Picture Book Earrings
Make stained glass dangles without a torch.
by Julia Reich

Photo of finished piece by Frank DeSantis; all other photos courtesy of the author.

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	• Source of imagery (books, magazines, etc.) • Scanner and computer • Ruler • Cutting mat • X-Acto® knife • Sheets of stained glass (I used two different colors, one opaque and one translucent) • Glass cutter • Tile nippers • Copper foil • Silvergleem silver glass solder • Flux • Flux brush • Sponge & water (for cleaning soldering iron tip) • Soldering iron • 20–24 jump rings • Small long nose pliers with round tips • Small wire cutters • 20–24 eye pins • 2 earring wire hooks • 20–24 semi-precious beads, 3–4mm
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New York City-based Julia Reich is the owner of Jewelia, featuring unique and contemporary jewelry designs created in silver, sea glass, antique pottery and bottle shards, smooth river stones, and semi-precious stones. She has exhibited at fairs, galleries, and boutiques throughout the East Coast. Julia can be contacted at info@jeweliajewelry.com or visit her Web site at www.jeweliajewelry.com. Try your skills with more jewelry-making projects here! Looking for supplies? Check out our Online Classifieds for great deals. Or, search for suppliers by keyword in our Product & Dealer Search.

Find a source of imagery for the earrings. I use Dover books a lot, because the subject matter is endless, the images are copyright-free, and they are clear and easily scannable. Square or rectangular images are easier to work with. Black and white line drawings work well. Scan your image.

Re-size your scanned image on a computer to be tiny, approx. .25"–.5", depending on how large you want your earrings to be. Remember, the larger they are, the heavier they will be. Make sure there are two identical images for the two earrings. Make a printout of the images. I use a black and white printer.

With a ruler, cutting mat, and X-Acto® knife, carefully cut out the two images.

Place one of the little square pictures on a sheet of translucent glass, and with the glass cutters and ruler, score a strip of glass that is the same width as the picture. This will be used for the front of the earrings.

Make a score above and below the little picture. Use tile nippers to nip off a little square of glass that is exactly the same size as the original paper picture. Repeat this step to make the second little square.

Do the same thing with a second sheet of opaque glass. These two little squares will be used for the backs of the earrings.

In the end you should have four little squares (or rectangles), along with the two little paper pictures, that are all exactly the same size.

Make a little glass “sandwich,” with the translucent glass on top, the paper picture in the middle, and the opaque glass on the bottom.

Holding the glass “sandwich,” wrap copper foil around the perimeter.

Make sure a little bit overlaps the edges onto the front and back to make it secure. Use a plastic burnisher to smooth out the foil, eliminating bumps or gaps.

Apply flux to the copper foil with a flux brush and using the soldering iron, apply solder over all the copper foil. Clean off the soldering iron tip periodically, when necessary, with a damp sponge.

To make the tiny bead cluster, slide each bead onto an eye pin, and with pliers, make a wrapped loop.

Trim off any excess wire. Make 10 – 12 beads per cluster.

Slip the 10 – 12 beads onto a jump ring and seal it shut with a little bit of flux and solder.

Slide another jump ring through the jump ring holding the bead cluster, and with a little bit of flux and solder, attach this ring to the top of the glass earring. Add a third and final jump ring. This one will also go through the middle ring that’s holding the cluster of beads together. Seal it shut with a little bit of flux and solder.

Add an ear wire to this last hoop, using pliers to open the ear wire loop, and then bend it shut again when you have finished putting it through the jump ring.