Patriotic Flag Grommet Necklace

When a U.S. flag becomes unfit to fly, it should be properly retired. This is a solemn ceremony, and I have many memories of pulling flag grommets out of the ashes the next morning. This instructable is about making a really cool and memorable necklace out of an retired american flag grommet!

For this instructable, you will need:

- needle nose pliers with wire cutters

- wire strippers (would make it easier)

- flag grommet

- 6" copper wire

- chain or string to hang it by

- Hammer (not pictured)

Okay, okay, ignore the weird sounding title.

First strip your wire of any coating it has. This can be done with a wire stripper (hehe) or a wire cutter and needle nosed pliers. If you are doing it with the wire cutter, be sure not to actually cut through the wire. Just cut the coating and pull it off.

Next, do the twist. This will be your loop to hang it by. I just did a simple loop, but you could get complicated if you wanted to.

On grommets there is a groove separating the halves, where the fabric of the flag would have gone. Take your piece of stripped wire and lay it in this groove, and clip it where it almost overlaps. shown in pictures.

This is the best part. Using a hammer and solid surface, gently hit the two sides of the grommet together smashing the wire in between the halves and holding everything together. Be careful not to smash too hard, or you might destroy the grommet.

Now admire your handiwork. From here you could polish the grommet, take a torch to it, or pretty much anything you want. I liked it just the way it was, so I slapped a string on it and called that good.

IF you liked this instructable, vote for it in the necklaces contest! As always, thanks for looking and have a nice day.