The Cheesy Mom-Jewelry Project

[deskjockey]

So my three year old has a habit of gifting me with rocks he picks up around our neighborhood and at local parks. I have a ridiculous collection at this point, and no idea what to do with most of them (I know, I should throw them back outside, but to his credit he finds interesting ones!), I keep finding stones in the washing machine that came out of my pockets, they're in the change holder in my car, there are little piles of stones in several places around the house, and hiding inside any toy with a compartment.

Because I'm on a budget and totally in "window shopping only" mode when looking at pretty things online, I decided I could at least have a little fun with my kid-rock collection and get a few of them cabbed and polished so I can put them in some very simple and inexpensive mom jewelry. It took me nearly a month to find someone, but finally did find a local lady who can cab and polish these into calibrated sizes so I can stick them into some easy settings (any suggestions on that front? I was looking at some crown-style cab settings that I could do myself, but any other ideas would be welcome).

I have no idea what these little stones are (and some of them apparently came out of a concrete mix), but I think if it all works according to plan, they could actually be quite cute Either way, sending these off tomorrow to get pretty-fied:



These four are my main ones, I think. The three smaller ones to be stacking rings if all works according to plan.The white one is actually semi translucent, so I think it will be pretty. The bigger one I want for a pendant, and it has these neat little red flecks throughout, hopefully they go all the way through so they will show once it's polished up.



These are two alternates. The white one is interesting IRL, it cleaved quite cleanly, so I don't know how it would react to cabbing, but it's quite shiny along that edge. Kind of interesting



Not sure if I should put this in the main group or keep it an alternate, it's white but you can see through it slightly, and it seems to have a pinkish peach middle. So maybe this would be an interesting one to polish up.

We will also be getting a rock tumbler, I think. Hoping I have a little geologist on my hands...

 

[tourma-guy]

Snap-tite settings are super easy to set stones into and very cheap in sterling silver. Just search ebay and you'll find a ton. Very neat project

 

[chrono]

Wire wrapping; it is inexpensive (no need to tumble stones nor buy settings) and easy (can get away with "organic" feel and look). String them along as a DBTY bracelet.

 

[SparkliesLuver]

Way cool, deskjockey! I love the idea of doing something with his findings. <my son also gives me rocks but they're definitely not as cool looking as these haha> I absolutely cannot wait to see how they turn out! I will second Chrono's idea of wire-wrapping.

 

[distracts]

If they're cabbed to calibrated sizes, you could put them in settings from http://www.tripps.com/ - super duper easy and very cheap if you get the silver ones. Otherwise wire-wrapping is a good option - you can probably find someone locally or else on Etsy who can do it for a relatively small amount of money.

 

[deskjockey]

I'm actually not a huge fan of wire wrapping - maybe for future tumbled stones, but I think for this I'm going to look into something like this:

http://www.jansjewells.com/item.php?item_id=2975&category_id=120

I think I can find less expensive ones (probably lower quality too, LOL, especially in cheaper materials) elsewhere but I have a friend with the proper tools that we could probably set them ourselves pretty easily

 

[arkieb1]

I think it depends what the stones are the white one for example looks like a piece of quartz which might not polish up because it can crack and fall apart and might be better wired wrapped.

 

[chrono]

I take it the lady who agreed to cab these think the stones will be fine? I am concerned that some (the white on in this case or some other future rock) may not survive the process due to having too much impurities and/or crumbly internal structure.

 

[deskjockey]

She's got to look them over first, to be fair. I have a few other alternates lined up just in case back at home. The only one I'm really going to be heartbroken about if it doesn't work is the darkest orange one in the first picture. I'm expecting that will be small due to a crack on one side, but I like the color the best of all of them.

 

[enbcfsobe]

I love the idea of making these "gifts" into jewelry! But I might think about having them polished and drilled as beads that could then be wire-wrapped or strung on beading wire or knotted. I think you'd get to retain a lot more of the size and organic shape, without having to worry about fitting into a specific setting. I don't necessarily mean wrapping wire around the entire thing -- wire wrapping can refer to just putting them on a piece of wire to make a charm or connector. Not sure of the size -- they might make a cute bar necklace all together. ETA: Or something like a pearl tin cup, but with organic polished rocks!

 

[minousbijoux]

I just logged in because I love the title "Cheesy Mom-Jewelry"! Good luck with whatever you do - its such a great idea. You will find a way to showcase them, I have no doubt.

 

[Acinom]

What a lovely idea!
Good luck in making design decisions and please come back to show the result.

 

[digdeep]

DJ........here's another idea to consider. If your friend can drill a small hole you can buy pendant bails with pegs. Use a good gem/jewelry glue and simply secure the stone as it is. Definitely more rustic, but also dramatic as a pendant or earrings............and your son will recognize the stone.

 

[minousbijoux]

Digdeep: can you show us a photo of what you mean by pendant balls? I've not heard of them before. Do you mean a head pin or something like that? TIA

 

[digdeep]

I may have used the wrong term for this finding, but this is what I was referring to:

http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mYrm-RAPTvnM3-ymnbxDKqA.jpg just for reference

The straight peg should be slightly smaller than the diameter of the hole.......good jewelry glue to put on the peg and attach to the stone.

 

[Lovinggems]

I think they'll look lovely as layered necklaces. Your 3yr old is absolutely adorable.