City of Lights, Transforming Gleaming Glass

Last night I took three of the fused faux gems of dichroic glass and turned them into links or connectors, added some pewter cast charms, and created this necklace. The long central oval shaped gem-like stone is one of the clear dichroic fused cabochons, with a special handmade setting and a tiny cast pewter Eiffel Tower charm on one side.

The two curved slinky links above the main focal has two of the smaller, blue-green, round gems, connected with a link of chain, similar to designs from the 1920's, with a little added sparkle of rhinestones and pearl dangling on one side.


I may be so inspired to do Paris-themed items just now because Paris is in the news so much this week. The tiny cast pewter bird charm at the bottom, sitting on a branch, seemed the perfect dangle charm for this design. All the pewter has a bronze-coppery patina on it, it looks ancient.


I also made this bracelet mock-up, using two more of the fused glass faux gemstones turned into round two loop connector links and one of the cast pewter connectors with wings with two loops on one side and one loop on the other.


My center etched metal piece has the words "Hotel Jun 1908" on it looking very old and antique, curved to fit on the wrist. The deep cobalt blue glass round links would also look good as a pair of earrings, I think, with something special as a dangle on the bottom loop.


So would these little connector links with the deep, beautiful green glass, the links look like horse bridles or stirrups to me, a little bit. They can face either way, or I can see them being used at the clasp of a necklace, to add some special shine to the closure.


So this is how the rough glass can be fused to make glowy faux gems that then turn into components, and components can turn into jewelry.

Such fun!