What to do with sentimental jewelry you can't wear

Have you ever inherited a meaningful and sentimental piece of jewelry from someone you loved?

What if you wanted to wear your keepsake, but it was, well... not a wearable piece for you?

I've got a beautiful solution for you!

So many pieces from the past are yellow gold, and while yellow gold has really gotten expensive over the years, we have really fallen in love with two-tone pieces!

So my suggestion:

have the gold from your keepsake melted down and used in a two tone (or all gold) piece!

The best part about this is that you don't need much gold to create a fabulous new piece AND you know exactly which part of your new piece came from your keepsake!

Often, when you have your old gold recast into a new piece, the jeweler has to add in fresh gold and your finished piece is a mix of new and old. If you have a super sentimental piece and you want to keep it as much of the original material as possible, I recommend getting in contact with me about making you a piece like I did for Wendy!

 Branch Necklace

This was her mother's ring.

sentimental ring

Here's the progression from ring to necklace, including the sketch!

From Sketch to Final Piece

I reset all of the stones for her and melted parts of the yellow gold into shiny little gold pebbles to put on the branches! Even better, she had extra gold, so we were able to make a pair of bracelets for her and her sister, a ring, and soon we will be making a pair of earrings,

ALL FROM THE SAME RING! All I did was add some sterling silver! 

Gold Leaves Branch Jewelry

I love how the yellow gold and gemstones from the original ring are the crown jewel of these pieces! She can look at her new jewelry and know exactly which parts were part of her mother's jewelry!

If you're wondering how this is done, here's a quick little time lapse video of me disassembling her ring and melting the gold into sweet little balls of gold.

 

 

If you have a meaningful piece of jewelry that you can't wear the way it is, have it reworked into something you can treasure wearing and share with the world! START HERE! I would love to help you utilize this sweet and beautiful way of recycling and new life!

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