Elemental

Lynne sent me a picture of a necklace she had bought recently. 

“I don’t love it, but think it has some great elements,” she said.  

 

And it did: look at that rose quartz pendant at the center. What a beauty! But the design didn’t gel. The individual components seemed to be going in different directions.

 

When a customer brings in a piece of jewelry to be redesigned we start by determining his or her favorite part of the jewelry as it stands. In this case, Lynne loved both the pendant and the necklaces—just not together.

 

We examined the pendant.

What if one were to build a necklace to echo the rose quartz and bring out that wonderful silver bail?

“Nice work,” says someone. “I guess when it came to the necklaces, you could just restring them.”

Not so fast. That worked for the freshwater pearl necklace (which now has companion earrings).

But when it came to the rhodochrosite rectangle necklace, a simple restringing was out. The necklace was too short, and those rectangles were nowhere to be found on the market. 

Time to build a new necklace. Creating a balanced composition in the right length for Lynne, while staying true to the spirit of the original, was quite the challenge—but you know your Jewelry Doctor loves a challenge.

 

“Wonderful!” said Lynne, looking at her new ensemble.

 

©2023 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.

  

"Now That's More Like It!"

These earrings have a romantic feel to them—

—which was lost on CeeJay. “Not me,” she said. “What else can we do?”  

 

We looked at a number of options. Here’s the one CeeJay chose. 

Here’s another look.

And one from the top. 

Now the color of that amethyst really sings. I don’t know if CeeJay does—I’ll have to ask her—but she seems very happy with her new earrings.

 

©2023 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.   

What Have We Here?

Here’s a pretty bracelet. Don’t you love that pattern?

 

Alas, the clasp is broken. 

“Oh, well,” somebody says. “I guess there’s nothing we can do.”

 

Au contraire! In many cases we can fix that clasp or, if need be, replace it. But Lynne had something different in mind. She included a note with her bracelet. 

So we did, choosing a Rolo chain to echo one of the elements of the bracelet pattern and a complementary chain for the companion earrings. 

 

 

How about you? Is there something sitting in the jewelry box that you’d like to give a new life (or something you have been looking for)? Call us at 415/796-3969 (or text 415/596-4244).

 

San Francisco Jewelry Doctor. Making it all better (well, at least your jewelry. We’ll keep working on the rest.)

 

©2023 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.

 

"Help! I'm in the Wrong Necklace!"

“I’m not sure what to do with this,” said Lynne.

 

The strand had two great components: Leopard skin jasper—one of your Jewelry Doctor’s favorite gemstones—and Venetian glass, beloved by just about everyone. But the fact that each of these components was wonderful on its own didn’t mean they were destined to live together

“I don’t belong here!” said the Venetian glass.  

 

“Don’t blame us,” said the leopard skin jasper. “We were doing just fine before you showed up.”

 

The Jewelry Doctor listened to the conversation and put on her thinking cap. She began with the Venetian glass, which she thought looked familiar. Did she have some of its cousins on hand, from a show way back when? 

Indeed.

 

The Venetian glass—which turned out to be Ercole Moretti millefiore—is quite happy in its new home.

Lynne is also happy. “I love it!” she says.

 

“Very nice. But what happened to the round ones?” you ask. 

They became earrings. Might have a picture. We shall see.

“And what about the leopard skin jasper?” 

 

Stay tuned.

 

©2023 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.