How to Turn Crystal to Emerald

It's that time of year when bills are higher, Christmas has hit the bank balance but you could really do with something to cheer you up. Someone has given you a gift card so you hit the sales. You get the outfit you want and plan to wear it out at the weekend. Money hasn't stretched as far as any matching jewellery.....
time for a makeover. No, not for you, for those clear crystal/rhinestone pieces in your jewellery box.

How can we do that?

In this case I have taken a pair of dangle earrings which are clear and converted them to emerald green. As a regular glass artist I used a proprietary glass paint. Using a very fine brush, I applied a thin layer of transparent paint. This allows all the sparkle to shine through. These paints require firing, which can be done in a domestic oven. You can however use a number of other colours - nail varnish works really well and can be removed later to change the colour again. You can also change the colour with permanent marker pen which works surprisingly well. In this case I also changed the ear hooks for a sterling silver set and added an open ring to increase the total length. Don't have any suitable pieces to use? - you can always get something suitable for a few pence from a charity shop as I did here :)