Turquoise Chip Inlay Ring Repair
It made me so excited when this local client saw my jewelry at the Ringling Museum of Art and said to himself, “That’s who I want to fix my ring!”
He recently inherited this handsome turquoise chip inlay ring from his late father, and has never taken it off since but he noticed that chips were starting to fall out of the ring and the epoxy was starting to yellow.
I gave him the option of either replacing the chips with solid pieces of turquoise or just going with another chip inlay, and he decided to honor the original design.
I started by removing the original stones and epoxy before thoroughly cleaning the inlay channels of any debris so that the new inlay will adhere to the ring well.
For an additional amount, my client asked me to also polish the sterling silver ring shank to remove all of the dents and dings so the ring would look brand new.
Once I had the ring prepared, I could start inlaying the chips. I used a few of the original chips after cleaning them up, and supplemented with some tiny #8 turquoise pieces that I hammered into even smaller chips.
I carefully arranged the small chips in each recess, making sure to pack them in so there was a lot of turquoise in each section of the inlay ring.
Make it stand out
Once the epoxy cured, I could cut and polish the face of the ring so that it’s all flush with the sterling silver.
(Pictured here is what the chip inlay ring repair looked like before I cut the surface down).
The last step is doing a final polish on the ring and it’s all finished!
A before and after shot of this turquoise chip inlay ring repair.
Here’s what my client had to say about his refreshed inlay ring:
“From our very first interaction, she gave such attention to the sentimental value of the ring and I could tell she cared about this restoration on more than just a transactional basis. Her craftsmanship was impeccable, and I suspect the ring looks better today than it was new.” -Michael G.
Do you have a chip inlay ring that’s starting to chip?
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