Project in progress: Art Deco brooch to bracelet conversion

[fioratura]

Today was a beautiful jewelry day in San Francisco! I paid a visit to Natalia at Lang Antiques to check out possible wedding band options and talk about some projects I had in mind. She was so lovely and invited me to come back and continue playing dress up any time...I found some bands that I liked, but still haven’t foond “the one”. It was worth a trip just to look around the shop and try things on though! I am kicking myself for not taking photos of the insanely encrusted Art Deco and Edwardian bracelets I tried on. Next time I will remember. Anyway, they don’t do any kind of bench work there, but she chatted with me about my brooch conversation ideas and sent me down the street to Nick Engle’s studio to talk to them about doing the work. The studio is awesome...bright sunny loft...very SF tech vibe. The design and bench team are very young and all women except for Nick, which I thought was really cool. I sat down with Alia to talk about my conversion and she was fantastic. So here’s the project: I have a small 14k Art Deco filigree brooch (eBay find) and a 14k chain from my grandmother’s collection. We are going to attach 3 tiny jump rings to each point at the ends of the brooch and make a 3 chain bracelet with bars near the clasp to keep the chains spaced. Here are the photos I’m so excited to see how it turns out!

 

[KristinTech]

Oooh, fun!! I love Natalia—she helped me and my husband when we were visiting SanFran in February! I took this sneaky pic, trying to act like I was take a shot of the profile, but really I was trying to take a pic of her gorgeous pave flower ring! Too bad it didn’t work at all.

 

[fioratura]

Hahahaha from what I can see, it looks like a pretty amazing ring! It’s such an amazing place, right?! Just for fun, here are some of the bands I tried. I’m so sorry for my horrible nails and dirty ring....I had it cleaned right after I took these shots

 

[JPie]

That brooch will make a beautiful bracelet! Can’t wait to see the results.

 

[Bron357]

Fabulous, I’m a great fan of re purposing older jeweller. It will look stunning.
Here is a modest little one I did with an old 14kt gold watch band (watch was worn into a swimming pool by mistake and ruined) and a brooch I found (on eBay of course).

 

[petite_singe]

That's the most beautiful brooch I have seen. It will make a beautiful bracelet!

 

[Lookinagain]

I did a conversion a few years ago with a very similar ebay find brooch, although I had stems added. I love the way it turned out and I'm sure your's will be beautiful. Here's mine.

 

[arkieb1]

I did a conversion a few years ago with a very similar ebay find brooch, although I had stems added. I love the way it turned out and I'm sure your's will be beautiful. Here's mine.

I hope this isn't a dumb question but did you get the jeweller to bend the brooch or was it curved to start with?

 

[fioratura]

I did a conversion a few years ago with a very similar ebay find brooch, although I had stems added. I love the way it turned out and I'm sure your's will be beautiful. Here's mine.

Wow so gorgeous! I have the same question as @Lookinagain: how did your jeweler bend the brooch. I have another one that’s around that size and really wanted to convert it to a bangle, but everyone has been concerned about it being damaged when they bend it into a curve. I think it’s probably because of the placement of the diamonds. I’m saving it as a brooch for now, and possibly doing a necklace conversion. My original dream when I started scouring eBay for these brooches were definitely for bangles though. Maybe I need to look for more


.

 

[fioratura]

That's the most beautiful brooch I have seen. It will make a beautiful bracelet!

Thank you!! It’s super cute and petite and really spoke to me. As a brooch it doesn’t really take up enough real estate to pack a punch, but I think this new design will really make it stand out! I have a 6” wrist and it fits perfectly! It was also really fortunate that the chain was 18” long so we’ll have plenty to play with! I should be hearing from Nick’s team with updates today! I can’t wait!

 

[fioratura]

Fabulous, I’m a great fan of re purposing older jeweller. It will look stunning.
Here is a modest little one I did with an old 14kt gold watch band (watch was worn into a swimming pool by mistake and ruined) and a brooch I found (on eBay of course).

I love it! What a great idea! ! I love all of your resourceful Pricescopers!

 

[Lookinagain]

I hope this isn't a dumb question but did you get the jeweller to bend the brooch or was it curved to start with?

Not a dumb question at all. It needed to be bent. I had to send photos of the side view and the back so that they could determine if it could be done. It's pretty delicate so I think they did a great job of it.

 

[Lookinagain]

Wow so gorgeous! I have the same question as @Lookinagain: how did your jeweler bend the brooch. I have another one that’s around that size and really wanted to convert it to a bangle, but everyone has been concerned about it being damaged when they bend it into a curve. I think it’s probably because of the placement of the diamonds. I’m saving it as a brooch for now, and possibly doing a necklace conversion. My original dream when I started scouring eBay for these brooches were definitely for bangles though. Maybe I need to look for more

How did they do it? I have no idea, but I assume very carefully! It was done by JBG as I had seen her conversions so reached out to her when I found the one I wanted and was able to buy it from ebay. As mentioned, she wanted some photos from various perspectives so I assume she showed it to her bench and then she told me it could be done. And it was. But HOW? I can't imagine.

 

[Bron357]

How did they do it? I have no idea, but I assume very carefully! It was done by JBG as I had seen her conversions so reached out to her when I found the one I wanted and was able to buy it from ebay. As mentioned, she wanted some photos from various perspectives so I assume she showed it to her bench and then she told me it could be done. And it was. But HOW? I can't imagine.

Yuri Geller works there?

 

[Lookinagain]

Yuri Geller works there?