Use your fingers and thumbs to create fingerprint artwork and turn it into an art necklace.
Make a DIY fingerprint or thumbprint art necklace for an easy homemade fingerprint craft and gift idea that kids, teens, or adults can make for family, friends, teachers, and co-workers. Fingerprint art necklaces and keychain charms are always a hit with young and old alike. You’re never too old to make fingerprint art DIY necklaces! You might also enjoy making Fingerprint Art Glass Magnets.
How to Make Art Necklace Jewelry
Gather the fingerprint and thumbprint art jewelry craft supplies you would like to use from the list of jewelry-making supplies and follow the step-by-step directions to make your own artwork jewelry at home or in the classroom. The complete step-by-step instructions for the fingerprint art necklaces are below the video tutorial. Scroll down for the DIY details. Or look at this list of beautiful homemade gifts kids can make for even more easy craft ideas.
Fingerprint Art Necklace Jewelry Making Supplies
Gather the following simple supplies to make your own unique handmade artwork jewelry. Use the tutorial below to make fingerprint art necklaces, or learn How to make fingerprint art keychains and backpack charms!
- Heavyweight paper (printer or cardstock – bright white is best)
- Fine tip black permanent marker
and/or gel pens - Fingerprint ink pads
- Scissors
- Mod Podge
- Diamond Glaze
- Pendant trays with glass cabochon jewelry-making options: (choose at least one of the jewelry-making supplies)
- Pre-made necklaces for pendants (choose at least one from the list below or make a DIY necklace):
- Sterling silver snake chain necklace (fit all pendant shapes)
- Silver-plated snake chain necklaces (fit all pendant shapes)
- Imitation leather cord necklaces (fit all pendant shapes)
- Multi-colored satin silk necklaces (fit oval pendants but not the square or circle pendant charms)
and/or 
Related: The Best Art Supplies for Kids and Why Young Artists Should Use Them
Related: Four Season Handprint and Fingerprint Tree
3 Easy Ideas for Fingerprint and Thumbprint Art Necklace Jewelry
First, invite children to create art using the fun ideas below. Next, have the kids turn their artwork into necklaces with the video tutorial and step-by-step instructions posted below the fingerprint art necklace ideas list. Or use our craft tutorial to make keychains or backpack charms.
1. Thumbprint Heart Necklaces
Have children use their thumbs to make hearts to make thumbprint heart necklaces. Another fun idea is to make thumbprint heart keychains. Click on either of the links above for the step-by-step tutorials. Or make thumbprint heart magnet crafts instead!
2. Fingerprint Flower Necklaces
Invite the kids to create flowers using their fingertips to make fingerprint flower necklaces (or keychains). Click on the link for the directions to make this simple keepsake craft. Or try making Fingerprint Flower Magnets.
3. Fingerprint Art Necklaces and Thumbprint Art Necklaces
There are so many fun ways to create art with fingertips and thumbs! My daughter and I have made lots of fingerprint art for fingerprint art necklaces and fingerprint art magnets!
We have had a wonderful time together trying the ideas in the books below and making fingerprint and thumbprint art using these fingerprint ink pads
and a black permanent marker with a fine tip
.
My daughter and I particularly enjoyed Ed Emberley’s Complete Funprint Drawing Book. It contains two of his most popular fingerprint art and thumbprint art books combined into one fantastic fingerprint art book for kids.
We also loved the Fingerprint Princesses and Fairies book. Invite your children to find inspiration to create their own fingerprint art using the ideas in any of the books below.
Ed Emberley’s Complete Funprint Drawing BookEd Emberley’s Fingerprint Drawing Book
Fingerprint Princesses and Fairies: and 100 Other Magical Creatures – Amazing Art for Hands-on Fun (Fingerprint Art)
Fingerprint & Draw: Animals & Insects: Draw & paint more than 25 cool fingerprint and thumbprint masterpieces (Drawing with your Fingers)
Fingerprint Monsters and Dragons: and 100 Other Adventurous Creatures (Fingerprint Art)
Fingerprint Activities: Animals
Fingerprint & Draw: On the Farm: Draw & paint more than 30 cool fingerprint and thumbprint masterpieces (Drawing with your Fingers)
Fingerprint Drawing: Art Fun at Your Fingertips!
Fingerprint Animals (Fun with Fingerprints)
Fingerprint Fun: Pictures to Complete with Painty Fingertips
Fingerprint Fun: Pets and Farm Animals
Elera 20 Colors Rainbow Craft Finger Ink pads for Rubber Stamps Card Making
Related: Handprint Jewelry Dish Kids Can Make
DIY Fingerprint Art Necklace Video Tutorial
Watch the video to see how easy it is to make fingerprint art necklaces. In it, you can see my daughter demonstrating how to make fingerprint butterflies into magical art with gel pens. The video also shows how easy it is to use identical pendants to make keychains and backpack charms.
Step-by-step directions for DIY art necklaces can be found below the video tutorial. You may also like photo jewelry or personalized picture keychain photo charms. Click on the links for the step-by-step instructions for each DIY fingerprint art project.
