Working Tuesday: Incorporating Vintage Jewelry Into New Designs

I'm having quite a bit of fun incorporating old pieces into new designs. There's a challenge to taking a fixed design and making it into something new. I've had to re-think a few things, but so far I'm happy with the results.

The latest challenge was to take a vintage rhinestone pin and make it into a small hair comb for a fancy event. I'm a bit of a purist. If a piece of jewelry is in working order, I can't just cut off a piece of it to suit my purposes. So I've had to work around keeping pin backs and figure out ways - other than soldering - to attach the vintage pieces to the larger design.

For this piece, I used a silver plated comb that was wider than the actual pin. I cut the comb to the proper size with wire cutters and then filed down the place where I cut to make it smooth. I then used sterling silver wire to attach the comb to the pin. The back side will lay flush against the hair, so the wire doesn't show from the front.

The end result? Vintage glam in modern form.