Dismantle Old Jewelry to Make New Treasures

I just did this. I had two ancient, well made crystal necklaces. One was clear crystal cubes of assorted sizes, a choker style necklace. The other was also a choker, a triple strand of round aurora borealis clear crystals of graduated sizes. I matched up the bead sizes for the round crystals and made two bracelets, one small beads and one the next size of beads, and made earrings out of the larger crystals.

For a pendant I strung the largest crystal on the "invisible" nylon thread. For the large cube choker, the smaller cubes were either side of the clasp. The clasp was antique and fabulous. So
I removed the cubes that were too long for a bracelet, and fastened the two outside loops together when I found the correct size, by removing the additional cubes. Then I made earrings from two large cubes, and another necklace of the largest cube, again strung on invisible nylon.

I thus had two instant new jewelry sets my friends really admired. I asked them to bring me their old beaded jewelry if they wanted something similar. It didn't take long to make either. I found the earrings really challenging but I'd do it again.

Janet

January 23, 20090 found this helpful

I think Patti and Emily were destined to be jewelry makers! Re-cycling old neglected treasures is a favorite of us beaders. Good for you!

Tonya

January 17, 20100 found this helpful

I have also been doing this same thing with broken jewelry that I have found at garage sales. However, since it is now winter there aren't many garage sales to be had.