How To Repair A Missing Pin On A Brooch

The Brooch Repair Field Guide

Annabelle / January 15, 2022

Brooches and pins can be beautiful and functional ornaments…until they're broken or out of style. Fortunately, a jeweler can easily fix up a cleaved brooch or catechumen a pivot into another slice of beautiful jewelry. Read on to learn more about brooch repair.

What's the Difference Between a Brooch and a Pin?

While the ii terms are interchangeably used, a brooch usually refers to a more formal centerpiece with a pin and clasp fixture at the back. A pin, or stickpin, is a decorative design at the acme of a long and pointy metal component.

Repairing a Brooch

Almost of the brooch repairs we receive are for replacing components. After long periods of wear, pins snap off or come loose. Clasps on costume jewelry brooches are also decumbent to breaking off if the metallic is low-quality or weak.

When receiving a brooch for piece of work, the jeweler examines it closely earlier proceeding. Is it costume jewelry? What is the base metal? Are at that place whatever components like rhinestones, glass gems, or delicate gemstones that may react badly to estrus? These questions are of import, every bit information technology will impact how the jeweler repairs the piece.

If the item is fabricated out of precious metal such as sterling silver or gilded, this simplifies the repair equally these metals will react predictably to certain temperatures. The jeweler tin can supply a new clasp and pivot to match these metals, and solder them back onto the brooch. The metallic component for the pin may often be filed downward or created from a thick wire to friction match the required length of the brooch's design.

Items that are fabricated out of non-precious metals, such every bit costume jewelry, are more difficult to fix. Many of these brooches are plated, which means that they are covered with a sparse layer of aureate, silver, or rhodium coloration to give it a item shade. This color comes off when exposed to heat or water, making it near-incommunicable to retain the original appearance of the detail.

This costume jewelry brooch had a pin replaced. Note the discoloration on the sides.

In add-on, these items don't react predictably to the soldering process. Some metals may transfer heat very apace, causing the repair process to burn plastic or glass gems. In society to forbid this from happening, the jeweler will exam the brooch at one small surface area with a light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. If the metal reacts favorably, then the jeweler volition proceed with the work. Frail gemstones such every bit abalone, pearl, coral, and opal may often exist unset for extra security earlier oestrus awarding in the repair work.

Aside from fixing the components of a brooch or pin, a jeweler can also repair its design by touching upwardly enamel, plating, or replacing stones. To re-apply enamel or plating, the jeweler removes the existing color on the item via polishing so replaces the coloration with new enamel, golden, or rhodium. Stone replacements are carefully matched equally closely as possible with simulated or genuine stones.

Converting Brooches and Pins

Brooches and pins aren't for anybody! If you lot've inherited a cute heirloom but you lot don't similar wearing it on your clothing, consider converting it to a pendant or a band. You tin fifty-fifty get creative with the conversion and request for the new piece to be constructed in a sure way if the design allows for it.

The jeweler examines the slice to see what's the best style to remove the pivot components. Some brooches may retain the bulk of their design, while other parts may be selectively removed until the jeweler obtains the part of the blueprint that the customer wants to catechumen.

To brand this into a ring, our customer requested for us to snip off the golden parts on the side.

Once the jeweler's removed all of the extra material, they attach new components to make the item a different blazon of jewelry. If information technology's a pin to pendant conversion, the jeweler will solder a bond to the top to get through a chain, or fifty-fifty curve the existing pin into a loop at the top of the blueprint. For a brooch to ring conversion, the jeweler will either curve the original pivot, or solder on an entirely new ring band.