Feature Piece: Refreshing an Heirloom

While we offer a wide variety of services—watch repair, sizing, shaping, and setting—we especially love the chance to redesign heirlooms and vintage items. It’s such a joy to give a beautiful but outdated piece of jewelry a second chance at being well-loved in a new way.

For this job, the customer came to us with her grandmother’s ring and other family gemstones that had been passed down. Their request was to make a larger version of the original ring that could also accommodate the additional stones. Then they could have all of the heirloom gems in one piece that’s wearable and designed to the customer’s tastes.

To truly make this a one-of-a-kind piece that paid respect to the original, our goldsmith designed and carved the ring from wax. Using the lost wax process, we submerged the model in plaster to make a mold, fired it at a certain temperature to melt the wax out of the mold, which makes it hollow, and then we poured in the molten metal to create the base of the piece. In this case, the ring was made from 14kt white gold, and it complemented the diamonds beautifully.

To see the details a little closer, here’s what the sides look like:

We were so pleased to present this final piece to the customer and to see that they loved it! If you have a broken, forgotten, or unwearable heirloom item that needs a refresher, our experts can redesign and create the perfect piece for your needs. Contact Johnson Jewelers or visit us at our Woodbury location to begin the process.