Design This – Pendant from Dead iPod

What to do when your dead iPod with the custom engraving that is special to you doesn’t work anymore? You can’t just throw it away. Let Etsy’s alchemy section come to the rescue! Earlier this year I found an alchemy request titled “Make me a pendant out of a dead iPod”. At first I was stumped for an idea, then I decided a nice wooden frame sounded like a good way to accomplish this. I sent a convo to see if the requestor liked my idea and if so I needed a few questions answered so that I could make a bid. After a bit of discussion, the requestor decided to accept my bid saying, “I like the idea of a wooden frame with embellishments from the circuit board. The contrast of natural/industrial is great.”

After I received the iPod from my customer, I had to take it apart to see what was available to become part of the pendant. I took photos of the pieces(#1) and sent them to my customer to see if there was anything that especially caught her eye. The only real imperative at this point was to incorporate the custom engraving and to have an open backed frame in a dark wood color, so I mocked up a few frame and circuit board embellishments for us to contemplate(#2). The aspect ratio of the pendant mock ups kept bothering me though. I didn’t like that the pendant would be wider than it was tall. I started to think about how I might make a rounded frame. Inspiration struck and I sliced some sections off a small, cured sycamore branch and cut out an opening. I sent a photo of this to my customer and after some minor adjustments, it was a winning idea.(#3)

Now that I knew what my frame opening would be like, I needed to cut out the metal section. The iPod case was a bit tougher than I had expected, so I had to buy some less fine and stronger blades for my jewelry saw. After getting the section cut off that included the inscription, we needed to decide on what would show through the open back of the pendant frame. We finally decided on a section of circuit board.

After securing the metal piece with the engraving to the circuit board section and then the wood frame front and backs, came the part that I was really looking forward to. I had had an idea for filling the gap between the wood frame on the edges that my customer agreed to let me use.(#4) I had not worked with the materials myself before, but had seen it used in many similar circumstances and really wanted a chance to try it out myself. I thought the gap would look great filled with inlaid crushed stone. Malachite would be a great color to coordinate with the green of the circuit board. I’m pleased to say that it worked out just like I had wanted it to.

Now the only thing left was to attach some hand formed “jump rings” so that my customer could attach her pendant to a necklace and send off photos for final approval from my customer.(#’s 5 & 6) I’m happy to say that she thought the pendant was beautiful and loved the way that it turned out. It is rewarding to be able to rise to a challenge like this and successfully turn someone’s idea into reality.

Please e-mail Eclectic Design Choices or request a custom item from EDCCollective if you have a custom project that you would like to see if I can help with.