2 Necklaces, 4 Brooches from a $1.00 bag of broken jewelry!

As I was wandering around at a craft show one day, I spotted a vendor with all kinds of vintage jewelry. I love vintage jewelry. As I was lusting over the gorgeous necklaces, bracelets and earrings, I saw a box with bags of broken jewelry for a dollar. I love the Etsy shops that sell upcycled vintage jewelry and figured, for a buck, why not give it a shot? If I screw up, I'm only out a  dollar!

I started out with the necklaces. They are your typical rhinestone chokers. I love the ones painted with nail polish in different colors. This one had a broken clasp, which was easy enough to fix. I decided to paint it red (I know, I know, what a surprise). I did all one color because I like red and I wasn't sure how neat I could be painting this small. 

 I wiped the necklace down with a little rubbing alcohol, then painted away. I just dabbed the polish on. I did two coats, just like my toes. The other necklace was actually a broken bracelet I just added jump rings and ribbon to after I painted the rhinestones pink to match the ribbon. They turned out great! I want to find another cheap one and try it in multiple colors!

Next, I tackled the brooches. They all had working pin backs, but they were missing rhinestones and the finish was kinda meh. The first one is a gold arrow pin.

I just pried out the rest of the rhinestones with an X-acto knife, hit it with some silver spray paint, and glued in rhinestones I scavenged from other pieces in my dollar bag. For all these brooches, I used E6000 glue and a toothpick. I love this stuff, but it is strong. Like "don't use this in a closed room or you'll start hallucinating" strong.

Since my camera sucks, I could not get a really good picture of this one. I thought I really wouldn't like this, but now that it's done, I love it! You can't really tell that I used clear, blue and purple rhinestones in it. I really need a new camera, but I need a new car more!

Next up was this "beauty". At one time, I'm sure it was considered gorgeous. Many years ago. But not now.

I pried out the gems, hit it with silver spray paint and glued in black and gray crystals I 
had in my craft stash.

I'm still not 100% loving this. But it looks much better than it did!

This poor thing was badly discolored, but the rhinestone still looked great! Instead of spray painting it, I decided to try nail polish instead. I used OPI Brisbane Bronze. I love the color, but it doesn't do much for my toes.

Looks better on the brooch than on my toes! I think it turned out fantastic! Again, my camera sucks, so you don't get the full awesomeness.

Finally, my favorite piece. The finish still looked great and it only had a few rhinestones missing, but I couldn't find enough rhinestones to fill in. So I pried out those bad boys and went glue happy with some pearls I found in my stash. Yes, I have a lot in my stash. Hopefully, there are no dead bodies in there.

I love it more with the pearls than the rhinestones! 

For the most part, I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out. I'm not all that thrilled about the black brooch or the pink necklace, but I got 3 pieces I really like and I got to try something new. Not bad for a dollar! I can't wait to find more broken jewelry I can upcycle into new pieces!

Until the next project, 
Chris :)