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Another vote for neutral glass jewels! Yes I love color, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes neutrals – gray, cream, black – speak quietly. But with great panache (love that word). Neutral has power!
And many times you don’t want your earrings (or tiny pendant) to compete with your outfit. You want quiet – but gorgeous. These earring jewels do that.
And – bonus! These are customizeable. You pick the color of the tiny round stone at the top of the setting. Use light gray (black diamond) as shown here. Or sparkling crystal. Or vivid aqua! There’s a whole list of colors to choose from. Go pick the combo that works best with your bridesmaid dresses, or your best Business Suit. Custom jewelry – and affordable. This works!
I was just looking at stones on my worktable, after doing up some new photos and..okay, I was playing. These stones are red, and white. Christmas colors, you know? And Valentine’s Day colors. And, colors that we actually wear.
So yeah, with holidays, this idea comes at a great time. But of course, the design works with any colors you want. And any shapes, for that matter. I think it works well to have a bit of contrast – the larger, opaque white round stones paired with the smaller, sparkling red diamonds. With green – also great. How about black and white?
You get the idea, I know. Play with shapes and colors. Make the design your own!
P.S> No those aren’t actually diamonds! Diamond shape. You know I don’t think we should have to spend big bucks to make jewelry. Diamond shape!!!
I love this set of clear glass “gemstones”. I put quotes around the word “gemstones” because of course these stones are not precious. But they are lovely – and work beautifully for a pendant and coordinating earring jewels. You could use this octagon pendant all alone, “as is” – it makes a lovely pendant. Add the two diamond-shaped glass gems to make a more elaborate necklace. Use the smaller stones in one-ring settings for coordinating earrings, or add other beads and jewels. You can imagine the possibilities!
Part of what I want to focus on here, is that “just” clear glass – (nicely faceted and clear of flaws, well mostly) can make fabulous jewelry. You don’t need to have Bright Flashy Stones, or spend a fortune.
And of course, these go with pretty much everything. Talk about a win!
Rainbow stones – often known as “vitrail” in the jewelry trade – are some of the most wonderful and popular glass stone colors available. I should probably say “color combination” because they are never just one color! Take a look at the vitrail gems in this pic:
I’ve just gotten in some new packets – and the colors, as you can see, are rich and varied. Shades of purple and pink, green and gold, blue and aqua. Truly, no two are exactly the same – but they can be closely paired. Just saying – when you buy vitrail rainbow stones in my shop, they’ll be a set that truly works, for earrings, or pendants, or glass connectors – and in my experience they are wonderfully received when made into gifts for friends and family.
I think you’ll love them!
The round glass jewels in the pic below are a few of the rivoli faceted gems I have available in my shop right now. These 10mm round stones (that’s approximately 3/8″) are great for small pendants, earring jewels, and of course connectors that link design elements.
I’ll post a few pics showing these jewels being used for necklaces and earrings, over the next days. But you know you’ll think of lots of ways to use them – with your own style. That’s the way DIY jewelry is meant to be!
Your first thought when you hear “white stones” is summertime, right? But think about it. “Winter white” is a common expression for a reason! And think of all the fall and winter outfits you’ve seen (and own) that are “black and white”, “red and white”, “blue and white”… you get the idea. Adding white to another color can create a beautiful, dramatic, year-round appropriate piece of jewelry.
This pic is really to show the scale of the white 10mm and 12mm white cabochons, especially when used with / compared with, the 18x13mm pears (probably the most popular jewel size). Plus it suggests how we can combine these stones.
Of course you’ll take this idea and use it with your own beads and stones – and make it your own style. That’s the fun of do-it-yourself jewelry!
The glass stones I’m showing here (okay, showing off!) are “crystal AB” which is a commonly used abbreviation for “Aurora Borealis”. It’s the finish applied to crystal clear glass gems – and it really does reflect many colors of the rainbow!
In a way it’s almost hard to get good pictures of these stones – because they have so much reflection, so many colors depending on the angle and the light. They are always beautiful. Sometimes they seem to have more pink highlights. Sometimes blue, or purple, or gold. Did did I say they are always beautiful? Truly.
They make wonderful jewelry with very little extra embellishment needed. Slip the pendant on a chain. Add earwires to the smaller teardrops (in my shop) or the cushion cut octagons shown. Combine them with other stones or use them “as is”. You’ll love them!
Sometimes we need neutral jewelry – not bright colors or pretty pastels, but strong neutrals. These glass jewels are a great example!
The jet black faceted pears are a great combination with the (off)white glass round cabochons. These would look great all year round – but somehow Fall approaching makes us think of black and white.
You’ll adapt this idea to your own stones and jewels of course – any strong contrasting colors or neutrals would be great. Make the idea your own! (And share pics, I love to see them!)
P.S. If you want to make gifts (yes, Christmas is coming!) but you don’t know the fave colors to match – she can always use neutrals. We all wear black sometimes, yknow?
I just got in these adorable rainbow vitrail glass connectors. Small, useful, and so pretty! I show them here paired with vitrail glass pears (teardrops) – I think the shapes and sizes are so complementary.
I think these small – gorgeous! – glass gems are going to be about the most useful stones I’ve got. They’re quite rich in color, and while in my experience, absolutely no two vitrail stones are exactly the same – this is a wonderful batch, rich in color and it’s been quite easy to find coordinating (“matching” – for vitrail!) pairs. And the delicate size works with so many shapes. I’ll probably post another pair or two, just to show the possibilities – and to show them off!
A friend of mine recently asked for some ideas for golden topaz glass earrings – and she knows I usually have several jewel styles and shapes in my shop. I showed her these (plus a few others in that section):
Seriously she had trouble making up her mind! She surprised me – she went for the small(ish) round gems shown in the upper right pic, a little more conservative than I expected from her. But she said they were perfect: they had enough color and presence to really show, without being large or heavy.
I’m going to surprise her next week with another pair or two, just to show her some variety. I’ll post some here. But you know that’s the great thing about DIY jewelry – you get to make what you want!
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Jewelry and Accessories
Vintage, Recycled, Upcycled!
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