Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Vintage ring with newly restored cameo

As much as I love doing custom orders or cranking out waxes for more popular pendants, on occasion I find the excuse to do something entirely experimental. I was gifted some lovely costume jewelry last year by JD's grandfather whose wife had been an avid collector. A few of these pieces had the potential to be extremely wearable but were in disrepair. This 10k ring had the most beautiful silver setting with tiny marcasites but one major flaw: a gaping hole where the center stone used to be. After inspecting the makers mark, a quick google search provided the history of the original company and some examples of their jewelry, most of it set with cameos. I decided to make a new one to bring the ring back to life, but I definitely took some artistic license (no women playing harps or the signature human head in profile, as classic as those are). Here's the result!