Melting Thrift Store Jewelry Into New Jewelry

HELLO FRIENDS!! and welcome to another episode of "what can i melt next" -- i hope you all enjoy this video, in which the melting becomes much more high stakes, lol. which of our new jewelry pieces was your favorite?? xoxo, saf

The sweet man and woman going "They're looking for silver, and they're on a roll" and "Alright!" sound so encouraging and adorable. If I could fit them in my purse and take them home with me, I would.

Glassblowing might also be something to try! I've been itching to take a beginner's class, and the process looks so cool. You can make glass ornaments, decorations, charms, and a whole bunch of other things with a variety of colors. Would be really cool to see you try that!

As a metalsmith with a degree, it made me sooooooo happy to hear you call them 'metalsmiths' and not just 'jewelers'. <3

I really appreciate that Saf went to professionals for this. I had a HUGE fear when this started. Yay for very safe work.

Lots of jewelry was harmed during the making of this video.

My grandfather melted his and grandma's wedding rings into a golden heart pendant as a gift for me when she died. I wear it every day; it's been 19 years.

“I’ve become a melting fiend.” Pyro. It’s called being a pyro, Saf. Lol.

This seems less Frankenstein and more Phoenix, it's like the jewelry is being reborn. And that would be an awesome name for a shop that did stuff like this.

blowtorch today, flame thrower tomorrow.

Easter egg: the necklace Safiya is wearing at the end of the vid is the one Christine (simply nailogical) gave her as a wedding gift. That's so sweet to see how much she cherished that gift.

can we just appreciate that Saf does everything that we have an itch for but not the time or resources to do and does it safely. 10/10 love living vicariously through her.

Just so people know there's nothing wrong with rhodium plated silver for non casting purposes. Rhodium is more expensive than gold so you're not getting scammed and it just helps prevent tarnishing. If you want silver but not to polish and take care of it then rhodium plating is a great alternative.

Idea from a knitter: making thrift store sweaters into a frankensweater.

If you asked me 27 minutes and 32 seconds ago if I thought green pea jewellery would be up my ally I would have had a very different answer to now. Those pieces turned out amazing! The finished pieces reminded me of coral at the beach. I loved the water drop studs too! So cute and dainty!

As a jeweler, this is extremely exciting and I'm glad you found metalsmithing fairy godmothers to help you through the process and make sure you weren't melting down any unsafe mystery alloys. Some notes if you are going to keep making jewelry in the future (which you absolutely should!): it's best not to quench your pieces right in the pickle after soldering/heating. It can expose you to unnecessary fumes. It's best to quench them in some plain old water first. And, the brass brush will give you the best finish if you use it wet, with some dish soap, and you brush forwards in one direction. I hope you had fun!

I think it’s so cool that you went in and shopped at a local thrift shop, that older gentleman behind the counter seemed delighted that you guys were there! “They’re on a roll!” ❤️❤️❤️

I'm a jeweler and metalsmith and I was having a small heart attack for you early in this video. Thank you for checking the karat stamps, thank you for consulting with experts (THANK GLOB THEY TOLD YOU ABOUT POT METAL AND PLATING. The fumes can be dangerous. Honestly a little surprised they didn't acid test any of the pieces, but some jewelers get a really good eye for identifying silver) and especially thank you for highlighting that it wasn't easy! Metal work can be extremely difficult and dangerous, and a lot of the poor/misleading metal casting videos not only risk people's health, but devalue jeweler and metalsmith skills - I've had lot of people balk at a 50 dollar repair price tag because they saw how "easy" it was online ( like many of the arts, not realizing that jewelry work takes thousands of hours of training, sometimes a college degree, as well as 10,000 plus dollars in equipment for the SIMPLE stuff) Anyone can learn these skills, and its so fun and rewarding to make jewelry and metal sculpture. Thank you for doing it right. This was so refreshing. I hope this helps to show anyone who wants to get started how to do it right! (without burning themselves or their house down)

if this was done in a cauldron, safiya would be achieving ultimate witchy vibes 😌

As a young goldsmith I must say, well done! I remember doing these things for the first time. Especially the soldering is hard. It’s all pretty complicated and dangerous stuff. I’ve burnt my fingers on hot metal before. The burn was white. Do not ever try at home, people.