MAKE SOMETHING NEW
Yes, we can rework your old gems and jewellery!
Overview
- Wedo not melt down your metal and use it to make a new piece. Instead, we can offer youcredit for youroldgold or platinum scrapand apply it to a new purchase.
Melting down oldjewelleryto make a new piece makes the metal weaker (and thus more prone to porosity and cracking, and losing stones) and the jewellery quality is poorer than when you useproperlyrefined metal, whether it be recycled or newly mined.
- We can often use the gems and diamonds from old jewellery to make new jewellery pieces.
- You can either get a custom piece or set your gem(s) into one our existing styleshere. This is a great service because mostjewellery companies prefer you to buy a new diamond or gem.
How it works
- You fill outourRemake formand we work with you over email or in person to determine what can be used from your existing piece and what we can make within your budget.
- If you'd like to proceed, we'll ask you to ship or bring in your piece(s) for an in-person assessment toensure the condition of your gems is suitable for unsetting and resetting. If they are and you are ready to proceed only then will we ask for a 50% deposit on your project which can be paid online. If you choose not to proceed, your item(s) will be returned to you with free shipping and no charge for the time spent assessing your item(s).
- Once your project goes into production, you can track its progress through our uniqueStatus Appwhich allows you to watch your project move through the phases of design and production.
We offer free two-way shipping within Canada.
For the U.S. we offer free two-way shipping for projects over $1,000 USD.
Repurposing your Old Metal
If you are considering melting down or re-purposing jewellery you already own to make something new, werecommendsaving and reusing the gems if they're in good condition. Wecan offer you credit towards your new piece from the scrap value of your old gold or platinum. While it's technically possible to melt down your old jewellery and use it in a new piece, it's not advisable. Here's why:
At FTJCo we cast many pieces together at a time, to be as efficient as possible with our materials and resources. Thus, melting down your old jewellery would mean working on only one piece of jewellery at a time, resulting in less efficiency for us, and higher costs for you.
More importantly, when you re-melt gold, you need to add a minimum of 50% new metal or you'll get pits and porosity in the resulting casting. To guarantee the highest quality jewellery we always use 80% newly refined gold (which can be either recycled or newly mined).
Why we don't melt down your gold
Another consideration with reusing old gold is that we don't know with what other metals it has been mixed. Even 18K gold is made from 25% other, non-gold, metals and alloying gold is kind of like cooking -- every cook has their own recipe for that 25%. It's these other metals that dictate the resulting colour of your gold jewellery, and its working properties, so it's pretty important to know what you're dealing with. This is why melting down your old jewellery tends to generate unpredictable and often poorer quality results.
With platinum, one should always start with 100% new metal because the results from remelting platinum never yield a quality ring. All jewellers take old platinum jewellery and other previously melted platinum to a refiner.
Reusing your Gems
Your diamonds and gems in good condition can certainly be used in new jewellery pieces made at FTJCo. We love using heirloom gems because not onlydo they offer a more sustainable approach than using newly mined gems, but they also mean your new piece will hold the memories and history of your family.
We canset your gems in a fully custom piece orput them into one our existing styleshere. We can also customize these styles for you, by adding small diamonds to the side, adding different finishes, prong styles--you name it! This is a great service because most other companies willpush you towards buying a new diamond or gem from them in order to purchase a ring or piece of jewellery.
You can get startedhere.
- See samples of client-made remakes|custom rings| earrings|pendants & necklaces
