Do you have a box of old jewelry that you don’t wear anymore?
Did you inherit jewelry that came from the Art Deco, Retro or Vintage Era’s, but you prefer modern styles?
Did you lose an earring or do you have broken chains or bracelets?
Why not repurpose these into something new and beautiful?
There is absolutely no reason to take those pieces to the Jewelers or Scrap Buyer to get some cash for the gold weight when you can repurpose them into new pieces that you will actually want to wear!
Why not save yourself a bunch of money and enjoy what you own at the same time instead?
In this blog post, we will discuss five creative ways to take your old jewelry and turn it into something fabulous!
Whether you want to make a new necklace, bracelet, or pair of earrings, these tutorials will show you how it’s done!
So grab your old jewelry and let’s get started!
Table of Contents
How Repurposing Old Jewelry Works
We’ve been in the business for over 15 years, and one of our secrets is that we like to repurpose old jewelry and turn them into completely new pieces.
It’s a great way to save money, and it also allows us to be creative and create something that doesn’t exist anywhere else!
We often get asked how we do it, so today we’re going to share our secrets with you!
First, let’s start with a few basics:
Bring To A Jeweler
The first thing that you want to do is to bring all your pieces to a jeweler that you can trust, i.e. someone that will return all the bits and pieces that are not going to be used on your new designs.
Many jewelers will keep these scrapped pieces for themselves and melt them for some extra money, so it’s important to bring your jewelry to a reputable jeweler that you trust.
Those pieces can be used to help pay for the work that will be done repurposing your pieces.
Define The Best Features
The next thing to do is to decide what it is that you really like about the pieces that you have and what you don’t.
- Are there diamonds or gemstones that are quite pretty but the mountings are funky?
- Are the mountings nice but the gemstones in them are scratched and scraped up or chipped?
- Do you wish that you had a couple more pendants, an ankle bracelet or dramatic drop earrings?
The Jeweler is going to take a close look at what you have and ask you to spend about an hour or two talking about these things so they can pick your brains.
As you talk, they will begin to see what the possibilities are, using what you have and their own imagination too.
Be sure to find out when the Jewelry store is typically a “slow” time of day so that you are not feeling rushed.
Design A New Piece
Once you begin to “see” what can be done by combining and adding a few extra pieces of new with the old, the Jeweler will sketch out the idea for you to envision and agree to.
They will give you a price and will write down the details of what is going to be done, and will also indicate whether they will be trading labor for any pieces of leftover scrap gold and how much that is worth.
Repurposing Old Jewelry Into New Pieces
Now that you have an idea of how it works, let’s take a look at five creative ways to repurpose old jewelry into new pieces! You’ll want to grab your old jewelry box and get started right away!
Old Necklace Into New Bracelet
Some of the choker style necklaces that were made in the 70’s were very chunky and have gone out of style, but there is an awful lot of gold in them that can be used to make a bracelet and a pair of earrings with.
Even the clasp can still be used and it would only require enough links to be removed.
Additionally, gemstones can be flush mounted in each section to give it a new look if there were none before.
Several of the chunks of links can be used to make a pair of earrings that can have posts added, and perhaps a gemstone or pearl to dangle on the bottom.
Most of the jewelry that was made in the 70’s was yellow gold.
If you prefer white gold, you can have the new design rhodium plated if you are making earrings, a pendant or a bracelet.
The only item that is not a good candidate for rhodium plating would be rings, because the plating would wear off faster due to the constant contact with the skin on your finger.
Old Earrings or Brooch Into New Pendant
When you have a pair of earrings that you do not care for, what if you took the earrings and made a pendant out of them?
Put the earrings north and south and add a nice gemstone in between them.
Then add a fancy bale.
Viola!
If you do not like the color of gold, have them gold plated to either white or yellow depending on your taste.
You may also add additional gems to the design or diamonds if you have other objects that you wish to recycle!
Your new pendant can be as dramatic or as simple as you choose.
A brooch can be made into a pendant simply by adding a bale and a chain! Similar to what we did with this opal butterfly pendant:
Old Ring Into New Pendant
This is probably the most popular way to deal with an older chunky style ring that was made between the 70’s to the 90’s.
Take the shank off entirely.
