Jewelry making supplies « Vintage Glass Jewels

Rhinestone Pear Two-Jewel Charms – Gorgeous DIY

I’ve found some wonderful new settings for my vintage rhinestone jewels – in golden brass, vintage patina brass, and silver. They make gorgeous multi-stone jewels for your DIY jewelry! Here are just a few sample colors:

They measure just a smidge over 1″ high, so they’re a great size for earrings and pendants too – not too heavy to wear but plenty big enough to be noticed 🙂 And I’ve got lots of colors yet to photograph – vintage glass jewels in emerald green, rose pink, sparkling crystal and more. And the sparkly little rhinestones can be varied too – there are some wonderful combos possible!

Make your own earrings to match that perfect dress – or for your bridesmaids – or your mum for Mother’s Day. Do it – you’ll love the earrings (and she will too!)

P.S. Just an added bonus: the settings are all made in America and they’re brass, which is nickel and lead free – these are gentle and easy on the skin.

Peek into my Etsy shop

Just a peek at some new vintage glass jewels, beads, and rhinestones that are available in my Etsy jewelry supplies shop. I’ve just been able to resupply some of my favorites… and a few new ones 🙂

And… just for the record: if there’s ever a stone, or setting, or jewel, that you’re trying to find – and can’t? Come over there and send me a note – I’ll try my hardest to help you find one!

Aqua Vintage Glass Beads or Jewels

The fashion biz – or maybe the entire retail biz – can be funny. Here’s another example of how color names are a little tricky. All these jewels are called “aqua”:

And there are even more color variations in the “aqua” jewels in my Etsy shop – I just picked a few examples that I’d photographed on a white background.

From aqua green – to deep turquoise – to light blue – in the jewelry biz, they can all be called “aqua”.

Confusing? Sometimes!

P.S. And you’ll notice my title says “Vintage glass beads or jewels”. It’s funny how we get used to certain phrases…. jewels or stones have no holes, so they’re not “beads”. But we’re used to using “beads” in our jewelry – it’s funny how many people just prefer that term. So sometimes I’m just going to go with the flow – vintage glass beads. Or jewels 🙂

Vintage Glass Beads – or Vintage Glass Jewels

There’s the question 🙂 Some people call these lovely old rhinestones “jewels”. Or “stones”. Or “beads”. The terms are almost but not quite interchangeable.

Technically – if I’m informed correctly! – beads have holes in them, or rather through them, so that a wire or pin may be inserted in order to attach the bead to your jewelry piece. You can see the holes easily in these clear glass heart beads:

However, vintage glass “jewels” or “stones” have no holes. They’re placed in a metal setting which has a loop or ring so the jewel may be attached to your jewelry item:

See, there’s a loop or ring on the metal setting – not a hole through the “bead”.

That shows you the technical differences.

But in reality? They’re all treated as “beads” – the general term that applies to pretty charms, dangles or beads, that you use to create jewelry. People ask for beads all the time when they might mean cabochons, jewels, stones, or, well, beads. It’s all good 🙂

And of course, I’ve usually got some lovely heart beads – or jewels – in my Etsy jewelry supplies shop. Go peek – and if you don’t see what you need, just ask!

Rhinestone Jewel Connectors

I’ve got a few new colors of these pretty rhinestone connectors in my Etsy shop. If you make jewelry, they’re super useful. Use them as links for bracelets or leading to the focal on a necklace. And when you use them for earring dangles, you can combine them with other jewels to make smashing color combos.

Six colors vintage style glass jewel connectors

Add a peridot teardrop jewel to the rose pink rhinestone connector. Or a shimmering Swarovski pearl to the crystal connectors. Or – well, you see what I mean. These are fun to work with!

Vintage Glass Beads or Jewels – Sapphire Hearts

I’m sneaking this in when I meant to get back to my sapphire pear earrings – but I just got these sapphire heart jewels in, and it’s been so long since I had any sapphire hearts. I’m not sure why, but it’s really hard to find vintage heart jewels lately. Maybe because they really are in demand?

And so pretty!

Sapphire Heart Vintage Glass Beads or Jewels in my Etsy shop

Yes, they’re available in my Etsy jewelry supplies shop 🙂

Classic Ruby Rhinestone Necklace

I was looking for a vintage ruby rhinestone necklace recently – a customer request made me curious. She was looking for a Miriam Haskell (or knockoff). Anyway it got me to looking, and I found to my surprise that there were very few to be found! I’m not sure why red, or ruby, is a hard color to find.

I had just made a classic style, ruby rhinestone necklace for another customer – obviously this one isn’t vintage (though the ovals are true vintage, made in West Germany about 50 years ago). I thought it turned out well:

It’ll be a wonderful Valentine’s present – and yes, it’ll be available through Weekend Jewelry. It’s not even onsite yet – but will be pronto!

Pantone’s Color of the Year 2013 – Emerald

Drum roll! Feature stories today are talking about Pantone’s “Color of the Year” for 2013. I’m not even sure how they got the job but by now, Pantone’s predictions heavily influence the colors that will be Hot for the next season – in housewares, fashion, and of course, jewelry. I don’t think it’s the be-all and end-all that they want us to believe but still, it’s interesting.

So it was serendipity that I had just made a graphic of some of the lovely emerald jewels in my my Etsy jewelry supplies shop:

some of the emerald jewels at weekendjewelry1 jewelry supplies shop at Etsy

I have to say, I love emerald. It’s not just because I’m (sometimes, with a little help) a redhead. It’s just such a rich, flattering, luxurious color. And it looks good on just about everybody. And it’s gorgeous. And did I say rich?

Color of the year: emerald. They could do worse 🙂

December Birthstones

Sometimes we have to remind ourselves – people do have birthdays in December! There’s so much activity centered around Christmas, let’s remember our birthday girls too 🙂

The birthstones – or birthstone colors – for December can vary according to the source, how traditional or modern, etc. But in general, these are considered to be the birthday colors for December:

Blue zircon, turquoise, and blue topaz (yes, the colors are often gemstone-oriented!)

And I just happen to have some lovely turquoise, aqua, and blue zircon vintage glass jewels in my Etsy jewelry supplies shop. Like these:

aqua glass rhinestone jewels at weekendjewelry1 jewelry supplies shop at Etsy

Aqua is actually one of my most popular colors – I think because it’s universallly flattering. I usually have more shapes available – and in December it’s also birthstone-appropriate!

Fuschia Pink Glass Jewels

I wanted to show off this outrageous color – these are new rhinestone jewels I just listed in my Etsy shop:

I actually took pics of the pear jewels with the foil backing (this is the way they arrived) – see the top half of this pic. I removed the foil, just to see how they looked – I think I might like the sheer jewels even better. But it’s a close call!

They make wonderful party jewelry for you or as a gift – and like good DIY, they cost a lot less than buying ready-made. If you’re looking for hot pink or fuschia jewels, I bet you’ll love these 🙂

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Rhinestone Pear Two-Jewel Charms – Gorgeous DIY

Peek into my Etsy shop

Aqua Vintage Glass Beads or Jewels

Vintage Glass Beads – or Vintage Glass Jewels

Rhinestone Jewel Connectors

Vintage Glass Beads or Jewels – Sapphire Hearts

Classic Ruby Rhinestone Necklace

Pantone’s Color of the Year 2013 – Emerald

December Birthstones

Fuschia Pink Glass Jewels

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