How to make a costume jewelry Christmas tree?

16 years ago

Can someone give me simple instructions for making a Christmas tree from costume jewelry? Specifically, what kind of glue (hot gun?) would you use and should I try to remove backings from clip on earrings? I'm not overly "crafty" but I would love to make one from a bunch of old jewelry from my Great aunts, Grandmother, etc.

And I'm sure there are other questions, if I really get started on this project. Any advice is appreciated or any pictures, if you have them. I just LOVE these Christmas trees. I think it must go back to some fond childhood memory!

Thanks in advance if you have any information for me.

n2Bach

Featured Answer

thesalvagesiren

16 years ago

That's why we call them "costume" jewelry trees. I don't find it at all difficult to distinguish between the valuable stuff and the junk. But the junk makes beautiful trees.

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Comments (13)

honeysuckleridge
16 years ago
please oh please have these piece checked for signatures and value before you dismantle them. Some vintage costume jewelry is far more expensive than the real deal these days.

I use E6000 glue for my projects. You need to find a frame, anywhere and everywhere junk stores, resale shops, flea markets, yard sales,etc... I have a piece of 1/8" to 1/4" plywood cut to fit my frame. I then cover the wood with velvet(not expensive wait til after the holidays for the best mark downs)or good upolstry material. Then using push pins lay out my pattern then doing almost string art to outline the edges of my work area,then lay out my jewelry bits, only timming the pieces I'm going to use right then, photograph it when I think I have it just right, then go to work putting it together permanantly. I glue in sections let cure over night then another section.
Place the finsh piece into the frame and securing it.
You can also have these custom framed.

Hope this helps,
ginger
edyemelton_hotmail_com
16 years ago
My family has a 50 year old one and I started making my own a few years ago.This is a wall hanging type.I made my own tree shaped template.I cut one out of thick wool felt (no acrylic)and one out of some contrasting fabric for the back. I like to use vintage linens with imperfections(cutters). I use pinking shears to finish the edges of the felt, then fold backing fabric under 1/4 inch and pin to back of felt. Sew all around edge leaving an opening large enough to lightly stuff the tree.After stuffing,sew opening together. I use almost any jewelry.Beads for trimming or swags,pins and earrings for the rest.I use wire cutters to remove backings,clips,posts,pins,fasteners etc.I use some hot glue, or Sobe fabric.Sew or glue circular hanger to back.Attimes,I reduce template twice creating 3 sizes and layer and sew 3 sizes (all felt, cut with pinking shears) together before sewing back on.I like the layered texture. Good luck! These are lots of fun to make.
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Neat idea for old mismatched jewelry, a Christmas tree!
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:) it's one of the few uses I've ever found for those horrible strands of pseudo-beads, besides princess costuming for my god-babies (who have now started making their own stuff - it's an amazing feeling when a kid goes from asking for stuff - to asking for the tools to try it herself) they make perfectly acceptable garland for minature trees :) but wow - I hadn't really thought of anything 'new' to do with the crappy costume jewelry that inevitably gets mixed in with the bag lots I pick up because there's a handful of glass beads in the bottom... :) I think I feel a new project coming on!
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Oh Shermann! I'm swooning just thinking of it!!!!! The pt bookeeper at one of my first jobs out of HS was a retired elderly lady and she gave me all of her costume rhinestone jewelry becuase I was always going to Marine Corps Balls. Her granddaughters were never interested in it. Nearly 20 yrs. later I wore some of it for my wedding (in fact I was wearing a piece when I met then soon to be DH at a ball!). I love pave settings and found a fantastical pave necklace at a flea market for one ball. The guys booth was never open and Sunday after Sunday my mom would go w/ me to see if we could get the necklace. Nothing I have is collector worthy (or I just don't know it) but I love it. Years after after my grandmother died I commented to one of my female cousins on her gorgeous necklaces. I asked her where she got them and she said that they were our Nana's and she had gone through all of her jewelry when she died. Nobody had ever mentioned to me that they were going through her stuff. I was heartbroken! I spent alot of time living w/ my Nana when I was little and the only grandchild. Thanks for all of the links and I will def. check out Etsy!
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I do faceting of gems and the standard cleaning solution I use is rubbing alcohol. Buy as high a proof as you can get (200 proof is 100% alcohol). The usual strength available at drug stores is 70% alcohol. When your faceted gem becomes dull due to gunk on the back side of the stone (pavillion), clean the stone with rubbing alcohol. If there are no sensitive adhesives on the piece, the entire piece can be immersed. A q-tip is handy for getting into crevices on the backside of the setting. A good cleaning can revive the brightness of the stone provided it is not scracthed and dulled. Much of the light return is a function of the pavillion; It behaves as a multifaced mirror. Light leak increases through this 'mirror' when it becomes dirty. The pavillion is as important, if not more so, than the crown for brilliance.
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What fun stuff! I am such a jewelry lover. I have a big 5 drawer chest of drawers I use as my jewelry armoir and it's STUFFED full. I've got vintage, contemporary, cheap costume, high end costume, and fine jewelry-I mix a lot of it up too. I wear multiples of pieces at a time, especially necklaces. If I'm wearing a lot of necklaces I don't wear other stuff, but if it's just a single pendant then Ill add some earrings and maybe a couple bracelets. Definitely a boho look, or a Chanel look, depending on my mood. I have some vintage pieces my mom gave me that she'd found in a mobile home they flipped-they belonged to the elderly woman who'd lived there before and her kids didn't want the stuff so she gave it to me. Some of it looks like that Coro you've posted up top. I'll need to check the brand. There were some with a fairly famous brand, still in the boxes-I can't recall the name now since I don't wear those pieces it's been a while since I've looked at them. I envision my granddaughter playing with my costume stuff one day, as I did with my Grandmothers. And I was lucky enough to be passed on some of my Great-Grandmother and my Grandmothers favorite pieces.
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Posie
16 years ago
I'll add a note here and echo honeysuckleridge's caution to have that jewerly checked before you destroy it. One of my aunts gave me an ugly green and gold necklace years ago, I didn't like it and never wore it. Several years ago I gave it to one of my daughters..........guess what the ugly green was !!? Or rather is.
iowajewel
16 years ago
My mother had a jewelry tree(don't know what happened to it over the years) but it also had lights punched through from the back. Would be a bit more difficult, but it was beautiful!
Julie
shaddy101
16 years ago
http://www.snapdragonantiques.com/Projects/jewelrytree.html

