There are those people that are jewelry lovers that had once stated to me, “Jewelry is not a luxury option, it is a necessity!” Love those people! But times are a bit hard, the economy is not the best and the gold price is soaring, so what is that jewelry lover to do? As they say in the cliché, “When the going gets tough the tough get going.” In this case, the jewelry lover gets creative. They start looking at all the jewelry that they do not wear or want, broken jewelry, outdated jewelry, old boyfriend jewelry, and start to see what can be reused to make a more contemporary style without having to pay very much for it. This is a very affordable solution given the current situation.

The process is easy. Once all the unwanted jewelry is compiled and assessed and a design from a picture, sketch or idea is formulated we are on our way.

Some of the metal, platinum, gold or silver can be recycled if not they can be credited toward the labor. The diamonds or colored stones from this collection of pieces can be reconfigured and reused in a new contemporary, personal, beautiful jewelry piece. Any material that is lacking from the pile of goodies such as diamonds in the right size for the design can be bought.

Once the design is chosen a computer rendering can be made to start the visual process of creation. The computer rendering is a virtual reality made to produce a wax model that will used to make the piece. The nice thing about using the computer is that it can make just about anything and it does it with precision. The rendering is not a picture of the finished product but an aid into seeing what it will start looking like. Making adjustments at this stage is possible to fine tune your choices. If the rendering is looks good to you the wax model is produced. The wax is the direct three dimensional representation of what the article will look like physically. Minor changes and adjustments are still possible at this stage. If the wax model looks good to you it is cast and the stones chosen are set and the piece of jewelry is then finished and polished.

The computer rendering

   
The wax model

A beautiful creation!

The cost of the jewelry piece, if you have enough material, is generally for labor which may run somewhere between $500 and $1000, give or take, depending on the intricacy of the design. If you need more metal or stones cost will increase a little.

       
Jewelry made from recycled pieces.

The great advantage of this process is that you can get the latest design, or design your own creation and make it personal and in the process you will be saving money. Isn’t that great? You will be making good use of jewelry that is just sitting around and not appreciated. Doesn’t this sound like a good idea to consider?