Saturday, May 1, 2010

Vintage Redux

I got a new box of old stuff the other day. It is full of broken jewelry, junk jewelry, broken chains, brooches that are missing stones, etc... I found a pair of old shoe/dress clips in it. They were both in pretty bad shape missing stones and very dirty but, I realized there were just enough stones to fill one of the clips. So, I thought it would be fun to share the steps of a "Vintage Redux" project with you all.
First, I pop out all of the old stones...

Second, I get some warm water, mild soap and a toothbrush and clean the metal and the loose stones really good. (I let everything dry really good before gluing). Notice how after cleaning, the two pieces are two different colors of metal. One is a bright white metal and one has a gun metal coating on it.

Third, I start to layout a pattern for the stones...

and re-glue them in the bezel. A lot of the vintage goods I come across are 30+ years old and the glue is deteriorating, so I like to re-glue for my customers.
Last, a beautiful piece of recycled/up-cycled jewelry!

3 comments:

  1. That is gorgeous! Kudos to you for not destroying complete vintage jewelry but rather breathing new life to an old broken piece!

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  2. Thanks! I try to revive all the old vintage jewelry I find. I tried to sell it as is but didn't have luck or patience for that. Now I use it in my jewelry designs. Check out my line "Vintage Redux" on my website (which is being redesigned at the moment) or you can find all my latest on my facebook fan page. I am browsing your site right now!

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  3. Looks like we're both redux-ers! Nice to meet you!
    -Brenda Schweder

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