This is for a cone tree, enjoy yourself.

Here is a link that might be useful: www.snapdragonantiques.com/Projects/jewelrytree.html
bellaroma
16 years ago
Buttons can be very ornamental too!
DianeH1223_aol_com
13 years ago
Does anyone have pictures of their costume jewelry Christmas trees????
sunnyca_gw
13 years ago
I made 1 of buttons(antique) & some jewelry but I wired ,pinned or pushed backs into the cone as I wanted to be able to remove them unharmed. My pics are in my computer but only DD can pull them out so I still can't post. I wrote down directions but next time I went to use the folder was gone. She can get it back but I can't.I was very pleased with results. I put small buttons & tie tacs etc at top around point& got larger as I went down. I had 2 groups of same buttons that I swirled around cone (kind of like garland)my DS picked out a lovely poinsettia pin when they visited antique shop in Morro Bay) that graces the top in place of a star. Sorry I can't show it. Jan
creekdweller
11 years ago
Hello Everyone, I hang out over at Holidays. However I have made a jewelry Christmas tree.

I used my Grandmothers treasured jewelry pieces, however I did not disassemble them. I just put a small amount of hot glue in a safe place and it worked great.

Now when I want to wear a piece, I just go to my tree and it is displayed and Pull off what I want. Then I hot glue it back when I am finished wearing it.

I hope this will encourage you guys to use your good pieces as well. Just don't harm them. And it makes for a great display so you can see what you are looking for.

Have fun!!

Creek
minnie_tx
11 years ago
From , Jun 5, 07 at 18:38

This is an ornate frame with purple felt. Most are pins my Mom had
A little dark but you can get the idea. didn't samage the pins either.

Here is a link that might be useful:
sherylinoc
7 years ago
shaddy 101 is very shady, or something is wrong with my iPad. I was looking for directions for a conical jewelry tree, clicked on the link in the message and got a domain sales pitch. Nothing to do with craft, trees, etc.
sushipup1
7 years ago
Perhaps you didn't notice but that post was from 12/24/07, almost exactly NINE years ago. No wonder the link is no longer accurate.

How to make a costume jewelry Christmas tree?

thesalvagesiren

Comments (13)

honeysuckleridge

edyemelton_hotmail_com

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