16

Pendants for Jewelry Making – Sources and Ideas

by Rena Klingenberg.

Pendants for jewelry making can be handmade by you or by another artist. They might also be items from nature, found objects, or commercially made jewelry components.

Here are some ideas and musings on pendants, along with recommended sources for them.

Vintage / Antique Things

Vintage elements like lockets, pocket watches, etc. make wonderful focal components for jewelry. Yard sales, estate sales, antique shops and second-hand stores are all good sources of this kind of stuff.

Get to know the owners of a few local antique and vintage shops, and let them know what kind of items you’re looking for to incorporate into your jewelry designs. They’re usually happy to contact you whenever they get a new batch of stuff you may be interested in.

Silver Pendants

Silver pendants for jewelry making are available in lots of places – but they’re often expensive. However, I’ve gotten excellent deals on pieces like these by shopping the “clearance” sections of major jewelry suppliers’ websites.

Another good source of low-priced items like these is eBay. Just be sure to check the shipping cost before bidding; ultra-low-priced auction listings often make their money on huge shipping fees.

Artist-Made Pendants
for Jewelry Making

Lots of artists create wonderful pendants, and sell them as components for use in jewelry making.

Glass, metal, polymer clay and metal clay are among the major types of artist-made components you can buy.

In jewelry and beading magazines, check the print advertisements as well as the classified ads to find artists who sell handmade pendants.

Also look on Etsy.com.

Gemstone Jewelry Components

Semiprecious gemstones are perennially popular, and for pendants people seem to especially like them cut or carved into a symbolic shape.

For best prices on gemstone pendants to use in your jewelry, check the “clearance” sections of bead and jewelry suppliers’ websites, as well as bead and gem shows.

You can also find lovely (and pricier) gemstone pendants created by lapidary artists and other artisans.

Seashells

Of course, the cheapest way to get these is to gather them yourself on the beach.

You can also get nice shells at low prices in souvenir stores located in beach vacation areas.

Online, most of the bigger jewelry suppliers carry selections of shells.

Caution:

If you’ll be drilling holes in seashells, do it outdoors and wear adequate breathing protection.

Seashell dust can be very toxic when inhaled, even in microscopic amounts!

Front-Drilled Items

An almost guaranteed fast-seller for me is a simple, front-drilled pendant (usually stone, glass, or metal), with a cord attached by a simple lark’s-head knot.

People like having adjustable sliding knots on this type of necklace, so they can make the cord the exact length they like. (See my Sliding Knot Necklace Tutorial to learn how to make these cool knots.)

Depending on the component you use, this simple style can be worn by men or women (although obviously the one above is a bit more on the girly side!).

Make Your Own Pendants

You can make a pendant from nearly anything.

See this inspiring collection of free pendant tutorials and ideas here at JMJ.