This post may contain affiliate links. If you use them, it helps keep the blog going, which I appreciate.

Even though I wish I could parade around in cute things all day every day, I’m not quite bold enough to fully commit to it. I try to find smaller ways to work it in. When I made this Hello Kitty rice bowl necklace, this was my version of that. Something cute, but not loud about it.

I had a bunch of these cabochons sitting in my closet for years. I finally picked them back up when I was thinking about launching a handmade accessories shop. I didn’t change it much, I just elevated the hell out of it.

Design Choices Behind the Hello Kitty Rice Bowl Necklace

The cab was already cute on its own, so I didn’t feel the need to change it. I did want it to stand on its own. It was too cute not to.

I ordered these knowing they were B-grade, so I wasn’t expecting perfect painting or perfect eyes. The first thing I did was repaint it. I kept the yellow, red, and green. It looked better, but it still wasn’t giving me that urge to squeeze it like it was something edible.

Then I was watching a show and someone was holding a snow globe. That’s when glitter came to mind. Glitter is great, but it always comes with fallout. If I was going to take the time to elevate this, I didn’t want it rubbing off like bad Christmas decorations. That’s when I decided to seal everything in resin. I knew my glittering technique would really benefit with resin.

How I Made the Hello Kitty Rice Bowl Necklace

Glittering the Bowl and Bow (Process + Materials)

I knew I wanted the bowl fully glittered, so I painted on a layer of Mod Podge and applied glitter all around it. I let that dry completely, then added another thin layer and more glitter. After that dried, I sealed it one more time with Mod Podge. This is when I developed my glittering technique.

If you don’t let it dry fully between layers, the glitter will start sliding around when you go back in.

For the bow, I followed the same process. I glittered it first, then added detail with gold acrylic paint.

The line detail on the bowl was done with acrylic paint as well. Since the cabochon already has raised areas, I painted the red all the way around first, then went in with the green.

Once everything was dry, I sealed it with resin. I batched these so I wouldn’t waste resin. A silicone mat helps a lot with containing the mess.

Fixing the Eyes on the Hello Kitty

The eyes were all over the place on some of these. I scraped off stray paint with an X-acto knife, then went back in with black acrylic paint to clean them up. If her eyes aren’t just right, it doesn’t seem like Hello Kitty.

Necklace Hardware and Finishing Details

I love gold. My mom always wore gold jewelry and that definitely stuck with me. I made these with both gold and silver ball chain. I wanted my shop, that never was, to lean gold, but I didn’t want to completely ignore people who prefer silver.

The closure is a simple lobster clasp, but I added a small green pearl and crystal charm at the end. I always struggle with clasps when I can’t feel where I’m going, so this helps.

The beads were repurposed from broken necklaces.

Hello Kitty Rice Bowl Necklace: Why I Elevated It Instead of Using It in Something Bigger

This was extremely tedious, and I was convinced at some point the resin wouldn’t cure. That’s always in the back of my mind. I don’t know why, but I really like working on small things like this.

I originally thought I’d use these cabs as part of something bigger, like a phone case, but I never got around to it. That was happening a lot at that point of my life.

I’m glad I kept it simple and let it stand on its own.

As I work on bringing The Cute Effect back, I like having a place to put things like this. It feels good to acknowledge that I made it and actually followed through, even if I still have all the pieces living with me.

There’s a difference between turning something into something new and just making what you already have better. I don’t always know which direction I’m going to go, but this time I’m glad I didn’t turn it into something else and just handled it my way.