Wire wrapped jewellery: wire wrapped pendants made of fused dichroic glass

Now that I'm getting the hang of making fused glass pendants, I'm combining my dichroic glass art and wire wrapped jewelry skills. It seemed like a natural fit to combine the beautiful colors of the glass with the shimmer of wire and crystals.

My main problem in wrapping these pendants is that no holes are drilled through them. When I order ready-made focals, like lava stones, they have a hole drilled right through the center. I can then loop a necklace bail through the stone and wrap it, and the wire is very secure. But when you make your own pendants, it's up to you to add that hole. When making an enameled piece, I simply drill the hole into the metal before adding the glass power. With fused glass, though, it isn't that simple.

Some people add a bit of fiber paper between the glass so the material fuses around the paper and forms a hole. This doesn't work so well in a microwave kiln where the glass heats very quickly. I tried this and ended up with a melted blob. You can also use a diamond drill, which is strong enough to drill through the glass. However, there's always the danger of cracking the glass if you're not careful.

For my pendants, I'm skipping these steps and am going back to basics -- as in kindergarten basic. I'm just using glue. The microwave kiln kit came with a few glue-able necklace bails, which I attached with Krazy Glue. Once I used up all four, I've been making my own attachable bails. I make a little spiral with a hook on top and then glue it to the back of my pendant. That's all there is to it.

Part of me feels like I'm "cheating" by using glue, but you can't solder glass and this method works for me. And, hey, my enameling teacher liked my spiral bails, so I've got her approval. Plus, that Krazy Glue is super strong. Believe it or not, I've never used it before... and once it dries, wow. At first, I kept getting it on my fingers and the only way to take it off is with acetone (nail polish remover).

Anyway, once my bails have been glued and set, I can wire wrap the pendants. I usually use just one piece of wire for a pendant, but here, I have to first wrap the wire around the top loop to secure it. I can then create my design and add crystals, etc. I'm learning not to go overboard with the dichroic glass because the glass stands out on its own. It doesn't need too much embellishment. I've been adding more crystals and wire wraps to the plain pendants, but I've been trying to keep the wrap around the edges on the colorful ones. Some pendants don't need any wrap at all; I just leave them be.

My handmade jewellery is always a work in progress and fused glass is still pretty new to me. Keep checking in to see my latest pieces! And check out my collections at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations.

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