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Best Ways to Fix Broken Jewellery

Ever noticed how an outfit really doesn’t say much until you add the right jewellery? Each piece – be it earrings, a necklace, bracelet or even body piercings – is a statement within itself. Want to add some noise to your little black dress? Jazz it up with a colourful, chunky necklace or an artsy, lime-sized ring with bright gemstones. Wearing something bold and crazy? Tone it down and bring a flow to your outfit with a simple, matching necklace and earring set. Oh, the possibilities!

Jewellery is one of the most important fashion accessories, and anyone with an interest in fashion will have accumulated quite a few eccentric, classic and all in all beautiful pieces over the years. Unfortunately, their crowd-pleasing work tends to take a toll after a while, and silly but vital things like clasps, hooks and hinges break, leaving you with an unemployed piece of jewellery but with the right tools and a little bit of creativity, you can easily fix your favourite choker and make it the star of your outfit again.

Necklace/Bracelet Clasps

Necklace and bracelet clasps always take a bit of fiddling with until they are finally secured, so it’s no wonder they are the first thing to break. Fixing a broken clasp can be just as tedious as actually securing it if you don’t have the right tools – these tiny little jewellery pieces definitely weren’t made for sausage fingers! A pair of needle-nosed pliers will spare you a whole lot of frustration and time. Simply remove the jump ring holding the clasp in place by gently opening the slit. Take the clasp out and replace it with a new one. You can find clasps in different sizes and finishes at any hobby shop. Once you have slipped the new clasp into the jump ring, use the needle-nosed pliers to push the ring opening back together.

Earring Hooks

Those earring hooks can be a real bugger – if not stored correctly they tend to bend, and if you’re really unlucky, snap from their jump ring. Luckily this is easily fixable and the steps don’t defer too much from the technique used for clasps. First you’ll need to establish which part of the earring is the actual breaking-point culprit. If the hook is the only problem, remove it from the jump ring using needle-nosed pliers and replace it with a new one. If it’s the jump ring that has opened, simply tighten it by pushing the openings together with the pliers.

Discolouring

Some of the coolest statement jewellery is often fake and will leave you with that lovely green/blueish discolouring to deal with but gold and silver jewellery tend to discolour too, making a once shiny, snazzy necklace look dull and old. To avoid this from happening, there are a few tricks you can try. A layer of clear nail polish on fake rings – particularly on the inside of the ring – will stop your fingers from turning into a colourful accessory. You’ll be happy to know that gold and silver jewellery pieces can easily be cleaned and polished with typical ingredients you’re bound to have lying around the house: toothpaste, beer, vinegar, vodka and even ketchup will become your jewelleries new best friends.

Beaded Necklaces/Bracelets

Beaded necklaces or bracelets, especially those strung on a cheap elastic band, are usually the first item in your jewellery box to break. All it takes is getting caught on something and ta-da – you’ll find yourself standing in a sea of colourful beads. Even if you get down on your knees and save every single bead for repair purposes, there’s a good chance you’ll be missing a few here and there, but that doesn’t matter: it’ll just give you a great opportunity to come up with a new design! To avoid the same thing from happening again, you might consider swapping elastic string for wire – it’ll hold up a lot longer and the clasps will be fitted more securely. Buy some jewellery wire and start beading it to the desired length, leaving a bit of extra wire exposed on either end for the jump ring and clasp. Wrap the wire around the jump ring and the clasp using needle-nosed pliers and tightly squeeze them to secure. You’re good to go!

To get any jewellery from Purely Diamonds repaired see here.