Wear it, don’t warehouse it!

Do you have any unworn, old or broken pieces of jewellery lying around, unloved in your jewellery box? Maybe now is the right time to consider remodelling your jewellery?

Many people have inherited jewellery that while sentimental, is no longer their style. Or maybe you have a piece that has become damaged or is no longer wearable. Why not have these pieces transformed into something wonderful that you can and actually want to wear. Remodelling jewellery is a great way to give new life and new meaning to old precious pieces.

Apart from the fact that ‘up styling’ jewellery means you now have beautiful modern pieces that can be worn every day, you may also discover that your pieces are now worth a lot more than you think. Remodelling jewellery can add a lot of value to the piece, provided it has been done by a reputable jeweller. When a piece of jewellery is damaged, it loses any manufacturing value that it might once of had. When it is valued – damaged or unwearable jewellery is only given gold and base stone value.

What’s involved in remodelling jewellery?remodelling jewellery

  1. First gather up any jewellery, whether you think it is valuable or not.
    • Sometimes the things that you think are worthless might have some partial gold in them. A qualified jeweller, will be able to quickly tell you what’s real or not, and whether there is any value there.
  2. Have some idea of what you would like to remodel your jewellery into
    • Having a starting point will make it a lot easier for your designer to help you create something amazing from your old pieces. While it is the designers job to give you the ideas of what is possible, having an idea before you come in, will definitely cut down a lot of the design time.
  3. Work our a budget
    • Whether you a remodelling a kitchen or a piece of jewellery it is always a great idea to work out how much you want to spend on the remodelling. Depending on what you have and what your new vision is, it could cost anywhere from $500 – $2000 or more. If you have expensive taste and would like to add more diamonds or other coloured gemstones to the piece, this would be an extra cost on top of the piece.

“Jewellery doesn’t belong in a drawer!”

Gather it up and visit us for a complimentary design consultation, and see how we can help you create something amazing from your unworn pieces. In your design consult, we will sit down with you and go through everything that you have and draw a 3D image of your new dream piece. You never know, you could discover thousands of dollars in value lying in your drawer!

My Diamond has a Chip in it“My diamond has a chip in it “ is one of the worst things a jeweller can hear. This is usually followed by “I thought diamonds were the hardest stone on the planet”. Unfortunately, while diamonds do have the highest rating on the Mohs scale of hardness (measured out of 10), it does have weaknesses. The best way to think of a diamond’s hardness is like timber. It has lines of strength and lines of weakness. Hit it hard enough on the right angle, and it will splinter all the way to the end of the diamond. While chipped diamonds are very sad to see, I often think of them like plane crashes. While it is a rare occurrence, it doesn’t stop thousands of people getting on planes every day. Once a chip is discovered, the next question I am asked by the distressed lady is of course “How can I hide a chip on my diamond?” 

Misconceptions About Diamond Chips 

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Diamonds do not crack. Like the Movie “Cool Runnings” where actor John Candy comments about the dangers of bob sledding – “bones do not brake they shatter”. Diamonds will not crack a little. You will either chip the diamond completely or not all. Often a client will see an inclusion in a diamond and think it is a crack -rest assured these are just inclusions. Inclusions in diamonds don’t usually lead to a diamond chipping. However, if the inclusion is close enough to the corner of a princess cut diamond (square), it can make that part of the diamond weaker; often a nightmare for diamond setters. 

You will feel the moment you chip your diamond. Unfortunately, as it is normally a freak accident, you won’t always feel the moment you chip your diamond. Like dropping your iPhone on the concrete, it could just be the tenth time you do it that causes the diamond to chip.  

I just bought it. Sadly time is no pre-requisite to chipping a diamond. You could have your diamond for one day or twenty years, and still chip your diamond. 

Re-cutting the diamond is the only option. Re-cutting a diamond may be an option if your diamond is large enough or it has a strong sentimental value. However, for a lot of stones under a one carat diamond, re-cutting may not only be too expensive ($300 -$500), but the finished weight may be too small to fit back in the setting. Sometimes you can be somewhat lucky and only loose ten points, however, in extreme cases, you could loose as much as 20-30 points. 

My insurance policy covers diamond chips. Unfortunately this is not always the case. It is important to make sure that you read the fine print of your policy to make sure that it you are sufficiently covered for accidental damage. If your insurance policy does not, The Q Report policy that we offer to all our clients does cover diamond chips.

