{"id":33971,"date":"2016-08-30T23:55:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T03:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=33971"},"modified":"2016-08-31T00:10:34","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T04:10:34","slug":"a-redesign-for-amanda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/a-redesign-for-amanda\/","title":{"rendered":"A Redesign for Amanda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Redesigning old jewelry is one of my favorite things to do. Why have pieces sitting in a drawer, unloved, when I can turn them into something you’ll want to wear every day?<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS REDESIGNS.<\/a><\/p>\n

I recently did a redesign for my gorgeous friend Amanda. Years ago, her grandmother gave her a small garnet birthstone ring as a gift<\/a>. Later, Amanda inherited her grandmother’s diamond engagement ring.\u00a0 Amanda didn’t wear either of the rings. The garnet was too little-girlish, while Amanda’s hubby had given her another engagement ring.<\/p>\n

\"Amanda<\/a>

Amanda and Mike at their wedding last year. Click for original post.<\/p><\/div>\n

I took the gems out of both rings and set them into an asymmetrical, 18K-rose-gold necklace. Here is finished piece, shown with the old engagement-ring setting.<\/p>\n

\"amanda\"

Amanda’s necklace is a tribute to her grandmother.<\/p><\/div>\n

As I’ve said before, I recycle gold from old pieces by selling the metal for scrap<\/a>, even when a customer isn’t switching from rings to a necklace — and from yellow gold to rose gold — like Amanda. Metal is lost in the creation of a new piece as jewelers shape and polish the gold, so we need more gold than ultimately makes it into a design. If we were to depend on reusing the old metal, we’d have a very limited amount of material to work with. Plus, the melting and re-alloying process for a tiny bit of metal is too labor-intensive (meaning expensive) for an individual piece. It’s more practical to sell the metal and invest the proceeds in the new design.<\/p>\n

Sometimes this makes customers wonder if the new jewelry will be less meaningful just because it doesn’t use the exact same metal that was in the original piece. I tell everyone what I told Amanda. The emotional significance of jewelry isn’t linked to a few specific grams of gold or even a particular gem. It’s the story that matters. Amanda had two rings she never wore. Now she has a necklace that will make her think of her grandmother every day. And you know what? It’s the thought that counts!<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Redesigning old jewelry is one of my favorite things to do. Why have pieces sitting in a drawer, unloved, when I can turn them into something you’ll want to wear every day? CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS REDESIGNS. I recently did a redesign for my gorgeous friend Amanda. Years ago, her grandmother gave her a small…<\/p>\n

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