Transition From Vintage Salt Spoon to Pendant Necklace

Vintage sterling silver spoons are one of the things I love to collect. When I thought about creating jewelry with my spoons I wasn't so sure I could bring myself to change the function of the item but I realized that the spoons stay in a china cabinet and I rarely look at them but if I made a pendant necklace out of one I would wear it a lot and enjoy it more. I have not regretted using a couple of my spoons to create jewelry.

The picture of the two spoons is to show the size of the tiny salt spoons used in this intstructable. I bought 6 of these vintage sterling silver lovebird salt spoons for a good price on eBay. I made two pendants from two of the spoons. That is why two of them have different bead dangles. The one with the crystal flower bead was made for a gift I gave to my stepmom for Christmas. She loves it and gets compliments every time she wears it.

The larger spoon is just a regular spoon I pulled out of my kitchen drawer to show the scale of smaller vintage salt spoon.

Materials Needed:

• Sterling silver spoon
• Something to bend the spoon around - I used the pliers pictured. You could use anything that is the size you want your loop to be for the chain, ribbon, or cord you use to hang your pendant on. A larger, thicker spoon may require the heat of a torch to easily bend but this one is so small I was able to bend it without heating it.
• Nylon nose pliers to help bend the spoon without damaging the silver.
• Small bead(s) if you want to hang one from the pendant where the spoon handle is bent upward - optional.
• Fishing line to attach bead to bent spoon handle for a dangle if desired.
• Scissors to cut the fishing line.
• Crazy or Super Glue....once I tie a knot in fishing line I put one or two drops of super glue on it to keep it from coming undone.
• Hammer or rubber mallet and a towel or rag to wrap the spoon in before you pound it to flatten the spoon bowl.
• Chain, ribbon, or cord to hang your pendant on.

Use a towel to cover and protect your spoon and then use your mallet or hammer to pound the spoon bowl flat.

Decide where you want your bend in the spoon handle. Usually, it is best to bend directly under the decorative portion of your spoon so that you have a longer portion of the spoon handle to work with to bend for your cord and for better balance so your pendant hangs right and looks good.

Use your nylon coated pliers (if you have some) and bend the handle toward the back of the decorative spoon handle. If you don't have the nylon coated pliers you can probably bend the handle just by hand without any surface damage to the spoon handle.

Once the handle is bent upward use pliers to bend the flattened bowl to create a hook type shape for the chain, ribbon, or cord to slide through.

If you want a dangle, select your bead and use fishing line, if you want it to be transparent, or wire to thread through your bead and tie it around the bent spoon handle.

Change the look by alternating between chain, ribbon, or cord.

Enjoy wearing your pendant necklace with your favorite outfits!

I kept the pendant that shows the back. It was the first one I made and has flaws. The spoon bowl was not bent as evenly as my second one was so it doesn't look as good from the backside as the other one did. No one should really see that anyway but I like to try to make my items look good on every side no matter if they are supposed to show or not. On the one with the back pictured I bent the flattened bowl outward to hold the chain, ribbon, or cord. On the second one I made and gave to my stepmom I bent the flattened bowl inward and the pendant hung more vertically due to the balance being better. I show pictures of the one I made first hanging and it is fine and especially when I wear it since it naturally hits my blouse/chest area and stays flat but when I bent the spoon bowl in rather than out on the one for my stepmom it seemed to have better balance and only hung perfectly vertically. It is not a big problem and either way will work but it is just something to consider if you will be making a pendant from a spoon for the first time.