 How To Hide A Chip In A Diamond

Fotolia_9735709_Subscription_L_01. Chip from the girdle running underneath – In a claw setting, if the inclusion is not too severe the diamond is able to be rotated to hide the inclusion under the claw. If the inclusion has taken out a section of the diamond, it is usually a good idea to run some solder underneath the claw to fill the void left by the chip. Much like a cast for a broken bone, the solder will fill the negative impression of the diamond that is unique to that chip. 

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2. Chip running from the edge and up to the table – If the inclusion runs up to the table of the diamond, try changing the look of your claws to talon style claws. This unique style of claw runs up higher into the crown section of the diamond, thereby hiding a chip that it is out of reach of most conventional claw styles. As seen here with the sapphire ring, the talon claws almost run up to the table (centre facet). This effect would be less noticeable in a diamond.

double claw setting to hide a diamond chip

3. Chip running around the edge – If the chip is running around the edge, perhaps consider a bezel or semi bezel setting to hide the inclusion. If semi bezel settings are not your “style”, a double claw setting might just give you the extra width you need to hide the chip. 

If the worst happens and you notice a chip in your diamond ring, it is important to know that there are options available to you, other than just simply replacing your diamond through your insurance provider. If you ever need advice on the best options to hide a diamond chip, the manufacturing jewellers at Xennox Diamonds are always here to help!

Restoring antique rings is something best left to master craftsman. Rings that have been made more than 50 years ago, may have been repaired with a multitude of different solders. This can be problematic, as new solders may have different melting points, to those used when the ring was originally made.

Restoring antique rings or starting new

This is often the most difficult decision for clients to make, as there is usually a great deal of sentimental attachment to the piece. Whether you venture forward to restoring antique rings or starting fresh will usually depend on the current state the piece is in, and what sort of finished standard you would like the piece to end up in.

If you would like to keep the ring in its original state, but have it in a condition that allows you to wear it on special occasions, then restoration is usually a good option.

If you like the style of the piece and would like it to be handed down to future generations then it is sometimes a good idea to start new. There is nothing that we can make, we have a great deal of experience in recreating antique and art deco pieces, to look like the era they came from.

Here is a ring that we recreated to look like the day it was originally manufactured.

restoring antique rings

 As you can see from the top left hand image, all the support bars underneath the setting were completely worn away. Also the structural integrity of the band had been lost, as it had become so thin due to wear. In the bottom left hand image the setting edge holding the diamonds were also completely worn away and unstable, which would have resulted in lost stones with continued wear. In the image in the right, you can see the finished product with original style milgraine.

At Xennox diamonds we are more than happy to sit down with you and inspect any of your antique pieces that you have, and discuss all the possible options of remodeling and restoring your rings free of charge.

Redesigning rings can be one of the most rewarding experiences to undergo with a client. One of the things I love about the jewellery business is that gold and gemstones never go off. Gold can be melted down, reused, reshaped and remoulded. Gemstones can be rearranged and added to give pieces of jewellery a new lease on life. Something that was once worn by a great grand parent a century ago, can be reborn to form part of a new engagement ring.

Apart from the sentimental reasons for redesigning rings, there is the added cost-saving benefit. 

Gold Needed For Redesigning Rings

When you are thinking of redesigning rings, remember that you can use anything with gold in it. You will be surprised at how quickly it will all add up:  a single earring, a broken bracelet, a safety chain, an old friendship ring. 

scrap gold for redesigning rings

When reusing gold, it has been my experience that you are going to need more gold than you think. I usually work on 2-3 times the amount of scrap gold that I will need for the finished product. If you have more gold than you need, you can always use the extra gold to offset the cost of manufacturing your new dream piece.

 

 

Redesigning rings with antique Gemstones 

When redesigning rings, often clients will try and combine a few old rings into one ring that they can wear everyday. While this idea might be the most economical, it does not always produce the best result. Sometimes a design can be ruined by trying to push too much into one design, especially when this involves combining different stone qualities and calibrations.

At Xennox Diamonds, we love redesigning rings. We will sketch your new design in 3D and give you some great tips to turn those old pieces of jewellery into a new creation that you will love to wear for the next generation. 

 

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