This all started when I received a commission to decorate a cowboy hat. My friend has been wanting turquoise on her hat and she thought maybe I could do something with this pair of earrings she had that she didn't wear much. Sure!
I decided I'd drill a hole in the opposite end of the earring drops and then sew them on to her hat band. Sadly the first one had its original hole break off while I was slowly drilling the other end. After examining I discovered that it had been glued on. It wasn't the greatest glue job either. It was a millimeter thick with glue.
Rather than risk re-gluing and then having them break on her hat, I went to Plan B.
Fortunately I asked what she thought of a pendant with the other drop where I could set a stone or something over the earring hole. I was so happy that the prettier of the two stones was the survivor. Yes, she liked the idea!
I've always liked pearls with turquoise so I sent her photos of some options with half-drilled pearls I have in my stash. She luckily picked my favorite (!): a white button pearl!
The stone looks like a butterfly's wing to me. Just beautiful!
This was another example of a client going to their jewelry drawer and finding either jewelry they no longer wear or broken jewelry and giving it new life. Now she'll wear this happily and it'll have another chapter in its life.
Below are several other transformations from another client's bits and bobs. In the first two she gave me a buddha bead and some wooden bead necklaces of her mother's. I added more semi-precious stones like serpentine, yellow jade, and coral.
The last one was inspired by this aquamarine pendant that had a wonderful shape and feel to it, but had only been worn on a chain before.
I enjoy breathing new life into discarded or stored jewelry pieces.
What do you have in your jewelry drawer that needs to be worn again?