Category Archives: repurposed

Silver mask pendant converted from a brooch

Continuing the theme of jewellery conversions, I’ve just made this sterling silver mask pendant:

… out of a brooch that had once been part of an auction lot. The brooch was unwearable because the rollover clasp had lost its rollover part. This wouldn’t necessarily have been a problem, but the pin was also very loose in its moorings – hence the brooch would fall off almost as soon as you put it on. Below is a picture of the pendant from the back, when it was in fact a brooch:

I knew I had to remove the pin and somehow break off the clasp and mooring. I was able to clip them off using a pair of pliers, but this left a couple of jagged stumps which would have been uncomfortable (and unsafe) to wear next to the skin, and the file I normally use for silver testing wasn’t really up to the job. Imagine my joy when last week I found a metal file for 20p in a charity shop. This file (see bottom picture) did a great job of sanding down the stumps, although it did take about half an hour of continuous work to do it. Anyway, I’m sure the file will play a key role in future jewellery mini-projects like this one.

An earring to pendant conversion

A while back I found a round post earring in a charity shop. It was a single earring so therefore not the most easy thing to sell on. Also, I don’t wear earrings so if I wanted to actually wear this, I’d have to convert it to something else. So I hit on the idea of turning it into a pendant, like this:

All I had to do was gently bend the post at the back using a pair of chain nose pliers, to form a bale (see below for pic showing the back of the earring). The great thing about this particular pendant is its hidden bale, which means that the pendant doesn’t hang far below the level of the necklace/chain; you can therefore wear it with high-necked tops without worrying whether it’s going to disappear below your neckline. Winner.

This isn’t the only earring to pendant conversion I’ve done in this way – I will dig out the other one and put it on here some time.

Silver cat pendant made from a brooch

I recently bought a lot of jewellery at auction, which included this sweet little cat brooch:

Sadly, the clasp wasn’t up to the job, and sheared off when I tried gently pulling it into shape. So I filed down the stump where the clasp had been, removed the pin and curled the hinge over so that it could act as a loop for a chain. The resulting pendant is now on sale in my Etsy shop, chain included:

This is my first excursion into selling handmade stuff on Etsy. We’ll see how it goes.

Mookaite necklace: upcycling project in waiting

I found this rather lovely necklace in the Pilgrim’s Hospice today – it cost me all of £1:

I’m pretty sure the big beads are all made of mookaite, a type of jasper that is mined in Australia. I adore the big, pebbly beads with their smooth surface and warm shades of plum and gold. However, I’m not keen on the small chips or the goldtone spacer beads. So I’m thinking that the big beads could be made into a Lola Rose-esque bracelet (or maybe even two bracelets). I already have the waxed cotton cord, so I’m good to go. And all for a quid.

Micromosaic panel part 2: now it’s a bracelet!

In my last post, I described a single micromosaic panel that I’d found, which had once been part of a bracelet. Now it’s been reborn as another bracelet, with the help of a bit of metal wire (salvaged from an earring) and some waxed cord.

I cut a length of the wire and made it into an oval jump ring using chain nose pliers. Then I slotted the jump ring into the C-shaped tube at one end of the panel, and squeezed the C-shaped tube shut with the pliers. Now there were loops at both ends of the panel, and I could then thread lengths of waxed cord through each loop and then use more cord to knot up the fastening. I’m not that great at knotting – it’s something that I need practice at. But it does the job.

Micromosaic panel: a small piece of Italy

Last week, I spent 50p on this rather lovely fragment of micromosaic that I found in a charity shop on Northdown Road:

Once upon a time, it would have formed part of a bracelet with several more identical panels of micromosaic. But sadly these have all been lost.

One end has a loop, while the other is a sort of elongated C-shape that would have hooked onto the loop of the next panel. If I could convert this end into another loop, I’d be able to thread some waxed cord through both ends and thus create another bracelet out of just this one piece. If I’m successful, there will be another post and more pictures.

Cameo pendant repurposed from brooch with missing pin


I found this lovely brooch for a pound at the local church jumble sale. I’m guessing it’s continental silver but there are no hallmarks. Sadly, the pin has broken off, leaving two stumps – one being the clasp (itself missing a roller catch) and the other being the hinge where the pin was attached. The original pin would have been riveted/soldered into the hinge and there’s no way that I could have replaced it myself. So I’ve converted the brooch into a pendant, by removing the safety wire and using the loop at the top as a bale. I also cut off the clasp with a pair of pliers, and filed the stump down so that it was smooth. From the front, you would never know that this was once a brooch.

Repurposed pendant made from a Victorian brooch



I bought a job lot of silver bits a while back, one of which was a Victorian brooch with some lovely engraving featuring cannabis-like leaves and a little bird. Unfortunately the pin had come off, leaving the C-clasp behind, plus a rough blob of solder where the pin had joined onto the back. I used a pair of pliers to curl the C-clasp and form a closed loop, and then bent the loop back so that it was near-parallel to the surface of the brooch. Then I added a jump ring. I used the file that had come with my new silver testing kit to smooth off the solder. So here is the result, front and back:

The back looks less than ideal but at least it’s reasonably smooth – and I made a pendant from something that would have ended up lying in a drawer or being sold for scrap.

Bohemian garnet bonanza… with bonus upcycled pendant



I’ve recently started going to my local auction house to find stuff to sell in my shop. So far, I’ve been encouraged by what I have found. One box of mixed jewellery, won several months ago, came up with a couple of silver items, plus some interesting costume bits and pieces along with these:

bohemiangarnetbits2

…and viewed from the back:

bohemiangarnetbits3

One of the pieces was obviously a brooch, with a missing catch and several missing stones. The smaller “clusters” looked to be part of a necklace. There was also a pair of matching earrings not shown in the above pics. More about these in a moment.

I pondered what these luscious blood red stones could possibly be. Clearly the settings were good quality and when intact, the brooch, necklace and earrings would have cost quite a bit of money. There is no hallmark anywhere on the metal but it looks like silver, with a gold wash that has more or less worn off. I put all the pieces in a little plastic bag, placed the bag in my “IDK what on earth do do with this” stash, and forgot about it.

Until one day a couple of weeks ago I was on eBay having a browse, as you do. In an attempt to copy Pinterest, eBay likes to present you with a gallery of items vaguely related to your previous searches, in the hope you’ll be tempted to bid. I normally ignore these items but on this occasion, my eye was caught by a listing for a “Bohemian garnet brooch”. The stones and setting looked exactly like the pieces I’d found at the auction. Further internet searching revealed that yes, Bohemian garnets are real garnets and they come from Bohemia in the Czech Republic, where they’ve been mined for centuries. (More info here: http://www.granat.cz/en/bohemian-garnet.) Further searching led to the discovery that vintage jewellery made with Bohemian garnets commands a fairly decent price. So I was able to sell the earrings for about twice what I paid for the original box of costume jewellery.

I also made this, for myself:

bohemiangarnetnecklace2

Though I say it myself, I think it looks pretty good! I’m now left with the brooch and seven necklace “clusters”. I think I will sell the brooch “for spares or repair”, but I’ll keep the clusters in case I’m inspired to do any more upcycling.