How to create beautiful horse hair pendants
The perfect way to honor a special equine
This Insightfully Crafted project aims to capture just a little bit of horse magic while going well beyond your basic DIY horse hair jewelry. 😉
I’ve had two very special horses pass away and I kept braids of their hair with the idea that I would have something made in their honor. Unfortunately even years later I never came up with the right piece. Many jewelry options required a lot more hair than I had and they are also very delicate which means I won’t wear them as much as I’d like to. So the special horses sat in the closet coming to mind every September up until now. Now they are being worn close to my heart and remembered with love every day.
Back in 2010 on a trip to the World Equestrian Games, my sister picked up a beautiful butterfly pendant for our mom. The design on it was made using a large piece of a delicate butterfly wing that was sealed under resin. Seeing how it has held up to a ton of wear (don’t think my she took it off for the first year she owned it and even now almost ten years later it still looks pretty darn good) got me to thinking using this method to create horse hair pendants might be perfect for people like me who actually want to wear their pieces every day and not worry about ruining them.
Creating horse hair jewelry
After doing a bit of research and gathering supplies my mom, my sister, and I took a shot at creating horse hair pendants with resin. There were a few that didn’t work out so well and lots of trial and error on designs but overall I’m pretty proud of the results.
Gathering supplies
Because each piece is unique I don’t have a perfect step-by-step process to give you on how to create your own but I do have a supply list to share with you…
SuppliesÂ
- Glaze coat resin
- Open back bezelsÂ
- Stainless steal bezelsÂ
- Mica dye
- Horse hair
- Feathers, dried flower petals or other items you want to add
- Cups, stir sticks, toothpicks, flexible mat/cutting board, clear packing tape
- Bails
- Put them on a chain of your choice (necklace, key ring, as a charm on your favorite piece of tack, etc)Â
The methods I used came off of a few art resin websites and youTube and the steps vary depending upon what you want the finished pendant to look like.
Some of the ones with hair tied into intricate designs we followed paracord videos to come up with tying methods and for the color variations, we had a lot of fun with trial and error mixing up small batches of resin and adding mica powder to it. I think we opened almost all 24 colors in the set by the time we were done with 16 pendants.
This project does take serval days to complete as it requires each resin layer to dry before adding the next element.Â
Get the perfect custom piece without the work
If you like the idea of having a horse hair pendant but aren’t sure you’re up for creating one, I’ve got you covered. I’m offering custom made pieces that include your horse’s hair, your choice of design, color options, shape, and metal finish. You get to pick out everything you want and leave the intricate work up to me. If you have questions about custom pieces you can email me here. Or to get started right away you can pick the custom pendant option in the Insightful Equine Shop and I’ll be in touch right away to go over details for creating your one of a kind piece.
I also have some ready to ship pendants available in the Insightful Equine Shop for those that are looking for a unique piece of horse hair jewelry without the wait.
Insightfully,
Becky
Those look really nice Becky!!! Great idea!!
Awe thanks Anne, they’re really a lot of fun to make. Maybe you and Keeana can get together and whip some up. I’m sure she’s got some spare horse hair 😉