Remodelling an Emerald Ring into a Pendant
This lovely oval emerald came into my workshop last year for remodelling. It was set in a 14ct yellow gold ring with diamond and palladium shoulders. The ring was quite a bold, chunky piece and it’s owner wanted it remodelled into a lighter weight but sparkly pendant.
Emeralds are naturally quite fractured stones, prone to breaking and cracking so one like this that’s already been damaged or has natural flaws is much safer in a pendant than a ring. I barely breathed as I broke it out of the collet setting but it came out intact and has a beautiful, deep green colour.
Having this stone around is actually one of the things that inspired me to paint my new workshop deep green.
Original Ring
Emerald
Melting the Gold:
With the emerald and diamonds removed from the ring I could gently heat it up, melting the solder and removing the palladium shoulder panels. After that I could melt down the ring itself knowing that there was only gold (and a little gold solder) in the crucible.
The resulting ingot of 14ct gold was a beautiful, warm yellow colour that really suits the green stone.
Ring in a crucible
Melting the ring
14ct Gold Ingot
Rolling Wire
I worked the ingot down to make a thin, round wire (for jump rings), a rectangular length of wire and a small, square section of sheet.
From the sheet I cut a circle and lightly domed it to make the central part of the pendant. The rectangular wire made a bale for the pendant chain. The bale is just the right width for the diamonds from the shoulders of the ring to fit along it. I blue tacked them into place to check I had the spacing right before cutting it down and shaping it.
I’m using a calibrated, pre-made claw setting for the emerald that’s also 14ct yellow gold. To this I added a small jump ring made from the recycled, round wire and pieced the entire pendant together:
Checking the gold wire for size
Cheacking the diamond spacing
Pendant pieces and drawing
Assembly
Once set I pieced all the parts of the pendant together, using the round wire I made from the original ring. With the emerald now in it’s setting I couldn’t solder the rings together so instead they were welded closed with my PUK welder.
The pendant has a beautiful, sparkling motion to it as all three parts move independently and there’s now much ore light in that gorgeous green stone.
Set pendant pieces
Pendant held together with jump rings
Completed pendant & sketch
Emerald Pendant in Recycled 14ct Yellow Gold
Recycled 14ct Yellow Gold, Emerald & Diamond Pendant
Recycled 14ct Yellow Gold, Emerald & Diamond Pendant
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