My mom has my dad's and her wedding bands made into a heart shaped pendant. Each ring was shaped into a heart and hers (being smaller) is inside his, welded together. It is pretty and meaningful to her.

A friend’s first husband died tragically not long after they married. She had their gold bands made into a dimensional cross with her diamond in the center. She told me the story after I commented on it once because of its unusual look.

I am in the middle of redesigning numerous pieces given to me and my sister over the years. So far we've taken 5 rings and designed 8 new pieces (5 rings, 3 pendants, 1 bracelet) with stones leftover. I have ideas for numerous more. I am working with a local designer with out-of-state artisans. If not for CV19, we would have them back by now.

What about linking the two rings, and changing them so they are more organic. Your post made me think of Sarah Graham's designs for ideas. SGMetalsmithing If you have an IG account, there are so many ideas on Instagram.

I have become obsessed with Marla Aaron's lock jewelry and her IG account may be another source of inspiration. Particularly if you were interested in turning your rings into something charm like.

Marla Aaron

My mother inherited her mother’s engagement ring. She took the diamond and had her own engagement ring redesigned using my grandmother’s diamond and her own. She then took the gold band from my grandmother’s engagement ring and repurposed it into a new ring. Her favorite jeweler added a solitaire Blue Topaz stone to it which she then gave to me as a birthday gift for my 21st birthday (two years after my grandmother’s death). I’ve worn the ring on and off over they years, but about a year ago started wearing it daily. Both of my daughters, on separate occasions remarked about how much they loved the ring. On a couple of occasions, while shopping, I’ve had (young) store cashiers comment on it. I guess the style of it must be fashionable in the younger age set? It’s such a “simple” ring but the stone is a pretty pale blue.

Necklace was made from center stone of Mom’s cocktail ring. Gold heart is my DH original wedding band.

Ugh, don’t know why pic is sideways😂

I wore my father's wedding band on my right hand on my wedding day. I had to tie it to my wrist with blue ribbon looped through it to keep it from falling off. He passed about 2 weeks before we got married.

About a year later, my Mother had it remade into a ring for her, and set a diamond from a necklace he's given her in it. Some years later, she then gave it to me. I rarely wear it, as it is sort of the "nugget" fashion of the '80's and it catches on everything.

When my DH & I hit the 25 year mark, I asked my Mom for the 25th anniversary ring she'd received from my Father. (she had remarried and all of the jewelry Dad had given her over the years was sitting in a safe deposit box and not being used.) She gave it to me and we used the 4 of the diamonds along with my rings to make my 25th Anniv. ring.The 2 of the other stones were given to my kids, and they used them to make their wedding rings.

My sister received some of Mom's jewelry as well. I've never seen her wear any of it or any other jewelry. Makes me wonder if she sold it.

I love these ideas and stories! And the IG inspiration. Some great stuff there.

PS ruby claire, I am now obsessed too.

I have no answers, just wanted to comment. Some great ideas and loved hearing what these pieces mean to those here. I am not a big jewelry person, never wear more than one ring on each hand, etc. I used to love and wear bracelets but rarely ever now. I have a full pandora bracelet and a charm bracelet from my early 20's which has a charm symbolizing myself (a girl child;s head with birthdate) which was on my grandmother's charm bracelet along with some other nice bracelets. I need to pull those out! I have my grandmothers diamond wedding band, but have it put away. My mom's wedding set went to my brother, which went to his now wife.

4kids4us, I almost always wear a ring on my right hand that is a largish blue topaz. I love it! It was in my mother's things, although I don't remember her wearing it.

Nini, I love your necklace!!

Pudgeder, what a sweet story. Perhaps your sister did like me and has the jewelry put away,

This was my Mom's ring that I had my jeweler reshape into a pendant. She had tiny fingers and mine are huge. I wear it often.

