I have done quite a few alterations to make jewelry more wearable. From watch conversions to the addition the of turquoise or other alterations. Are there certain pieces of jewelry we shouldn’t mess with? Is it disrespectful to alter a vintage piece or signed piece, or is it totally fine for an owner to alter a piece they own?
I’ll start with an older watch cuff. The decision was weather to find a watch to insert of alter it by adding a turquoise cab:
Before:
Here is my 2 cents worth. I’m not a purist or OCD over anything. As I recall, the watch cuff was popularized as a fashion accessory in the 70s and 80s. It’s no longer “in”. So unless it has more value due to the maker and provenance, I would go with the modification to add the stone. That looks very nice and works well with the cuff the way you have it laid out.
“Everything made by man may be destroyed by man; there are no ineffaceable characters except those engraved by nature; and nature makes neither princes nor rich men nor great lords.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
I have done some of the typical converting of screwback earrings to posts (my mom’s from the 40’s), but have also had a couple items changed completely from what they originally were. I really wanted some silver dipped birch leaf earrings, but couldn’t find any until we were in Victoria, BC. A little tiny store had silver birch leaves on pendants (not Native made) and I asked them if they could switch them to earrings. Voila!
A much bigger change was converting my Hopi Leon Lomakema buckle to a pendant. It was a small buckle that I loved, but never wore, so I had a store in ABQ Old Town do the switch. I worked out perfectly, and now I wear it often.
I still hope to do something with these lovely natural turquoise stones (those are not cracks in the stone on the right) that at one time made up another pair of my mom’s Navajo earrings from the 40’s.
Here’s another pretty common issue (I think)…Wonderful vintage screw back earring conversions. I want to convert these Zuni sun face earrings; the question is…posts or Fr wires?
I was thinking posts, then saw the way these little cluster earrings were converted. I’d never seen this adaption of the screw back hardware.
Thoughts?
Thanks Zia! I thought I had heard of a way to convert screw backs without removing the hardware, but it wasn’t until I saw these earrings belonging to a friend, that it really made sense.
The primary things you don’t want to risk with these, @Bmpdvm , is anything that involves removing the setting, or heating the earrings to a soldering temp (even extremely low temp solder like Tix). Another concern is bending the long portion of screw back finding up as shown risks potentially breaking off the top portion of the finding at the bend (less so if the finding is originally formed from milled sterling rather than cast).
It looks like there’s a spot at the top of the screw back finding for drilling to attach an elongated jump ring finding. From there you syould be able to attach a ball post to the jump ring, to convert to dangles.
Another approach would be to drill a jump ring hole directly just at the center top of the Zia sunrays, and attach your jump ring, or ball post there. This would balance and hang a bit better than the other solution I suggested which would likely have the dangle inclining a bit inward at the bottom.
Thanks so much Mike. I do appreciate your knowledgeable suggestions! I definitely want to avoid any soldering, and removal of the sun face . I thought about soft soldering a post after removing the screw back attachment, but after your suggestions I’ll not do that. Looks like the screw back wire was flattened a bit in the example I posted.
I like your idea of attaching a jump ring directly to the center of the top rays. As you pointed out, it might hang better and seems a bit “cleaner.” I’ll likely use a half ball or disc post rather than a ball post (my own preference)
Ok @Bmpdvm sorry for the delay. Here’s what I did with a pair of Zuni screw backs. I basically just asked the silversmith to cut the existing hardware, bend it, and file it to make a post, and my vision worked out well. I guess he didnt have any problems with the silver breaking as Mike said could potentially be an issue. Like you I wanted to avoid any soldering. I think this could potentially work for your earrings.
Thanks!!! That worked out great! Those are exceptional Zuni earrings - drooling!
So your jeweler filed the post to the correct diameter to accept a back clasp. I have several screwback (mostly Zuni) earrings; this is a simple, easy answer!
I bought cufflinks off of shopGoodwill that I thought would make pretty post earrings (we converted a pair of Connemara marble ones for my mom years ago) - will send to Perry Null to make the conversion after a consult.
