Sensitive Stones
Another repair for an Emerald ring. Despite every indication that this ring was worn gently, you can see that the emerald is chipped and badly abraded or scratched. The claws were also badly worn and in need of re-tipping. Often sensitive stones such as emeralds must be removed from the ring before re-tipping can be completed and then re-set when the repair is finished. In this case I was able to re-tip with the emeralds in place using the laser welder. The client has opted to re-set the original stone despite the...
Read More“gypped” by old gypsy set emeralds
Before and after for a Platinum ring refurbishment. The ring (not made by me) originally featured six emeralds gypsie-set into the wedding band. Unfortunately emeralds are too delicate for daily wear and had been repeatedly broken and replaced by this client. The refurbishment involved removing the remaining emeralds and filling the holes. The channel setting on the main stone was also...
Read MoreGetting Technical about “Old Gold”
This post is a bit technical, but I think it will be of interest to people thinking about melting sentimental gold for a new design: I frequently get asked to make new jewellery out of people’s old gold. While it is possible, there is a risk that the old gold will be “contaminated”. This can happen if there is a little bit of un detected solder present or sometimes if the alloys of the various scrap pieces don’t match. The result is gold that cracks as soon as I try to shape it into a useable form. If this happens, there is virtually no way to make the gold in to any kind of jewellery let alone the quality that I’m willing to stamp my name on. Except in special circumstances I credit the scrap value of the old gold toward your purchase of new gold so that you can enjoy the highest quality possible. Here are a couple pictures of an ingot of old 18K that is unfortunately not useable. One picture is taken with a 10x loupe so you can see the cracks a little clearer. ...
Read MoreCracked Stone
Before and after for a cracked stone. In this case it was possible to sneakily place two gold bars to cover the crack and camouflage it as part of the design....
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