Cross pendant, Cross necklace Project
There are many variations of this project on the web. I looked at a lot of video and how-to's and settled on this one. Here's one of the better video demonstrations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1N8cnA5Z6Q
I did the following "Nail Bending and wrapping" cross project with my youth before trying it with my kids. Glad I did! The bending of the nails was challenging to them, as was trying to keep the four pieces from sliding around, despite the rubber bands. The finished product has some neat aspects to it, but I wouldn't do it with youth or kids again without pre-bending the nails.
In fact, see the next post in this topic for my "no bend" version, and my "lesson liturgy" in the next post after that where I combine the creation of the necklace with scripture from Mark's story of the Crucifixion.
Here's a photo of how my cross turned out.
BELOW this post -in the next post, -is my MODIFIED "No Nail Bending" version of the project. By so not wasting so much time on bending nails, we were able to avoid nail injuries and spend time on decorating them, and then making a second one to give away.
For those who want to bend the nails...here's a good tutorial. Getting them bent just right takes time and hand strength. I'd recommend the "no bend" version in the next post.
This youtube video link should be good for many years. If it disappears, you can find similar horseshoe nail bending videos. One of the reasons I like this guy's video is he clearly shows how to hold the nails together and how to wrap the wire.
Neil Comments:
He is using "#5" horseshoe nails. Less than $15 for 100 on Amazon. Craft wire and/or paracord also available there. Michael's Crafts also has plenty of wire and cord in their craft jewelry section.
-These are 'craft' quality nails, not for real horse-shoeing 
The aluminum craft wire he's using is about 22 gauge. I bought a 12 pack of 22 gauge in multi-colors for about $14.
Unlike he shows in the video, do not cut the wire off the spool until you're done wrapping with it. Holding the spool makes it easier to get a nice TIGHT WIND around the nails.
Alternately, you can wrap your cross with rawhide or thin nylon. Don't forget to superglue the cord at key points after wrapping to hold it to the cross.
Use "paracord" (braided nylon --like lanyard cord) or rawhide for the necklace.
Tip:
Substitute "super glue" for "varnish" at the end of the project. This will secure the wire and dry fast so students can take home at end of class.
BIG TIP: If you're bending your own nails, make sure you pre-measure where to put the bends in the nails and are consistent about it. Get the angles right too. If your bending is a little off, it makes the cross "whooper jawed" and harder to hold together when wrapping.
