Reusing, recycling repurposing

One reason I fell in love with Silversmithing is that I no longer fret over lost earrings….I can take the remaining single earring and either make a matching one or turn it into a necklace or a ring. Nothing is ever wasted. Nothing languishes in drawers. I love it when a customer asks me if I can turn something old into something new. It’s a challenge and a real joy to repurpose something and breathe new life into a piece. Here are two examples of broken rings that have been given a new lease of life.

The first one was much loved but missing a pebble. We discussed the options-putting a replacement pebble back on the ring or doing something completely different. By melting down the silver, cleaning it up and making a mould for a wax carved ring, the silver was reborn as a lovely chunky modern ring.

In the second example a ring with huge emotional attachment had a broken stone. We decided to melt the setting down and create a new setting incorporating a new Moonstone but keeping the original ring shank. There was enough Silver left over to make some earrings for my client’s daughters.