GS: New Life to an Old Ring

Just like any industry, the jewelry/wedding industry has been suffering with the economy and people are looking for ways to save money. Much of the time people come to me asking for me to melt down old pieces of jewelry to make something new, which I am thrilled to do. But what many people don't know is that it is not cheap. A great deal of labor goes into melting precious metals and then making new stock for fabricatin. Depending on the complexity, this process can sometimes cost MORE than purchasing new (recycled) metal!

But this is the perfect example of how to work with old jewelry and on a budget. A client came to me with a pile of antique rings and wanted to see what we could do to 'rework' the pieces and create something new. One of the bands was an old patterned men's 14K Yellow gold wedding band, size 10.



She liked the pattern (which is quite lovely) but wanted to add a bit more to the ring. So, first I sized it to a 4.5 and matched the pattern back up. Next I drilled the center of every other flower and soldered in 14K white gold tubing.





From there, I set diamonds (which again, came from a piece that the client supplied) in the bezels. Here's the final product...





The final product is beautiful and budget friendly.