Add a fancy bale and perhaps a few other gemstones to the top of the new pendant or even dripping down on the bottom.
Again, have the gold plated if you prefer a different color.
It will not cost a lot of money to do this and the plating will only need to be done again every 5yrs or so, depending on how much wear it gets.
Old Chain Into New Anklet and Earrings
Some people have very styled chains that they just don’t wear because the chains might be too fat or the style does nothing for them.
Depending on the length, chains can be split to make an anklet, and the rest can be used to make drop earrings.
The cost is quite minimal because the anklet will be using the chain clasps and the earrings will only need posts or wires to be added.
But how about making the earrings more interesting by adding gemstones to the bottom and the top of the chain pieces?
Chains can also be cut into 1” pieces and then small jump rings can be attached to make tassel style dangle earrings.
What About the Gemstones and Diamonds?
Maybe the only thing that is needed for the old jewelry to come to life again is a good polishing and replacement of worn out gemstones?
If pearls and gemstones have become scratched up and chipped over the years, and if diamonds were of poor quality and the entire piece has not seen a professional cleaning for decades, then those things can be remedied.
If you have peridot or garnet, but you love sapphire and emeralds, then envision those gems replacing the ones in your item.
Change out the dull diamonds for bright new ones.
If new diamonds are too expensive, use Moissanite lab grown diamonds instead because they are quite sparkly and will not become dull over the years.
Where To Go To Use Old Jewelry To Make New Pieces
Every Jewelry store has a Bench Jeweler that works for them (if they are not one themselves).
Check if the bench jeweler has a long history of making bespoke designs.
Find out if they have a Laser Welder or if they are still using a torch to do their soldering with. If they have a laser welder, then they can work on any kind of metal without damaging it.
Talk to the jeweler and see if they have a difficult time understanding what kind of styles you like or not, and also see if they are eager to help you by coming up with alternative design ideas of their own that you can consider.
A Jeweler who has a creative mind is going to be your best bet for getting the results that you want, and they may not even charge you a penny for their time or ideas.
FAQ’s About Repurposing Old Jewelry
Can a jeweler make a new ring from an old one?
Many rings can be repurposed into new ones depending on the style.
If you have a solid band, then some gemstones or diamonds can be added and also it can be the center of a stacked ring design.
Stones can be replaced with more desired ones, and tooling, mill grain, or engraving designs can be added to dress it up if needed.
If you are simply wanting to melt down the entire ring to make a new one, then that can be done in a roundabout way.
The jeweler will measure your ring and offer you new gold, gram for gram, to have a custom-made ring made.
The old gold cannot be used again because it will likely result in “pitting” when cast inside the centrifuge.
Can diamonds reshape?
Many people think that diamonds can be reshaped like playdough, but that is not the case.
Diamonds are extremely hard, but they can be chipped on the edges and facet junctions if handled carelessly.
A professional diamond cutter will need to remove enough of the diamond to change the shape and then re-polish all of the facets again.
The cost of this service might be more than the diamond is worth.
If you want to spend the money, and if the diamond you have is large enough, it might be able to be recut from one shape to another.
But why not just trade out for the shape that you want with a jewelry store instead?
You will lose a great deal of carat weight having a diamond recut into a different shape, so much so that it may not be worth the cost.
If your diamond simply has a chip, then cutting and polishing out the chip would be a better thing to do.
How much does it cost to melt down a ring and make a new one?
Your jewelry store may trade you straight across for the weight and karat of the gold instead of trying to use the old gold to make a new ring.
But if the ring you have is sentimental to you, they will go ahead and use that gold if you agree to the risks of “pitting,” which are tiny pin prick size holes that are the result of impurities found in the gold during the second casting process.
The cost to use your old gold to make a new ring depends greatly on if you are going to use a brand new design, or if you can choose from a wax mold design that the store already has created.
This means that labor can range from $500 to $1500 or more without any stones being added.
Final Thoughts
Before you give up on the jewelry that you have, take the time to bring it all to a jeweler to see if the two of you can come up with new ways to make it worth keeping.
Worst case scenario is that perhaps you can use it to trade with the Jewelry store or you can sell it outright on eBay.
There are always going to be people who love what you hate, or are able to “see” the potential that you may not be aware of and will buy it.