Reworking Old Jewellery Designs

Sometimes, reworking pieces of jewellery is a way to keep things fresh and in perspective. There are times when, after a while, if the piece does not sell, it’s time to either take it down, or jazz the design up a little to see if we can come up with something better.

A month ago, I came up with the design for the necklace, Taking Flight. I acquired a few antique silver swallow charms, and couldn’t wait to integrate them with some fresh water rice pearls I had. The original design I came up with was this:

Initially, I thought they were just only …mmm … okay. The pearls were a tad big for delicateness of the necklace and swallow charm to be arranged that way, but they looked good resting on the table that way that I gave it the green light to be displayed in the store. Not long after that, Kahani from So Loverly contacted me with regards to the necklace. She asked if the pearls would spoil the way the necklace hung due to the pearls. It was time to take it out again. Indeed she was right. The way the pearls rested on the neck was not as good as I expected. Time for some reworking and modification of the design.

As the chain was pretty delicate, I decided to use smaller pearls this time. Instead of hanging the pearls in a row, I figured it would be prettier to arrange them in a cluster. Plus it wouldn’t look so cluttered and busy. Voila! The new and improved Taking Flight – a lighter, more delicate design. I call this version 2.0

Reworking is great for freshening up old pieces. I do this with my old jewellery as well. Better than letting them sit in my jewellery case and not wear them because they’re dated, why not take them apart and make something new out of ‘em?