A brief instruction in how to create jewelry with self-designed glass cabochons

How to create fancy Glass Cabochons

What can I do with clear glass cabochons or glass tiles? Which glue should I use, and how do I get the best results? This short guideline will give you some ideas and valuable advices for successful results:

Clear glass cabochons offer a wide variety of different design results. With the help of only a few things you can create astonishing jewelry designs. The following instructions using abalone shell tiles as an example will show you how it works.

Here you can find the matching articles for this project:

Werkzeug und Zubehör

You need :

- a glue repellent underlay, we use simple baking paper

- scissors for cutting soft material like paper or fabrics

- some nail clippers for harder material like our abalone shell tiles

- glass cabochons

- a strong glue which dries clear like our future glue with brush


Paua Perlmutt

First of all you order your design material on the baking paper. Besides the abalone tiles we use you can also use any kind of prints on paper, fotos, cloth, paper napkins, gift wrapping paper, pressed flowers and much more. You do not have to cut them before glueing. This will be done later.


Perlmutt mit Cabochons

Now we come to the delicate part of this work: The glass cabochons can have a concave base which is dependent on the way of production. In order to avoid air bubbles because of the concave surface it is necessary to use enough glue to fill the notch but not too much so that it will nooze out. If this happens you should not wipe it but just let it dry. Your are going to cut it off later

We recommend to tip the brush a several times on the center of the base material, not onto the cabochon. As a result you should have a drop of about 5 mm diameter. Now you take the cabochon and place it centered onto the glue and press some seconds. After a while you will get used to it and know how much glue you need. Poriferous materials need much more glue than smooth materials.


Zuschnitt Paua Perlmutt

Once the glue has dried you can start cutting around the glass cabochon. For paper and cloth you can use scissors and for harder material use nail clippers.


Paua Cabochons

Here are the ready-made cabochons.


Cabochons in der Fassung

Glueing the cabochons into a bezel cup requires a similar procedure.  A good drop of glue placed in the center of the bezel cup will bring out best results. It should not be too much glue to avoid noozing out but enough glue in order to be able to still correct the position of the cabochon for a few seconds. You take the cabochon between thumb and forefinger and then place it from top into the bezel cup. Once its position is correct you press carefully.


Lederarmband mit Cabochons

We made 5 cabochons with abalone shell, glued them into the bezel cup of our slider bead and combined it with a white flat leather lace. This is our result.


As an alternative we used nail stickers with a reptile design.

Folie für Nageldesigns Lederarmband mit Reptilcabochons


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