If you love pretty jewelry and have an eye for colors and aesthetics, glass jewelry making can be your new beloved hobby. Imagine creating spectacular earrings, pendants, rings, and hairpins from scratch and later converting this hobby into a side biz. Sounds good, no? Since jewelry is almost an essential in our lives, you can use this creative hobby to your benefit and make some extra cash.
Now, if you have never designed or made jewelry, you might find glass jewelry making difficult, but it’s a fairly simple process. Once you have the supplies and clear instructions about glass jewelry making, the remaining journey is easy. Whether you’re already into jewelry making or wish to try something new, our quick glass jewelry making guide has got you covered.
Stick around, and let us explain how glass jewelry can be your new love!
Things You Need for Glass Jewelry Making
Your glass jewelry making kit will determine how far you go on this new journey. Once you make up your mind to indulge in glass jewelry, here are the things you’ll need:
Sea Glass
If you’re fond of bright colors, transparent stones, and dazzling glass, get some sea glass before proceeding with this journey. Since some types of sea glass are very expensive, start with the less pricey options for your glass jewelry making hobby. You can use raw sea glass, shaped and painted glass beads, pearls, and plastic beads that you can melt and reshape later. But if you want to cut the hard work of glass melting and shaping from the process, get a instead. This kit will include a big collection of beads, stones, pearls, and jewelry essentials to ease your hobby.
Kiln
If you start your glass jewelry making hobby with unaltered sea glass, you’ll need a for this task. Since old-school kilns are not available now, you can place a portable kiln in the microwave to heat and design sea glass. Make sure the kiln you get is suitable for sea glass and beads, and you can easily place it in the microwave.
Microwave
You’ll need your microwave for melting and shaping sea glass, especially when you want to create new patterns on glass jewelry. You’ll have to place raw sea glass in the mini-kiln and move it to the microwave for melting these colorful glass chunks. Always keep your microwave near a window while running it at a high temperature to prevent overheating.
Beads and other Add-Ons
Besides raw sea glass, beads and pearls are also important for your glass jewelry making hobby. When you want to create more variety, you can use pearls and beads instead of glass to make beautiful pieces. If you start your glass jewelry making hobby with unaltered sea glass, you’ll need a is essential for your jewelry making hobby. These add-ons let you experiment with new designs and create beautiful articles in minutes.
Safety Gear
Since glass jewelry making involves kilns and microwaves, always keep a pair of protective gloves handy to ensure your skin remains safe from accidental burns and cuts. You should also wear these gloves while working with small pliers and cutters to keep your hands safe.
How to Make Glass Jewelry?
Once you have collected the essentials of glass jewelry making, it’s time to make some stunning pieces and wear them with pride. If you’re ready to enter the world of glass jewelry making, here is your roadmap:
Gather the Supplies
Get your sea glass, pliers, jewelry hooks, and reference designs to your work table and get started. If you’re unsure how to make glass jewelry despite having all the supplies, get a to ease things for you. will set your direction and help you put things together without wasting any beautiful glass piece.
Select a Pattern
After you’re sure how to proceed with glass jewelry making, choose a design. For beginners, square or round glass pendants are easier to make because they don’t include much cutting and shaping. You can copy a glass-and-bead pattern from the internet or make one yourself to get started with jewelry making. Usually, the pattern-making step includes lining different glass pieces and creating a shape you’d like to see on the jewelry piece.
Heat the Sea Glass and Beads
Now comes the tricky part. If you’re making glass jewelry with a kiln and microwave, you’ll have to heat the materials and shape them later. Read the setting instructions on your kiln to know how it works. Place a big piece of sea glass on the kiln’s heating surface and top it with a few smaller pieces to create a unique design. When you heat these pieces, they’ll converge and form a beautiful pattern of colors for you to shape later.
Next, pre-heat your microwave at high temperature for 2-3 minutes to work up its heating element. Place your mini kiln’s cover in its designated place and put it in the microwave. Run the microwave at high for 5-6 minutes to melt the layered glass pieces.
Turn off the microwave and take the kiln out. Let your kiln be on the countertop until it cools down to ensure your skin doesn’t burn in the process. Once the kiln is safe to touch, remove its lid to see your freshly melted sea glass.
Shape the Melted Glass
The melted sea glass is where you’ll work to create new jewelry designs. Say this glass is square-shaped and has assumed pretty colors during the melting process. You can either use this piece as it is or transfer it to your mini jewelry molds for further processing.
A good glass jewelry making kit will have mini molds to shape heated sea glass so that you can make unique shapes out of it. Use your pliers and cutters to get the desired shape and poke holes in this hot glass for the upcoming steps. Once the glass has attained your desired shape and you have made the needed holes in it, let it cool down for a few hours.
Add the Hooks, Stoppers, and Chains
This is the final step of glass jewelry making, where you put the astonishing sea glass pieces together to make wearable jewelry. Your glass jewelry making kit will have earring hooks, pendants, elastic string, and empty hairpins for you to play with. Transfer your newly made sea glass marvels into these hooks or frames to finalize your jewelry piece.
Bracelets and hairpins are the easiest for beginners because you only have to stick or run glass beads across these frames. Once you get enough experience of handling sea glass and beads, you can make earrings, pendants, and DIY décor pieces from these ravishing pieces.
Flaunt your New Jewelry
It’s time to flaunt your beautiful glass jewelry and show your skill to others. Whether you make glass jewelry for yourself or plan to sell it, these stunning articles won’t ever fail you. Since glass jewelry is delicate and making it requires extra effort, you can easily convert this hobby into something more rewarding with time. You can bring more variety to your collection, experiment with newer patterns, or pair glass jewelry with other jewelry types to make something unique.
Summing Up
Glass jewelry making is a satisfying and rewarding hobby because it gives you complete control over patterns and designs. If you have a knack for colors, designs, and patterns, you can rock this hobby and make it a long-term thing. Sure, you’ll initially struggle with glass patterns, heating levels, and add-ons, but once you’re through this phase, you’ll have an impressive skill. So, put the doubts behind and invest in a good glass jewelry making kit to kickstart this hobby and have fun. We wish you luck!
If you’re looking for another eye-popping hobby, check out astrophotography!
