From old memories to new jewelry

Transforming beloved jewelry into something new and unique is always a special process. A client contacted me with gold rings that belonged to her mother. She wanted to create new jewelry from them and retain their sentimental value, but in a new form.

In this guide, I describe how I rework gold and diamonds from old jewelry into new jewelry.

The plan was to make a pair of earrings from the red gold and the diamonds that were in one of the rings, and to use one of the settings for a stylish necklace pendant.

From rings to earrings

I started by picking out the diamonds and sawing off the ring bar from the setting that would become the necklace pendant. Then I weighed the gold to calculate if there would be enough for the earrings we wanted to create.

When I knew the amount of gold was sufficient, I melted it and poured it into a mold.

After casting, it is important to harden the material to make it smooth and easy to work with. I used a hammer and pounded it against an anvil to get the right texture on the gold.

Then I used a roller to reshape the gold. I started by making it longer and then flattened it until I got the dimension I wanted. Once I had a long strip, I divided it into two parts, one for each earring.

Using a ring bender, I bent the strips into round shapes, and now the earrings really started to take shape.

I then made the pins by pulling wire through a drawing iron using a drawing bench. I usually use a diameter between 0.9 and 1 mm for pins. The pins were then soldered onto the earrings and then I set the diamonds using a technique called torn edge.

Finally, I polished them carefully to give them a beautiful shine – and the earrings were ready!

A new life for the setting – the necklace pendant

One of the ring settings was so beautiful that I wanted to keep its shape. I sawed off the red gold ring rail and filed the claws to get a nice finish. Thanks to the design of the setting, I could easily attach two white gold loops through the setting, which meant that it could now hang stylishly and easily on a white gold chain.

A personal piece of jewelry with history

It is always a special feeling to give old jewelry new life. Transforming these family heirlooms into something new while preserving the memories is a great joy, both for me as a goldsmith and for the customer.