Tag Archives: silver

ID bracelet gets a refit

I had a stunningly good day’s hunting in the local charity shops the other day. One of the items I bought was this silver bead thingy, set with a tiny opal. I wanted to create a piece of jewellery out of it and settled on making it into a bracelet.

None of the spare bits of silver chain I had were any good – they were either too flimsy, too short or simply the wrong kind of chain.

Then I remembered I had this silver ID bracelet:

One end of the central panel was starting to detach from the chain and the panel itself was (a) scratched and (b) had a faint, illegible engraving on it, so the bracelet was no good from a reselling point of view. I clipped out the panel and replaced it with my bead, using pairs of jump rings of 2.5 mm diameter and 0.8 mm thickness. It was an extremely fiddly job, but I’m quite pleased with the result:

It can be worn on its own or stacked with other thin bracelets/bangles. Not bad for £1!

Bohemian garnet bonanza… with bonus upcycled pendant



I’ve recently started going to my local auction house to find stuff to sell in my shop. So far, I’ve been encouraged by what I have found. One box of mixed jewellery, won several months ago, came up with a couple of silver items, plus some interesting costume bits and pieces along with these:

bohemiangarnetbits2

…and viewed from the back:

bohemiangarnetbits3

One of the pieces was obviously a brooch, with a missing catch and several missing stones. The smaller “clusters” looked to be part of a necklace. There was also a pair of matching earrings not shown in the above pics. More about these in a moment.

I pondered what these luscious blood red stones could possibly be. Clearly the settings were good quality and when intact, the brooch, necklace and earrings would have cost quite a bit of money. There is no hallmark anywhere on the metal but it looks like silver, with a gold wash that has more or less worn off. I put all the pieces in a little plastic bag, placed the bag in my “IDK what on earth do do with this” stash, and forgot about it.

Until one day a couple of weeks ago I was on eBay having a browse, as you do. In an attempt to copy Pinterest, eBay likes to present you with a gallery of items vaguely related to your previous searches, in the hope you’ll be tempted to bid. I normally ignore these items but on this occasion, my eye was caught by a listing for a “Bohemian garnet brooch”. The stones and setting looked exactly like the pieces I’d found at the auction. Further internet searching revealed that yes, Bohemian garnets are real garnets and they come from Bohemia in the Czech Republic, where they’ve been mined for centuries. (More info here: http://www.granat.cz/en/bohemian-garnet.) Further searching led to the discovery that vintage jewellery made with Bohemian garnets commands a fairly decent price. So I was able to sell the earrings for about twice what I paid for the original box of costume jewellery.

I also made this, for myself:

bohemiangarnetnecklace2

Though I say it myself, I think it looks pretty good! I’m now left with the brooch and seven necklace “clusters”. I think I will sell the brooch “for spares or repair”, but I’ll keep the clusters in case I’m inspired to do any more upcycling.

Found for a pound: sterling silver tribal necklace


This fab little necklace is hallmarked for silver on the T-bar clasp. It’s a bit tarnished and unloved-looking, which is probably why it only cost me £1 at a local charity shop. At 16 inches, it was also too short for me to wear comfortably – sadly, I no longer have a swan-like neck and a bit of extra length was therefore required.

I have a stash of sterling silver jump rings, findings and lengths of chain that are pressed into service for jobs like this. I used a short length of chain (salvaged from another too-short silver necklace which I now wear as a bracelet), and added a thick jump ring at each end and a silver “O” from yet another necklace. The third necklace was another charity shop find, and was by Dower and Hall. It consisted of a silver heart, a silver toggle (and the corresponding “O”) and a nylon thong. The toggle parted company from the thong as soon as I got the necklace home, backing up my oft-expressed feeling that “designer” clothes and accessories might look gorgeous and be made from luxury materials, but they often fall short when it comes to durability, washability and other important qualities.

Anyway, I’m pleased with my find, which I think will look great with summer tops!

onepoundswirlnecklace

onepoundswirlnecklace3