The Beginning
Caroline’s original contact was regarding having a pendant created for herself but after a few phone calls back and forward she mentioned about the possibility of having a pendant made from a couple of heirloom rings for her daughter’s special birthday.
Her daughter had a costume pendant of an initial ‘H’ along with a rub-over set crystal heart. She was looking for something of similar size so sent me the photograph below showing her pinky fingernail for comparison of size.
However, the style her daughter preferred was similar to this gold-plated base metal design she had found on-line.
With the initial ‘H’ being both narrower overall and with broader ‘arms & cross-bar’ and the heart being solid metal I questioned would this be possible with the rings I was going to be given?
Christine sent me a photograph of the rings she wished to be used.
I explained to Caroline, I do not melt down as there are technical issues and would be looking to create the pendant from rolling or drawing the metal into sheet and wire of the required width and thickness. By using the metal in this way would keep the sentimentality within the finished pendant. This I would confirm once I was able to handle and measure the width and thickness of the rings in their present form.
The Technical Part
Having received the rings from Caroline I confirmed that I could create both the initial ‘H’ and the heart from the narrower plain ring. Due to the heavy and deep diamond cutting on the broad ring it would not be possible to use any of this ring. Caroline confirmed she was happy for me to proceed as the plain narrower ring was the more sentimental.
The ring was 4mm broad, slightly ‘D’ in section and 1.5mm thick. Working from the proportions of the photograph showing the pinky fingernail and the image of the preferred style of ‘H’, I reckoned it would be 10mm in height and overall width of 6mm with the width of the ‘arms’ and crossbar to be 2mm. As for the heart it would need to be 6.5mm wide by 6.5mm high.
I cut the ring in half and rolled one half on its edge to narrow. This also thickened to give me a very near square section rod of just over 2mm which allowing for filing and polishing would finish with 2mm broad arms. The other half of the ring was rolled across its width which stretched and thinned the metal into sheet. By the time I had managed to get the width of the sheet slightly more than the 6.5mm I required it was approximately half the thickness of the rod from which the ‘H’ was going to be made. The sheet was more than twice the length I required so I cut it in half and soldered the two halves together to double the thickness.
Finishing The Piece
Now I had the gold in the forms I required to create both the initial ‘H’ and the heart. It was now a relatively straightforward job to create the ‘H’ and cut out the heart and attaching them together with two small jump rings at the top and attaching the chain on either side.
Upon receiving the pendant, Caroline left me this review on my Google page.
“Alan has created this beautiful necklace for me for a special occasion. I am amazed at his craftsmanship and attention to detail. This is both unique and delicate which made a special occasion even more memorable.”