Remodelling more and more — David Taylor - Master Jeweller

21st August 2026 - Customer location: Mission Beach

As the price of everything gets dearer more people are looking to recycle old jewellery. In the case of this customer it was not about saving money but rather taking a late relatives old jewellery and turning it into something that she could wear in memory of them.

The design

I asked the customer to email me images of designs that she liked. I would next take the image above and create a custom design using the materials we had to work with.

It is impossible to use everything from the old pieces in the new one. The design I came up with used quite a lot and the customer loved it. Now knowing what I had to work with and what I was going to make I could do the quote.

The big reveal

When I initially inspect jewellery to work on/with there is a limit to what I can measure and see. The gems from this ring are a classic example. What appear to be round diamonds when in the setting are in fact very much irregular round diamonds.

It is very important to remove the diamonds in a way that puts no stress on then so as to avoid any possibility of the customer thinking that I damaged the diamonds in a way that would make them off round. Also removing gems is always done when possible with the customer present….if not possible a video is taken.

The end result

In the end we have a piece of jewellery that the customer loves to wear. The ring is 18ct yellow gold and the three best quality diamonds turned out to be the largest and went in the centre.

The two off round old cut diamonds went to the sides where hiding their flaws went well. The small channel set diamonds were not of the best quality and a bit off white….but this ring is all about the sentiment …so we used them.

The leftovers

Having an excess of materials to select from when doing remodelling is definitely an advantage. There is enough here to do another piece or two down the track. Have a great weekend.