Related: DIY Acorn Marble Necklaces
Fingerprint Art Necklace Step-By-Step Tutorial
Follow the easy DIY directions below to make your own fingerprint art jewelry!
1. Create fingerprint and thumbprint art.
- Invite the kids to draw and/or use fingerprint ink pads to make fingerprint art and thumbprint art that can be used to make art necklaces or fingerprint art magnets. Use the easy art ideas above to create fingerprint and/or thumbprint art!
to make fingerprint art and thumbprint art that can be used to make art necklaces or 
2. Glue the fingerprint art to the glass cabochon gem.
- Play with the glass cabochons to see which shape will fit on top of the fingerprint artwork that you have created.
- Place a small drop of Mod Podge (or white PVA glue) on the back (flat side) of a glass cabochon and place it on the art as shown in the video to attach it to the cabochon.
- Allow the glue to dry. Overnight is best.
3. Cut away any remaining paper around the glass cabochon.
- Use small scissors to trim and cut away paper around the glass cabochon for the necklace. It doesn’t need to be perfect.
- The paper will pull slightly away from the glass cabochon when you cut it off. Gently massage the back of each cabochon to press the paper with the fingerprint art back onto the cabochon.
- You might need to place a small drop of Mod Podge under the paper if it pulled away too much to glue it back down. Most of the time, you will not need to do this. Simply massaging the paper on the back of the cabochon works fine. If you use a bit more glue, you do not need to wait for it to dry before moving on to the next step.
4. Glue the glass cabochon into the pendant tray.
- Use Diamond Glaze Adhesive to glue the glass cabochon into a pendant tray of the same shape.
- Place the adhesive into the pendant tray or directly onto the paper on the back of the glass cabochon. Both ways are shown in the video, and either technique will work.
5. Place the fingerprint art pendant onto a necklace or cord.
- Thread a necklace through the loop of the fingerprint art pendant to finish your fingerprint art necklace. Ready-made necklace options can be found below:
- Sterling silver snake chain necklace (fit all pendant shapes)
- Silver-plated snake chain necklaces (fit all pendant shapes)
- Multi-colored satin silk necklaces (fit into oval pendants but not square or circle pendants)
- Imitation leather cord necklaces (fit all pendant shapes)
- Bead a DIY necklace, or use one of the premade necklace options below. (If you hand bead a homemade necklace, place the fingerprint art pendant onto it when it is halfway finished. Otherwise, it may not fit over the beads to hang down in the middle.)
Related: Fun Art and Craft Ideas
DIY Fingerprint Art Necklace Homemade Craft and Gift Idea Kids Can Make
Make some fingerprint art necklaces for an easy homemade gift idea that kids and adults of all ages can make!
Fingerprint and thumbprint art made into a necklace, keychain, or backpack charm, is an easy homemade gift idea that moms, dads, and grandparents will LOVE!
Fingerprint art, thumbprint heart, and fingerprint flower glass magnets are always a big hit with friends and family. Give them to someone special for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, a birthday, an anniversary, or Christmas.
Picture necklaces and photo keychain charms also make unique handmade gift ideas.
Don’t forget to pop over to have a look at the other beautiful homemade gift ideas kids can make. For more art and craft ideas, click on the link.
Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE.
If you Liked Art Necklaces, You Might Also Like:
- Four Season Handprint and Fingerprint Tree
- Best Flower Art Projects
- How to Make a Fairy Garden
- Books That Teach Kids Important Life Lessons
I enjoy your kids activities. Would love to make the fingerprint necklace, but do not need the quantity Amazon sells. Do you sell the pendant shapes and chains. I would buy two of each shape and chains to go with. This would be a gift my 3 year old grandson will make for his Mom.
Hi Debra,
What a sweet grandmother you are! I wish I could say yes to your question, but I do not sell pendants or chains to make fingerprint art necklaces. You might find the pendants and charms in smaller amounts at your local jewelry supply shop or hobby store. Or, ask a few friends if they would like to make some to split the cost. Happy crafting!
Hi! I’m looking for a project to work with a group of children at my local library. I wouldn’t have time to wait for the fingerprint to dry on the glass pendant. Would it be too risky to cut it and stick to the jewelry the same day?
Hi Rosana, the fingerprint ink only takes a few minutes to dry, so it should be okay. But if it is still wet, it can cause the fingerprint art to smear or look a bit cloudy, which is not ideal. So it would be best to wait a bit for it to dry before sticking it to the glass gem and putting it into the pendant. But I have had several teachers tell me that they have had success making them after waiting a few minutes. Sometimes blowing on the fingerprint art can help it dry faster. Good luck!!
I was wondering where I can find the necklaces. I can’t find the mom Amazon. Thank you
Hi Natalia, you can choose several tray, cabochon, and necklace options to make fingerprint art necklaces. Each type is listed in the jewelry-making craft supply section with an Amazon affiliate link before the step-by-step tutorial. If you click to purchase, Rhythms of Play will earn a small commission at no additional cost. I hope that helps!