14k Yellow Beach Glass Bezel Set

 

When John first emailed me asking if I could make a custom jewelry set for his wife using glass the two of them found on Gandy's Beach, I was thrilled - I work with beach glass, and I love GOLD! I did not think the beach glass he had was going to be rough and raw, barely tumbled at all. He believes they were possibly from Wheaton Glass Factory's trash dump long ago. Irregular glass is hard to set without breakage, let alone in gold which is 4x harder than silver, but oh how they sparkled in the sunlight of that first picture, I just couldn't resist the job!

I received the parcel of glass and inspected them each for possible issues and design options and sent John some ideas and pricing. We agreed to keep the delicate chunks of glass as 'settable' as possible, which included me using a diamond wheel to carefully cut down the back of the three chosen shards to they were flat for a good seat in their bezels. Have you ever cut glass tile? It's not the easiest process!

By using thinner bezel material to set the delicate "stones" I was able to more easily hammer the gold over the edge of the pieces to set them traditionally though they are raw and irregular, the images above show the items being held in a moldable plastic material called Jett-Set which allows me to work with two hands for more control. 

 

With John and Jan's special treasures, I was able to make a pair of earrings and a matching pendant. Doesn't she look stunning in her precious new pieces? Her blue eyes are truly complimented by the yellow metal and glass! 

Thank you John for such a wonderful commission request, I learned a lot and loved being part of this treasured story of beach walks with Jan on Gandy's Beach!