DIY Crackled Glass Gems for Magnets or Jewelry

Amanda
by Amanda
3 Materials
$3
30 Minutes
Easy

Here is a fun craft for under $5! My daughter is always begging to make fun crafts, and we needed new fridge magnets, so voila!

First off, grab a bag of clear gems. I bought 1 1/2” ones from Dollar Tree. You will also need fingernail polish and magnets (both things you can also get at Dollar Tree if you don’t already have them), or jewelry backs if you would like to make rings or pendants.


Lay your glass gems out on a cookie sheet or metal baking pan and “bake” your gems at 425°F for 20 minutes.

When there are a few minutes left on the timer, prepare a container with ice water. Also, put on some safety glasses and make sure your kids aren’t hanging around the kitchen when you pull the gems out. Being glass, the gems can break, so it is best to take precautions.

As soon as you pull the gems out of the oven, dump them into the ice bath. They will crackle immediately.

For visual comparison, here is a before and after.

And here is what I mean with the breaking... one broke completely apart and the other is just barely staying together.

Here is where kids can help. Grab your nail polish and decorate the flat side of the gems. We liked to start with a layer or two of glitter polish to give extra shimmer, then followed with some opaque colors.

Here are some of ours. Left is what the back looked like and the right is what it looked like after flipping over. When you are happy with your design, apply a coat of clean nail polish or Modge Podge.

Hot glue your magnets or jewelry blanks to your beautiful new gems.

Enjoy!

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Frequently asked questions
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  1 question
  • Tammy Tammy on Jan 25, 2020

    Can you crackle the flat back gems 5mm

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