Faux Capiz Trinket Boxes DIY

We've all seen those adorable faux capiz chandeliers made out of wax paper shells posted around blogland.  I wondered why more craft items haven't been made using the technique of ironing sheets of wax paper together and making something else out of the translucent looking material. As a crafter, I am always looking around for inspiration and thought faux capiz glued to paper mache boxes would look fabulous as trinket boxes.

There are lots of tutorials on ironing sheets of wax paper together to form the faux capiz but I especially like this video to get you started.  It talks about the proper way to iron wax paper and how many sheets of wax paper you can iron together so that they "stay together." I started out thinking I could just iron as many sheets together to get  thick faux capiz , but I soon learned that I couldn't.

Four sheets of wax paper is about the max you can iron together. And still I had a problem with them coming apart after cutting. Maybe it was my ironing technique or the wax paper, I just know if you plan on making something like this, be prepared to glue wax paper pieces together as you go.

 I started with a paper mache box that I traced the sides onto the ironed wax paper and cut out.


 Next, I cut the sides into 1/2 inch strips.

It was easy for me to lay the strips on the box and make "lines" with an xacto knife where I wanted to cut.

I applied tacky glue at first but later switched to using a brush and mod podge to speed things up.

I glued the faux capiz "tiles" down on all four sides, allowed to dry and . . . .

painted the tiles and box interior with a combination of white metallic pearl and gold metallic pearl acrylic which gave the tiles a bit more shimmer like you see with real capiz shells.

  

 Made a round faux capiz trinket box to match.

And added a crystal ball to the tops.

How cute are these to store my mother's old jewelry in? 

   

What ideas do you have to make with faux capiz?

  

Take a little time to enjoy

and

Happy Crafting!