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(See related question here.)

I was given a necklace with a cute geode pendant. Love the color, but I don't like that the stone is horizontal instead of vertical.

The chain connects to two embedded rings in the rock itself.

close-up picture of pendant

Is it possible to to re-ring the stone even though it's electroplated?

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Erica
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  • How "vertical"? I can imagine an easy way to get it more vertical (essentially by balancing it on only one of the two rings) but it would hang at a diagonal that I can't predict (though you can test it out really easily by just holding it by one chain or the other). Getting it truly vertical would be more challenging. – Catija Jul 14 '16 at 18:41
  • I think I want it symmetric, so completely vertical. – Erica Jul 14 '16 at 18:42
  • My guess is that getting rid of the existing two rings will be the most difficult. You may consider gluing a new ring on the "top" and attach the chain from there. What is the material of the metal "coat" ? – Surb Jul 14 '16 at 22:03
  • Other than "something silvery" I don't know, unfortunately. – Erica Jul 14 '16 at 22:04
  • I know next to nothing about this but I would try to remove one of the rings and solder another one on the opposite side of the remaining ring. That would make it vertical. The difficulty comes from the metals you are using. You cannot just go get any soldering iron to do it and you need special tools (from what I am told) – Matt Jul 15 '16 at 12:03
  • How well does it hang if you move one of the chains so they're both connected to the same hoop? – Joe Jul 15 '16 at 17:43
  • A bead store should have the materials and know-how to do the work or tell you what you need to do. It looks like soldering is involved in switching from horizontal to vertical at the least. – Debbie D'Amelio Jul 14 '16 at 20:53
  • see my answer on the related quesiton – vulcan_ May 25 '18 at 17:17

3 Answers3

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Just thinking out loud here.

Rotate the pendant 90 degrees. Solder hooks on the opposite side mirroring the two on the other side. Add the new chain. Attach the chains together with loops. Done.

enter image description here

John Vukelic
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I know this is an old question, but another option that you might consider is sawing off the existing rings with a jeweler's saw, smoothing the side, and then setting the entire stone with the existing electroplated bezel into a new setting. @Chris Johns is right...you can't resolder the piece because of the potential for damage to the stone.

You can sometimes use certain stones safely with precious metal clay which is going to be finished in a kiln, but the fractures inherent to a geode would not fare well. So you really need some sort of cold setting option, which led me to thinking about bezel setting.

If you create a custom bezel setting for this piece, you could encapsulate the entire old setting within the new bezel. You could create a bezel in the traditional manner, with silver plate, bezel wire and a ring, and solder all of the pieces together, then insert the stone and old bezel into the new bezel. You could also make a new bezel out of precious metal clay (just make sure to account for the shrinkage that is inherent with PMC).

Either of these methods allow you to use high heat for the metal itself, without any impact on the stone. You probably won't be able to use the burnishing process with this piece because the stone's face is so rough, but you could use an adhesive like E-2000 to attach it into the new bezel.

magerber
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The problem with soldering anything to the existing mounting is that you run the risk of the heat damaging the stone, most minerals are both brittle and have poor thermal conductivity so anything other than very slow and even heating is likely to crack them.

It might be better to make up a flat plate the same size as the back of the mount with a loop at one of the narrow ends and fix it with an adhesive or mechanical method.

Chris Johns
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