This Dia de los Muertos Papel Picado Necklace is the perfect accessory to celebrate your ancestors! Use it for Day of the Dead or all year round. So fun!
Papel picado is one of my favorite traditional Mexican crafts! It’s basically tissue paper flags that are intricately cut with gorgeous designs and hung during celebrations. You can find out more information about the origin and examples of papel picado on the Mexican Folk Art website.
Papel Picados History
This Dia de los Muertos Papel Picado Necklace takes inspiration from the traditionally fragile flags and turns them into a jewelry piece that can withstand the test of time. You may remember playing with shrink plastics as a kid. If so, be prepared to be amazed with this awesome material again. So much fun to watch it shrink!
Papel Picado Necklace Tutorial
You can find the full tutorial on how to make a Dia de los Muertos Papel Picado Necklace below. Grab the free SVG files either on Cricut Design Space or through the link below.
Dia de los Muertos Papel Picado Necklace
Supplies:
- Shrink Plastic
- Cricut Explore Air 2
- Permanent Markers
- Embossing Tool or Oven
- Necklace Supplies (chain, eye hooks, pliers)
- Free "Papel Picado" SVG File (download below)
Instructions
- Download the free "Papel Picado" SVG files below and pull into your cutting machine program. You can also find these files in Design Space
. - Cut shrink plastic material with the Poster Board settings using a Deep Cut Blade. Weed excess plastic.
- add color to the coarse side of the plastic with different colors of permanent markers.
- Use the heat tool to shrink the plastic down. You may need to hold the cutout in place with an awl (or something similar) to prevent it from being blown away.
- Once all the flags have been shrunk, use jewelry supplies to finish necklace.
Grab the FREE Papel Picado SVG Files!
Day of the Dead / Dia de los Muertos
I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating Dia de los Muertos / Day of the Dead! It’s a very special time for my culture and family where we celebrate our ancestors with festivities. We always put up ofrendas (offerings) which is an alter filled with pictures and favorite items of deceased family or friends.
A holiday that centers around death may seem like it would be sad or depressing but it’s actually quite the contrary. Dia de los Muertos is festive day that celebrates the memories of our loved one with stories, good food, and drinks!
Celebrate Love!
I hope you enjoy making this Dia de los Muertos Papel Picado Necklace either for yourself or as a gift! There are tons of papel picado free printable files on the internet if you’d like to make different flags. Hope you have a great day with your family and friends!
Comments & Reviews
Judi Johnson says
I only found one type of flag in the download, yet your pictures show 3 different flags. Did I do something wrong? How do I get all 3 of the flags?