Not to detract from the original question, but I have a dilemma when it comes to heirloom jewelry. I have twin daughters and really only two pieces of jewelry from the grandmothers. One is a beautiful rose gold filigree band with a ruby in the center and a seed pearl on either side. It is exquisite. The other is a very small diamond in a yellow gold Tiffany setting. Technically the rose gold ring should go to my "eldest" daughter, but she is only 2 minutes older than her sister. They are 24 now and I would like to give them the jewelry when they turn 25, but I know they would both adore the rose gold ring, the other not so much...What would you do?

Nekotish,

I would speak to them. It might be something easy, like flipping a coin.

Or they can rotate its possession, odd and even years. This could become a fun tradition between them where they do the pass along on their birthday.

,

This is the most timely topic ever. Today I was looking for a piece of jewelry I have stored away with other jewelry I no longer use. I found a little black ring box and when I opened it, there was my late grandmother's wedding band. She passed before I was born so you can imagine how special it is to me. Her and my grandfather's initials are engraved inside the band.

The thing is, it had to be cut off my finger back when I was pregnant when my hands swelled all of a sudden and I couldn't get her ring off. It was late at night so DH used his metal cutters. Had to do two cuts.

I sadly put it away and went on with my life. :) Can a jeweler solder it back to it's original style? I don't want to repurpose because of who it belonged to, I want my DGD to have it.

Speaking of jewelers, have you noticed there aren't many around anymore, especially the smaller mom and pop stores?

I found my dad’s original band, which is plain yellow gold and basically the equivalent of my mom‘s plain white-gold band. I’d rather use these two original bands and just hold my dad’s second band for one of my sons.

I could definitely see reshaping one or both into a heart for a pendant like Irish2 did. Or into smaller rings on a chain like my original pic. We do have a few small jewelry design shops in our area so when I can, I should just meet and see what ideas they may have.

I could do something like this, using my mom’s band to make the loop at the top (sans diamonds).

These are interesting too.

Those are great looking sue!

I like those, Sueb20. My favorite is the bottom one. For me it would be how the two rings work with each other.

I was about to hijack your thread, but I will just start a new one.

I really like those Sue!

Oakley, I'd bet a good jeweler could repair that ring!

Oakley, when my grandmother was hit, the paramedics cut off her rings. My mother had them repaired at a local jewelry store. If you ever get a ring stuck again, use the string trick to get it off. You can do with ribbon, string or dental floss.

I had a ring made with my mother and grandmother's diamonds from their wedding rings. My mother had previously made me a ring w/ my grandma's stone but when she died I wanted to combine the two so I used the rubies from the ring my mom had originally had made. I designed it w/ the jeweler and I love it.

Thanks Sue, what an interesting thread. Love the Sarah Graham black and gold pieces and the ones Sue posted utilizing the bands.

Allison - DH learned the dental floss trick when he was an intern. I can't tell you how many times he has removed a ring like that and it's fun to watch too.

Oakley - your ring can be repaired. If your jeweler doesn't do it himself he can send it out.

I have to wonder who thought of string taking a ring off? I'll look into having the ring put together, too much history there.

Here are the rings. Very plain.

And look at these cool high school rings.

I love the old HS rings! I have two plus Dad's college ring. All are in the curio cabinet in guest bedroom.

Those are wonderful HS rings! Very classic.

Sue, it looks like one wedding ring can fit into the other just like one if the examples that was posted above.

i like the idea of keeping them intact.

The high school tings are very personal I think to the original owner. I would just keep them as a keepsake. Sometimes just knowing you have something personal like this tucked away is good enough.

I might eventually give my dad’s HS ring to oldest DS and give my dad’s second wedding band (from when he was married to my mom but upgraded to a fancier band) to second DS. I wore my mom’s HS ring the whole time my dad was sick in Feb/March — as a good luck charm? I don’t know but he’s still here; maybe I should keep it on!

