Do you have jewellery inherited from a loved one that either doesn't fit or isn't your style? This was exactly the problem that one of my clients brought to me. She had inherited a gold and garnet ring from her mother that didn't fit either her or her sister, plus it wasn't the style of jewellery that either of them would normally wear, and yet it was still a deeply sentimental piece. My client had the idea of repurposing the gold and garnet gemstone to create an elegant pendant as a gift for her sister. Here is the story of that transformation.
1. Design Brief
Once my client had decided on creating a pendant, we had to develop a specific design. She had a good idea of the style of jewellery her sister normally wears and was able to set a clear brief: something simple and elegant, ideally allowing quite a bit of light into the stone to show off its gorgeous deep red hues. I drew a fully rendered design to give my client a clear idea of what I had in mind.
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2. Melting the Gold
After agreeing on the design, I was ready to start melting down the existing gold. I first unseated the garnet and put it safely aside for later. A big consideration when melting down gold is to ensure that it will still pass the hallmarking process once the new piece is made.
In this case, the gold ring already had a hallmark showing that it was 9ct gold. This would no longer be present after melting it down, so I would need to have it retested and remarked. Also the original construction of the ring would have involved solder - when the existing gold and solder are melted together, the impurities in the solder get mixed in to the body of the gold, lowering its quality and potentially causing it fail the strict hallmarking tests. To prevent this from becoming a problem, I always add a few grains of pure (24ct) gold to the item being melted down. This also helps to prevent the gold from becoming brittle and difficult to work later on.
3. Creating the Mount
The gold ingot that is formed from melting down the old ring needs to be turned into sheet and wire that can actually be used to make the pendant structures. In order to do this, I passed the ingot through the rolling mill several times, until I had the correct dimensions of sheet and wire. The process of rolling the gold takes quite a long time as it needs to be annealed, or heated to a gentle glow, every 2-3 passes. This prevents the gold from undergoing "work hardening", where the gold becomes too hard and brittle to work with.
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At this point, I was now ready to create the structure of the pendant that the stone would ultimately sit in, known as the mount. The first step was to shape the strip of gold into an oval seat that was a perfect fit for the stone - I calculated the circumference of the stone, marked the length on the gold strip and bent the gold round into a rough oval until the marks lined up. Although I could get close I wasn't able to get a perfect oval until after I had cut and soldered the two ends of the strip together, so I had to trust in my maths and experience of making these kinds of seats.
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After soldering the oval seat closed, I was able to shape it on a mandrel (shaped metal stick), cut it to a more suitable height and file it flat. I then shaped and soldered the end pieces on to the seat that would ultimately hold the stone in place. Throughout this process, I kept placing the stone onto the mount to check that it was still a good fit, adjusting it as necessary. The last soldering process was to add the bail and jump ring using the square wire that I had rolled alongside the strip of gold sheet.
4. Filing, Polishing, Stone-Setting
Once all the soldering was complete, it was time to clean up the mount using files followed by wet & dry paper - this removed excess solder as well as scratch marks in preparation for polishing. It was important to do as much of this as possible before setting the stone as files and abrasive papers could damage the highly polished facets of the gemstone (this stone already has some scuffs and scratches from when it was set in the ring).
The stone-setting process involved shaping the top surface of the seat (the part that supports the bottom of the gemstone) so that it followed the profile of the stone, then cutting the end pieces to an appropriate height before pushing them over the stone. A hammer and pushing tool was needed to push gold of this thickness over the stone - this required a steady hand and lots of patience! After the stone was securely set, some minor scuffs and scratches from the setting process were removed and the piece was given its final polish. It was then sent off to the assay office for testing and hallmarking.
5. The Big Reveal
The most nerve-wracking part of a commission like this for me is the moment that I hand the piece over. After having worked so closely on it, often using magnification, I feel intimately linked to it and only hope that my client loves the piece as much as I do.
I didn't need to worry this time... My client was delighted (and just a little bit emotional) when she saw it in person for the first time. Her sister was equally thrilled and overwhelmed, as my client explained in a message she sent to me:
As predicted - the pendant is loved and tears were shed! Thank you so much again for your beautiful work xx
All I can say is, I love my job! If you would also like to cry tears of joy, just get in touch.
Until next time, stay sparkly!
Kate xxx
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