As an ethical jeweller I have many clients who come to me with sentimental rings and heirlooms that aren’t quite their style, or simply a stock of old jewellery that they never wear. Remodelling existing rings is a great way to bring another level of meaning into your jewellery or a great way to recycle something precious.
If you want to do this, there are a few guidelines that I’ll share with you. Firstly, if you have a ring which is yellow/rose gold, I can’t make it into white gold (and vice versa). Well, that’s almost true! To turn yellow/rose gold into white gold you need to extract the pure gold (i.e. remove all alloys) and then re-alloy the pure gold with the correct alloys to make it white. (Confused yet?). This can be done on a large scale but is simply not cost effective on a small scale. However, I can rhodium plate a yellow/rose gold ring which will give it the appearance of being white (while secretly being yellow… shh!)
Secondly, melting vintage gold is hazardous! As I can never really know what alloys are in the gold, I can never be 100% sure of the end result. Some alloys will explode (ouch), some will burn green (pretty) and some will cause porosity in the final metal (boo..). Having said this, 99% of the time it’s fine – and there are special, secret jeweller tricks that I can use to ensure a good end result.
Once I have melted the gold then I can start on re-modelling it into the perfect piece. I can use vintage gems that you have if you wish, or we can source new ones to suit the design. Then, in a few weeks you can be wearing something new and wonderful made from that sentimental ring or that stock of beautiful gold that was not being loved!
I am always happy to answer questions (they are free!) so if there is something you’ve been wanting to know / wondering if it’s possible etc then shoot me an email and I’ll see if I can help. [email protected]