When you break jewellery, it isn’t always easy to repair. I enjoy recycling and up-cycling, it’s a creative challenge with an earth-kind bonus. Especially when you loved the original piece of jewellery.
My latest fix is a pendant that I’ve repaired before, it really likes to escape! Originally the crystal was set in a thin silver tip strung on a chain. When it fell out, I gave everything a good clean and re-set the stone. So about 6 months later the silver tip split. I was left with an un-drilled crystal point and decided to wire wrap it. Another option could involve making a new tip with polymer clay or buying a new silver setting and re-mounting it.
So this was my first wire-wrapping attempt:
![Crystal Quartz pendant wrapped in silver plated wire](https://i0.wp.com/dmstrachan.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/First-Crystal-Quartz-Wire-Wrap-DSCF2036-1-1.jpg?resize=764%2C573&ssl=1)
I love this wrap, but the wire I used was too fine to last very long. I wear this pendant every day, so it gets a lot of knocks and bumps. The top wraps just didn’t stand up to the wear and I needed to wrap it again.
So this week I decided to wrap my crystal with copper, using a thicker wire and a different top fastening. The wrap isn’t as pretty as the silver one, but it feels stronger and that was the main goal.
![Wire wrapped pendant created with a crystal quartz point and some copper wire.](https://i0.wp.com/dmstrachan.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Crystal-Quartz-Wrapped-DSCF8417-1-1.jpg?resize=764%2C570&ssl=1)
Have you fixed up some old jewellery? I’d love to hear about any jewellery you’ve repaired or up-cycled.