Instead of throwing out old inexpensive beaded necklaces, bracelets, or mismatched or single earrings I no longer wear; I dismantle them and recombine them into a new piece of jewelry for myself or for a gift.
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.
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