Second Chance Jewelry

Some time ago Heather and I made several "Second Chance" jewelry necklaces to sell in our Etsy shop. The necklaces are made from vintage jewelry that was damaged or missing pieces, like single earrings. I set these aside because I wasn't happy with the backs. The pieces are wired to frames and even though we carefully tucked in the wire ends I was concerned the wire might work loose and snag. I bought some leather scraps to back them but couldn't decided how to attach it. Once again polymer clay to the rescue when it occurred to me to use it to seal the backs. Works great, no more danger of snags.

The components in this necklace are an antique dress clip, a butterfly pin, a flower pin and a single clip earring wired to a vintage belt buckle. I added dangles of faceted blue crystals and a glass pearl teardrop. The back is covered in polymer clay. It hangs on a goldtone vintage chain. For a closer look click on the photos.
This second pendant is constructed from an enamel pin with palm trees and a sail boat, purple lilac flowers from a vintage earring and a green parrot pin that was missing it's pin back. They are all attached to a vintage shoe buckle. I used one of the polymer clay scraps sheets to make the backing. The chain is links of purple and green crystal bicone beads and I used green crystal beads and a faceted purple heart for the drop.

The third pendant is a combination of 6 blue rhinestone and faux pearl pin parts including a fun little bug pin. They are wired to a vintage shoe buckle. The drop is from a single earring. The pendant is backed with blue striped polymer clay and hangs on a vintage silver tone chain.
This is a fun pendant featuring a colorful rooster pin that lost his pin back and accented with a multicolor rhinestone pin, a gathered enamel pin in the center and a sparkling drop of tangerine crystal beads. The rooster is wearing a red seed bead necklace and there are little dangles of Swarovski crystal beads below the rooster. They are attached to a antique buckle. The back is sealed with gold polymer clay and I used PearlEx on the areas that show through the spaces in the buckle. It hangs on a vintage gold tone chain.