Recycled yellow gold bangle

When my sister got married she gave me a few quid to make myself a bridesmaid gift and I thought I'd turn that into a little something for both of us. I bought a length of 9ct yellow gold wire and now we have matching oval gold bangles.

It now turns out that this little bangle is one of the most popular items that I make from recycled gold. Part of the reason is the ease of wear (neither of us ever take them off, not even for airport security) and a bangle is also a cost effective way to use up a good quantity of gold without employing too much labour. That's one of the things about recycling...it would be easier to start with new material, but often times it's more economical or sentimentally sensitive to rework what's already there.

Which brings me to Anne, a friend of my sister's, who had long admired our little bangles. She had a gold gate bracelet that was of huge sentimental value, but which was never worn, so we devised a plan to melt it down and make her her own bangle.

Remodelled yellow gold bangle

In the collage you can see the bracelet in a nice fresh crucible before the torch is turned on it, meting it into a fluid ball before transferring it in one movement to the waiting ingot mould. From there the metal was milled and passed through a round draw plate until it was the right length and then turned up into a round. Next it was soldered and trued up on an oval bangle mandrel before an emery and final polish.

Gate bracelet transformation complete.

Bezel set old cut diamond studs

Well loved vintage five stone ring

Sadly the centre stone from Barbara's antique five stone diamond ring fell out never to be seen again and the ring long languished in a drawer waiting on its time to shine once more.

Looking at the other pieces in her collection it seemed that diamond earrings were one of the few things missing, so we settled on making up low tapering bezels in 9ct white gold. 9ct is perfect in earrings because they don't see too much wear and tear and when rhodium plated the colour is exactly the same as 18ct, but not so the price!

Old cuts free from their mount

When popped out of the mount you can see the shape of the old cuts is totally different from the modern round brilliant cut diamond. They are usually deeper and more cushion shaped. This shape is a little trickier to set than round, but I think you'll agree the finished earrings were worth the extra trouble.

Diamond studs

And here they are...

Love how the cushion shape of the old cut still carries through to the bezel.

Remodelling an 18ct yellow and white gold illusion set diamond engagement ring - Part Two

Now that Geraldine had her new diamond cluster it was time for mum Patricia to put on her thinking cap. Most importantly she knew that she didn't want a high ring, rather something easy, with a little sparkle, that could be worn all the time...oh and that was going to complement her nice wide yellow gold wedding band.

Here's what became of the old gold mount.

Recycled fine pave set yellow gold eternity ring.

Firstly I removed the white gold head from the yellow gold shank (they don't melt well together) and melted it into the lovely little nugget pictured. That was passed through the mill to make it long and skinny, turned up into a fine gold band and set with 40 half pointers (or 0.005ct round brilliant cut diamonds).

Hey presto - a fine pave set eternity ring with diamonds over two thirds of the way around.

Remodelling an 18ct yellow and white gold illusion set diamond engagement ring - Part One

This is the first of two entries involving an 18ct yellow and white gold illusion set diamond engagement ring. The diamond was given to Geraldine by her mum and she called me to see what might be done. We took a look at all of her current jewellery including her own wedding and engagement rings and devised a plan....

Platinum halo engagement and wedding ring set - Diamond pendant

I made up a new platinum mount to take the round brilliant cut diamond - a pave set halo design with clearance underneath for a wedding band to sit flush. Next I cut the diamond out of her engagement ring with the setting intact and with a little additional platinum used the shank to make a new plain band to sit next to the cluster. I added a bale to the engagement diamond setting and transformed it into an everyday diamond pendant and in the meantime the existing diamond set wedding ring made it's way to the left hand as an eternity ring.

This project worked out a treat with everything in use and all the metal used up except for the old gold mount... more of which to follow.

Making a platinum 5 stone diamond ring

On the top left you can see an 18ct gold and diamond bracelet which was the jumping off point for this design. By the time I thought to take a photo I'd already cut out the diamonds, but you get the picture!

Below is the master model made in silver. It could have been made directly in platinum, but this sample alowed my customer to make some final tweaks to the design and saved on costly platinum waste.

Next up is the platinum casting, back from the assay, all cleaned up and ready to set.

Lastly we have the finished platinum 5 stone ring. The diamonds are effectively bezel set with a  milligrain detail.

Platinum 5 stone diamond ring collage

Punch setting a recycled yellow gold ring

If you wince when you think about the old charms, odd earrings and broken chains languishing in your drawers think again... Why not melt the lot?

Tapering yellow gold ring made from recycled metal with a smattering of punch set diamonds

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than taking those unloved bits and bobs of gold and transforming them into a new and wearable piece of jewellery.

Lorraine had a number of rings and chains that she no longer wore so we set about designing a piece that would use up her metal and suit her lifestyle. We came up with this heavy weight tapering gold ring which I made by melting her old gold and then setting it with diamonds to lend a little sparkle to proceedings. Lastly Lorraine opted for a heavy matt finish which adds to the contemporary feel of the ring.