Enhance Drusy Quartz Beads
Easy Bead Jewelry Making!

Learn two ways to turn natural drusy quartz beads into a stunning bead to make druzy jewelry! Simple, easy, fun beading!

What is drusy?

Druzy is one of the coolest stones being used to make jewelry. It is cut from the center of geode, which has formed tiny crystals from water and silica inside its air pocket.

If you have never seen a geode, think of a coconut as the geode before it is cracked open to reveal its white coconut meat, or in this case tiny, sparkly crystals!

Drusy can be found in both quartz and agate geodes. It's spelled with an 's', drusy, or a 'z' druzy.

Drusy Beads

Natural drusy beads can be a little pricey, but treated druzy is even more expensive.

Several months ago I purchased several natural drusy beads and began to think of ways to enhance them myself.

I decided to use finger nail polish, gold leaf flakes and resin as a sealant. Here, are the stunning results of the two experiments that I tried. Give each a try!

Jewelry Making Supplies

• drusy quartz beads
• Magic-Glos®
• clear nail polish
• gold leaf metal flakes (I used a variegated mix of gold, copper)
• paper towel to cover work surface
• scrap piece of wire, tooth pick or stylus
• UV (ultraviolet) lamp or direct sunlight

Easy Jewelry Making Instructions

Method One to Enhance Druzy

1. Polish Bead with Clear Nail Polish

If you have not done so, place a paper towel over your work surface. Sift several metal flakes from their packaging onto paper the towel. You'll use them in Step 2, but you'll want them handy before the polish dries.

Read the instructions on the Magic Glos®.

Using the brush found in the clear nail polish, coat the top of the bead with one layer of polish. Take care not to spill too much polish over the sides of the bead. No need to layer the polish too thickly.

2. Brush On Metal Leaf Flakes

Using the tip of the same brush, pick up a bit of the metal flakes and brush it onto the surface of the bead.

3. Coat with Metal Flakes to Your Liking

Continue to brush on metal flakes until the top of the bead is coated to your liking. (Personally, I like to see a little of the natural stone too.)

Let dry completely.

4. Coat Bead with Magic Glos®

Magic Glos® is a ready mixed resin that is cured or hardened under a UV light or direct sunlight. It adds a high gloss finish and acts as a sealant.

Squeeze a few droplets of resin onto the surface of the bead. You really don't need a lot, just enough to spread over the surface.

5. Spread the Resin

Use a scrap piece of wire or tooth pick to spread the resin over the surface of the bead. Try not to let it spill over the side of the bead. If it does, use the paper towel to wipe it off before it dries.

6. Let Resin Cure

Now the resin needs to cure or harden. Place a stylus or piece of scrap wire in the hole of the bead. Move the bead to a UV light source, either a UV lamp or direct sunlight. Let cure until resin is hard.

Do not touch the surface of the resin while its wet, you'll leave fingerprints.

I placed a paper towel on a table on my balcony and placed the bead onto it in direct sunlight for a few hours, though it was dry to the touch after about ninety (90) minutes.

Method Two to Enhance Drusy Quartz

1. Use Glitter Nail Polish

The second way I enhanced my drusy quartz bead was to polish it with nail polish that contained glitter. Just coat the top of the bead with as little or as much glitter polish as you like. Let dry.

2. Coat with Resin and Let Cure

Repeat Steps 4 through 6.

Make Druzy Jewelry

Now you are ready to use your enhanced drusy beads to make your own druzy jewelry.

To make the necklace pictured, I simply cut a length of chain with an uneven number of lengths. Then added a split to both ends of the chain and attached a spring ring clasp to one of the split rings. Next, I strung the bead onto a head pin, made half of a wrapped wire loop, threaded the center link of the chain through the half wrapped wire loop and completed the wrapped loop.

Have fun with these ideas for enhancing drusy quartz beads to make gorgeous bead jewelry!

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