Chunky Funky Pendant from paperclips and erasers!

I was at the Dollar Tree last night and I came across these cool looking erasers that made me think back to the back-to-school shopping trip I had done a few weeks before with my 11-year-old sister who had a growth spurt this year and is now taller than me.  Apparently, this year in fashion for young girls, neutral is not the way to go. 

Anyways, I thought I could make something for her to go with all her new clothes as sort of a back to school present.

I grabbed the following from the Dollar Tree:

Like my orange linoleum countertops?  yeah....

 Ooooo colored paper clips....so pretty....

I also had some nylon invisible thread on hand (you could use fishing line instead) and super glue.

I started by using a paperclip to make a hole in one end of the eraser.

Then I cut a small (about an inch and a half) piece of a paperclip off with wire cutters and jammed it into the other end.  (careful though, you can easily pop through the side of the eraser if you aren't careful)

Then carefully putting the end of the paperclip sticking out into the hole you made on the other side, you have a loop!

I picked out another eraser that was complimentary to the other one and repeated this process, interlocking the rings.

Next I stripped one of the paperclips and cut off 3/4" - 1" pieces.  

I unbent a few white paperclips and cut them into 1/3's.

Using my needle-nose pliers, I grabbed one end of the white paperclip piece and began carefully wrapping it around the tip of the pliers, making a spiral shape.

Then I took the small stripped pieces and bent them around two of the spirals making a jewelry jumper ring.   NOTE:  The paperclip edges can be somewhat sharp so I used a pair of pliers to repeatedly smash the tips and dull them.

After I had made two chains of the spirals, I got out my nylon thread (you could use fishing line instead here) and tied around the top spiral several times.

Then I attached it around the paperclip that was holding the eraser ends together.  You can tie it a bit long, then wrap the string around the paperclip here.

Next, I super glued my fingers -- err, I mean, I super glued the ends of the erasers together. NOTE:  remember to adjust them so when you squeeze the ends together the colors and shape matches up.

The last step is just to add a chain of your choosing (and remove the superglue from your hands...)! I chose a simple (and cheap!) ball chain to hang mine from. 

It wont last forever through use by an 11-year-old, but neither does an 11-year-old's taste in fashion!  And if she breaks it, she can always still use it as an eraser.....