How to Make Glass Nugget Charms- Free Tutorial

Here are a few of the glass nuggets charms I made using a bag of glass nuggets for flower vases I picked up at a craft store going out of business. I bought the clear with an iridescent finish on them but you can pick up a variety of colors at Delphi. The clear nuggets are like small magnifying glasses and can be added here and there to just about any piece of jewelry.


You'll need a glass grinder and a special router bit for grinding a groove into the side of the glass nugget.



Make sure you wear your safety glasses while grinding the glass nuggets - they're not very big and they can slip out of your hand or the glass can chip. You don't want anything to fly into your eyes!

Plan on doing a few test nuggets to make sure you've got your grinder bit adjusted to the right height. If you've never worked with a glass grinder before, take a moment to look at thestorefinder's tips.

Here's one of the nuggets with the groove. I don't try to polish this down to a mirror finish because I'm putting wire into the groove.


Here's my new favorite wire color for wire wrapping - bronze colored Vintaj 20 gauge wire!



Pretty isn't it?!

I used my trusty tools, the shears to cut the wire and the stepped pliers to get consistent loops. I always have the chainnose pliers around because I usually need them for something. I don't think I did this time around but had them at the ready!


The actual steps to making the charms are quick:

I made the loop first and then wrapped around the nugget in the groove. I wound the wire around the loop to secure it onto the nugget. I made a pretty spiral at the top and then cut the wire with the shears.

Done!



You can add these to your Steampunk style jewelry, victorian style jewelry or just about anything! What would you add a few glass nugget charms to?