Throughout the summer, I've been re-vamping several stunning heirlooms from a favourite client. Part 1 of this blog post featured how we protected and preserved delicate heirloom gems during seemingly simple alterations.
In this second instalment, I share more elaborate transformations. While our client loved her jewellery, she hadn’t worn it in many years because it didn’t suited her lifestyle anymore.
The most special part of this project was the inclusion of jewellery that belonged to our client’s beloved late husband, adding boundless meaning to her new jewels.
Here's how new heirlooms came to be:
Our client's first wish was to wear the diamond from her engagement ring again. We merged the 1.0 ct pear-cut diamond to one of her favourite necklaces, a gift from her husband.
Our client told me that these obsidian and diamond earrings never fit her properly but she kept them because she loves the striking chevron design. We converted one of the earrings into a pendant. The other earring was converted into a cocktail ring by soldering it to the top of her husband's wedding band (after saving the 3 diamonds, of course).
One of our client's most treasured pieces is a coral and gold brooch given to her for her highschool graduation. After decades of wear, the brooch had come apart. We assembled it back together by laser welding the delicate pieces. We then took out the brooch backing and replaced it with a bale loop converting it into a pendant. The final touch was to transfer little diamonds from another ring. The gold from the ring will be sold to offset the cost of her restyling projects.
The Mabe pearl stud earrings were a bit small for our client. We converted them into statement drops by merging them with 2 rectangular links taken from a bracelet that we sized down. We were delighted to use discarded pieces to create a style statement.
Our client hadn't worn her diamond and gold watch in decades but the Art Deco design was too exquisite to melt away. Thankfully, she owned an emerald and diamond ring that fit perfectly in the case. Now she can wear an exquisite diamond and emerald bracelet.
I found this diamond pave LOVE tag among jewellery that our client asked me to sell. At the same time, she wanted to wear her husband's bracelet and pondered what to engrave on the blank ID tag. How about soldering the LOVE tag on the ID tag? Since the LOVE tag was wider than the bracelet, we decided to tilt it creating a fun modern look. I marvel at how accidental discoveries lead to the best designs.
It's been a true joy breathing new life into this fabulous lady's jewels. I tease her that she'll need a calendar to make sure she wears all of her many restyled pieces.
As I shared in Part 1 of this blog, all the gold left over from this project was sold and the proceeds fully covered the cost of restyling as part of our gold-sale benefit.
0 comments