JEWELRY MAKING
Murray
Murray
 
Many of you who purchase from A&A Products are using your talents to make jewelry.
I could probably learn a lot from each of you, but for those out there who need a little
help, here are some ideas.  This is not a how to course, simply a record of some of the
things you can do to make jewelry. 

The most obvious is fused glass jewelry. It is certainly what we sell the most 
materials for.  I have met many glass fusers and each of them has a different
style - in fact, their style is sort of their trademark.  It can be as simple as fusing
a piece of glass and then gluing a bail to the back.  There are many nice pieces
made that way - and they are being sold at trade shows and galleries around the
country.  In order to help you visualize products, I will try to add some pictures
to show some of the possibilities.

When fusing glass for jewelry, there is no absolute as to what kind of glass to
use.  Plain Bullseye or Spectrum glass will make nice pieces - however, it appears
from sales that most people are using dichroic glass, if not for the entire piece, at 
least to accent the other glass.  With a kiln and some glass you can make some
very decent pieces.  If they are pendants, you will need a way to attach a chain
to them.  There are several ways: you can put a hole through them, you can glue
a bail to the back of them, you can insert a bail into the glass when you are fusing
the glass, etc.  Some examples are below.
Jewelry                                       Jewelry                                Jewelry
with hole for a chain                      with bail fused into the glass                           with bail glued on 

If you are making  pendants, you might also want to combine some fancy beads with 
the chain, or even make a special necklace to go with the pendant.
Jewelry                           pendant
Fused glass pendants with beads added.

You can also decide to wire-wrap your jewelry.  This adds a new dimension to 
the piece.
Wire wrap                           wire wrap                     wire wrap
The first two are wire wrapped in a groove put in the glass by a jewelry bit.

You could add some silver to your jewelry or just make it out of silver, such as PMC.

                                         PMC
    solid PMC amphora                     PMC with enamel and wire added

And while PMC is a nice way to make jewelry, I prefer working with silver sheet
and other silver products.  You can make elegant pieces that will compete with
the finest jewelry stores - and it is not difficult.  It is worth trying.
silver         silver      silver
Here are a simple heart pendant, a bird pendant and a combined glass and silver pendant

clois                                     enamel
  enamel fired on silver                                           enamel fired on copper
 

This by no means exhaust the supply of ideas for jewelry making. 
There are many techniques for you to discover.  I only hope I have 
stimulated your thought process and encouraged you to step out
 and try something new.  It just might be your thing.

Murray
 

 
 

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