craftgrrl | clear glass cabochons? (Reply)

Hello all,

I've been brainstorming christmas gifts to make for my school friends, and have been (for the past several hours) on a fruitless search for clear glass cabochons, of the kind that can be used to make pendants such as this one

I know that TAP plastics sells circular, clear acrylic cabochons of the sort, but I would prefer an oval, rather than round, shape, and one that I would be able to match to the various pre-fabricated cabochon mounts or bezel cups sold at fire mountain gems (fire mountain has glass cabs, but only opaque cat-eyes).

I've thought about using glass "marbles" of the type that one uses for marble magnets, and of simply gluing a bail onto the back, but I'm afraid that craft marbles would be too heavy to wear comfortably as pendants. I've also thought about using the bottlecap-and-diamond glaze option, but I used that to make some magnets for my grandparents last christmas and the finish didn't have the polished, smooth-looking quality that I would want out of a piece of jewelry for one of my intended recipients (the bottlecap technique is rather more rustic and homemade looking).

Does anybody have any suggestions?

[and so that this post isn't only text...the following is a work in progress piece of art...excuse the large watermark; it was a safety precaution for posting in my public blog; i promise i don't have a store or anything]