In It Together #9: Want Something New? It Just Might Be Hiding In Your Jewelry Box
Today is our 8 week anniversary of captivity. Sure, it’s dark. But, I’ve decided we’ll celebrate eight weeks of togetherness with a party for three including my first baking project of the pandemic and some good quality television. Let’s face it, there are some major ups and downs while in quarantine. Sometimes you’re productive. Sometimes you are panicked. Sometimes you are energized and sometimes you are exhausted. Hence, the In It Together Series. My clients and readers have told me about the ups and downs of their quarantine experiences. This series is intended to offer inspiration, guidance and support during this unprecedented time.
As a personal stylist for women, my posts are generally focused on transformation- with style as your vehicle. Right now, I think my community is served best by bringing together my small business community and my client community through this series. I hope you agree.
Today, I’ve asked one of my client favorites to offer up her guidance on rediscovering your jewelry. Adrienne Krieger is the powerhouse behind Everling Jewelry. You can see me gush about her and her business here. In short, she’s all about beauty, sustainability, resourcefulness and expressing yourself. I think you’ll find that reorganizing your jewelry is another way to both exert some control over a chaotic world and to rediscover beautiful pieces that you can wear right now. Enjoy!
An assortment of Everling’s jewelry way back in 2015 at a Poplin Client Party.
Everling Jewelry Owner, Adrienne Krieger,
on Bringing New Life to Your Jewelry Collection
If you are a person that needs a project, or at the very least, a distraction right now, then let’s talk about going through and sorting your jewelry. Here is what you need to know when you are deciding what should stay and what should go:
1. Organize everything you love, wear and care about. I recommend a thread holder like this one. It will keep necklaces, dangle earrings and rings from banging up against one another, preventing dings and scratches. These usually can sit on a dresser or hang on a wall.
2. Separate what you don’t want and don’t use into 3 piles.
A. It is made from precious materials like gold, silver, platinum, diamonds and gems. Even if you don’t want it anymore, there is soooooo much you can do with it. More on this below.
B. The next pile is the costume jewelry pile. You know you don’t use it, you know you can’t get money for it, and you are just going to give it away. For this I would consider giving it to the Seattle Metal’s Guild. They repair and sort this type of jewelry and give it to the women’s shelter. This helps a lot of ladies out when they are accessorizing for work or job interviews, especially if they have left a scary situation without any time to grab clothing. Learn more here: https://www.seattlemetalsguild.org/programs/womens-shelter-jewelry-project/
C. You don’t know what it is or if it is real. Keep it! We can help you to figure this out. I have a friend who brought me a bag of jewelry she was heading to Goodwill with. She wanted just to see if I could find something worth anything in there. I found $2600 worth of jewelry. Don’t donate until you know!
3. Going back to 2A, the precious materials pile, here are some things to look for:
A. BROKEN CHAINS- not to worry, all is not lost. Everling has been making some great “Apogee” necklaces with broken chains. We use one half chain, a couple metal circles, and your favorite beads on the other side. It rotates in any way, looks modern and asymmetrical, and is a great way to reclaim what you thought was a throwaway. More about this on our blog: https://everlingjewelry.com/blogs/news/re-love-your-broken-chains
B. EX WEDDING RINGS- Just because your relationship is over, it doesn’t mean that you need to quit on your old jewelry. We can help you transform it into a new pendant or a cute stacker set, or a wide statement band. We have tons and tons of examples of what we can do, but here is an image of a wedding set we transformed. The first is an engagement ring that we made into a pendant, and the second was the corresponding wedding band that we turned into a chunky statement band.
C. BROKEN RINGS WITH MISSING STONES: Do you have a hand-me-down-ring where something “happened to it”? Maybe the center stone got pulled out and you were left with some empty prongs and baby diamonds. What are you ever supposed to do with this? You were told you could use it later- what does that even mean? Here is an example of a client who used a bunch of their small diamonds in a pendant from a couple different rings. We melted down her gold to cast this pendant and then set her diamonds. All pendant parts are 100% reused!
D. IT LOOKS REALLY, REALLY OLD: Do you have a piece of jewelry that has possibly been handed down for many generations? You would love to wear it, but worry that just picking it up might cause a diamond to fall out or a part to break off? We can help restore your antiques to wearable and like-new. Often a restoration can cost close to the same as a new jewelry item, but it is an option for those really sentimental pieces.
E. METAL AND STONES YOU WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH: You don’t want to look at it, touch it, think about it? That’s great- take the money and run. We pay our client’s 70% of the value of gold and 60% of platinum and silver. With a few minutes of your time, a driver’s license, and a signature, we will write you a check for the items you don’t want. You can compare this to the, sometimes 30% and 40% at places that specialize in “we buy gold”
Jewelry can have a lot of emotion wrapped up in it. Be gentle with yourself when going through these items. Take a break if you need to. And above all, Ask. We are here to help you decipher what is worth keeping repairing or giving away. We can do some of this over video chat, and some will have to wait until we are able to meet in person again. Until then, use small bags to separate out the items you have questions about or want to re-use.
Last but certainly not least, this is my ruby ring from Everling jewelry back in the days of professional manicures. It’s a showstopper. I’m telling you, she is good;)
Looking for more guidance from Adrienne and the Everling Team? Reach out for a virtual consultation or shop the collection of handmade jewelry online.