using a CNC. As you’ll see, the cuts are very precise — which is exactly why I needed a jig that could match that precision when drilling. If the drill hole is even slightly off, the twisted heart won’t align flat.

Also included is a simple pattern to make a perfect heart.