How Photo Projection Necklaces Work
A projection pendant looks like an ordinary piece of jewellery with a small dark stone in it. The stone is not a stone. It is a lens, and a photograph has been micro-etched inside it — small enough that you cannot see it with the naked eye, and permanent because it is inside the glass rather than printed on the outside.
What is actually inside the stone
The image is written into the glass with a laser at a scale of a few hundred micrometres. Because it sits under the surface, there is nothing on the outside to scratch, fade, rub off or wash away. This is the part that matters if you intend to wear the piece every day rather than keep it in a drawer.
It is not a locket. Nothing opens, there is no hinge, and there is no paper photograph folded up inside.
How you see the photograph
Hold a light source directly against the back of the stone — a phone torch is the easiest — and point the front of the pendant at something pale. A wall, a ceiling, a sheet of paper, or the inside of your own hand all work. The lens throws the etched image onto that surface.
It works best in a dim room. In bright daylight the projection is washed out, the same way a slide projector is.
What it really looks like
This is where most descriptions oversell, so plainly: the projected picture is about the size of your palm, soft at the edges, and dim. It looks like a small slide projection in a dark room, not a sharp photograph on a screen. Faces read clearly; fine detail and text do not.
Knowing that in advance is the difference between a lovely surprise and a disappointment. If you were expecting a crisp, bright image on the wall, this is not that, and no projection pendant at any price is.
What photograph works best
A clear picture where the face is reasonably large in the frame. Close crops beat wide shots. Group photographs work, but everyone in them ends up small. Bright, well-lit originals project better than dark ones.
How long one takes to make
Nothing is made in advance, because every piece has one particular person's photograph inside it and is no use to anybody else. Production takes one to three working days and delivery usually takes another four to nine, so most orders arrive within about two weeks.
Does the metal matter?
Not to the projection — that is entirely the lens. The finish is a matter of taste. Ours are a plated finish over a base metal in gold, rose gold or silver; they are not solid gold, and we say so rather than letting anyone find out later.
See the pieces
The Hidden Photo Necklace — the pendant, from $69.99, free shipping.
The Hidden Photo Keychain — the same stone on a split ring, $34.99.
You upload the photograph on the product page and confirm it before you pay.