My mom died 25 years ago and my dad married again. Second wife died 10 years ago but he wore that wedding band until maybe a year ago (even when he was dating!). No idea where that ring is now but I had no positive connection to her so I don’t really care! Except I might’ve sold it. 😉

The smaller band almost fits inside the larger one, but not quite. Definitely leaning toward a very basic treatment like this.

I like the simplicity of it, Sueb20. You can wear it more often. They can make it fit inside.

That is how my mom's and dad's rings fit together, except they are shaped into a heart. For me, I would prefer the simplicity of the circles....timeless.

Sueb20, have you started the process of making the necklace? I've gotten back several pieces now (5 rings, 1 bracelet) and they are all gorgeous. Still waiting on 1 necklace and 3 pendants, with a wish list for more once CV19 isn't slowing things down.

Late to this - if you haven't done anything yet, you could probably have your dad's ring enlarged until your moms fit inside.

Haven’t done a thing!

Had a very talented jeweler form his dad’s and my bands into an anchor for his college graduation. I’ll see if I can find the pics.

He cut and reformed the bands, he didn’t melt them.

Many years ago when I was in high school, it was the custom for boys to give their class ring to their girl friend to wear. My boyfriend’s ring was very large, but my hands are small. So I wore it on a chain like pictured at the very beginning of this thread. The ring’s band very quickly started deteriorating by abraiding and sliding around on the chain. I don’t know if his ring was exceptionally soft or not, but I learned my lesson about wearing a ring on a chain.

LOL Littlebug I did that too.

We stuffed our steady’s ring with something...wax, maybe? . The higher it stood up on ones’ finger, the studly-er the boyfriend. 🤣

In my high school the girls wrapped the band with angora yarn and then dabbed it with glue or clear nail polish so that it wouldn't unravel.

I have 6 class rings sitting in a box and no idea what to do with them. DH and I each have our h.s. and college rings and I have both of my parents' h.s. rings. None of my kids wanted one when they graduated and I doubt they'd be interested in these either.

It's an interesting idea. My husband died about 5 years ago, and on each anniversary, he used to give me a wedding band so I could wear something that matched the rest of my jewelry. We were married for 4 years before he died. Now, I've met another person, and I don't really know what to do with all these wedding bands. I don't wear them anymore, but they are some great memories.

When I leave on a trip longer than a few days my mother gives me her wedding band to wear on a chain, to keep me safe and bring me back to her. I’ve not noticed any wear on the ring from my chain.

Agggh I hate it when my 3 year old threads come back…

"Alex Jones" is a well-known spam editor.

Sueb, how do you feel about five year old threads?

I did not realize it until I saw my post.

@Sueb20 What did you end up doing with the rings?

Well, ha! I did nothing!

I did end up finding my dad’s original wedding ring, so I had two. And I have two sons. One son got married two years after this post, and I offered him his choice between the two rings — if he wanted one. He did, and he has now been wearing my dad’s ring for 3 years. My other son was not engaged, but I gave him my dad’s other ring and hopefully he hasn’t lost it, because he got engaged just before Easter. I still have my mother’s band, and I’d offer it to DD but she never knew my mom and I know she wants something different so I guess it will sit in my jewelry box unless I think of something to do with it.

My dad’s ring on DS.

Oh, I love that your son is wearing your dad's ring. That is so special.

I have both of my parents' wedding bands. They are both simple gold bands. Sometimes I wear my dad's on my thumb but it's a little big and I'm always afraid I'll lose it. My mom's is too small for any finger other than my pinky (she had the most beautiful hands with long slim fingers). It's a pretty wide band and doesn't look right on my pinky.

I would love to do something with them that I would wear more but I have no idea what.

My son wears my dad’s wedding band also as his wedding band❤️

My engagement ring is in an insert. I had the insert cut in two and gave my daughter the other half when she married. She wears it as her wedding band with her engagement ring. We are sort of twining 😁
I just love seeing it on her finger. I rather see it now, than when I will no longer be alive to see her enjoy it. It makes my heart sing.