Skip to content Skip to navigation

Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design
Blog

Responsible Jewellery Council Certified
Harriet Kelsall's Facebook page Follow Harriet Kelsall on Twitter National Association of Goldsmiths Logo British Jewellers' Association Logo
Kerrie Ann McNaughton
24th March 2010 15:54

Reusing Your Own Gold

 

Hi All,

I have just been reading Tim's blog about re-using your own gold and how for several reasons why this can be a fantastic idea to use in a commission of your own. Upon reading this, a particular commission sprung to mind which is a perfect example of how you can re-work your own gold into a new wearable design.

Yellow and rose gold dress ring

Patricia came to us a few months ago keen to design a new dress ring which reflected her own style but still with a lot of sentiment with it. Several pieces of jewellery she owned ranging from a 22ct yellow gold ring and an 18ct yellow gold wedding ring, and also a lovely little rose gold turquoise ring which were brought along to the appointment in the hope to use them in her new ring. Patricia was very keen on using the metal due to the different semimetal values the rings brought to her, so designing a ring with this in mind seemed like a perfect combination which she was able to wear and enjoy with such meaning every day.

Using the metals as a basis Patricia was very keen on having a very organic and natural feel in design which worked perfectly with the rich 22ct yellow gold and 18ct yellow gold she already owned, with the organic styles in mind it seemed that the initial stage to explore was the overall shape and feel the ring was to have. Being a dress ring the wider band seemed to fit perfect within Patricia's style so the overall width of the band is 11mm wide at the widest point. Adding a lovely interest to the ring the band has been curved to enhance the soft shapes shown. The base of the ring incorporates Patricia's own yellow gold with new 9ct yellow gold to create a rich luxurious affect to the design. Creating a more natural and organic feel to the style of the ring a hammered and brushed texture can be seen on the base band with the contrasting 9ct rose gold polished bands which have been overlaid on top giving it the perfect definition between the two metals. When making a piece of jewellery which uses your own gold into a new design and will involve melting the old gold up new refined metal will always need to be added to your existing gold. During the melting and shaping of the piece of jewellery some gold will be lost during the filing and shaping of the piece which means if you do have a whole ring to beginning with then it won't always mean that once melted up you will able to produce this again.

The next stage in the process was to source the stone to complete the design, Patricia was particularly keen on the more domed stones (cabochon cut) for a central focus point to the ring and loved the ideas of having more plum/purple colours within this style, the oval seemed perfect within this design. It was clear from this that the stones to start sourcing were amethyst which display a beautiful deep purple, and plum/pink tourmalines and a couple of red and rhodalite garnets which would work particularly well with the reds seen in the rose gold. Once the selection of stones were sourced it was evident that the more plum colours worked perfectly with the ring as this enhanced the contrasting colours and rich reds seen. Lifting the design and creating a small amount of sparkle within the piece we have included two 2mm brilliant cut H SI diamonds which have been set into the rose gold similarly to the rhodalite garnet adding another dimension to the design.

Here are some examples of not only using customers' own metal but also stones from old jewellery to, so this may give you some inspiration for your designs too.

Yellow gold and sapphire cufflinks
Yellow gold and diamond cufflinks

This design was such a great pleasure to work on due to the overall style and such meaning behind the ring. Looking into how we can incorporate old stones and metal is something we all love being involved with here in the studio so if you have any jewellery that has sentimental value then we would love to chat through the ideas of how to incorporate this into a new design with a new lease of life, whether it be a piece of dress jewellery to even incorporating it into your engagement, wedding or eternity ring.

I hope this has inspired you all,

Catch up with you all again soon Kerrie-Ann

Kerrie Ann McNaughton
 

Archives

Entries by date

RSS Feed

Click here for our Blog RSS Feed

What is RSS?

Weddings Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory

British Blog Directory

Blogarama

Directory of Design Blogs

The Blog Directory

 
 
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

Our designs are legally protected by design right and copyright law and cannot be copied.