Bucks &amp; Oxon

I am a January baby myself and I&#8221;m not a huge fan of garnet but these bracelets themselves are very cute x

What a great idea! 
Love it!

Pinch away! Deffo go and see Peter at Biagio, I&#8217;m really happy with the whole service. x

I had my late Mother,s wedding ring made smaller ( which I&#8217;de been wearing for the last 6years without taking off) and asked Biagio to add a small Ruby , but had to be totally flat on the ring !! It was perfect , The ring I then wore for my Ruby Wedding and placed on my finger at &#8220;our renewal of vows&#8221;

Having just been given a garnet cross that belonged to my Mother, I am so pinching this idea. Looks fab x

<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-63018 size-full" src="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-my-ring-on-the-table-1.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-my-ring-on-the-table-1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-my-ring-on-the-table-1-150x113.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-my-ring-on-the-table-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-my-ring-on-the-table-1-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />
When my grandmother died some years ago I inherited a ring of hers that I knew even at the time that I&#8217;d never, ever wear. The piece carried significant sentimental value as I always remembered her wearing it &#8211; an opal ring with its raised &#8216;cage&#8217; setting and old-fashioned circle of garnets, but it has sat in my jewellery box for 25 years, untouched and unappreciated.
I came across it again a few months back when I was searching for something else, and just thought what a waste it was to leave the ring there. It made me sad actually, because I realised that if I didn&#8217;t do something to breathe live into it,  it would eventually pass from me to my daughter (who would think it even less relevant) and then what? Finally be thrown away in generations to come.
So I have taken action and I&#8217;m soooo glad I have. I went to <a href="https://www.biagiothejewellers.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Biagio the Jewellers</a> in Thame, because they have a fantastic design arm there as well as the retail side (there&#8217;s also a large store in Bicester if you&#8217;re further north). I had a long chat to the manager Peter there, who apart from being the loveliest, chattiest guy also knows just about everything there is to know about jewellery, so I ended up giving him the job of bringing this old piece back to life.
The brief
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-62977" src="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-ring-on-table.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-ring-on-table.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-ring-on-table-150x113.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-ring-on-table-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-ring-on-table-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />
My brief was to get Biagio to somehow breathe life and love into the ring again, to turn that hulking knuckleduster into a piece of jewellery I&#8217;d be proud to wear and that would remind me of my racy, funny, cheeky grandmother.
The process
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-62978 size-full" src="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-sketches-e1519104452163.jpg" alt="" width="1333" height="1000" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-sketches-e1519104452163.jpg 1333w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-sketches-e1519104452163-150x113.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-sketches-e1519104452163-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-sketches-e1519104452163-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px" />
My idea was always to turn the ring into a necklace, so I Peter and I talked for some time about the kind of jewellery I was attracted to (modern vintage being the best description I could come up with) before we decided that with the number of garnets we could create an H shape. I loved that idea as I used to have a &#8216;Hero&#8217; naval ring back in my clubbing days (removed when I was pregnant with my first child and never reinstated on the jellly belly), and Mr Muddy bought me a Hero necklace a few years back that has since been lost.
But I was even more grateful for his next suggestion &#8211; that we used the opal and one of the garnets to create a small necklace specifically for my daughter. How cool is that? I hadn&#8217;t even thought about that (I know, I&#8217;m totally selfish) but that touch was to me entirely keeping with what I was trying to achieve &#8211; bringing the generations together somehow, through this piece of jewellery.
And so we sketched, not pretty pictures admittedly, but ideas that I felt could work for me. I left my ring so that the semi-precious stones could be removed, Peter took the sketches and briefed the team, and two weeks later, my jewellery had multiplied.
The result
<div id="attachment_62972" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-62972" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-62972 size-full" src="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-Hero.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="1331" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-Hero.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-Hero-113x150.jpg 113w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-Hero-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-Hero-376x500.jpg 376w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />H garnet on a yellow gold pendant</div>
Er, well, &#8216;thrilled&#8217; would be an understating my reaction when I saw the results. I think what Biagio has done is absolutely perfect. I had been a bit nervous showing my own mum what I&#8217;d done to her mum&#8217;s jewellery &#8211; I&#8217;m not sure why I hadn&#8217;t told her, I guess I was just sure I wanted to do it and didn&#8217;t want it derailed &#8211; but she loved it too.
<div id="attachment_62974" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-62974" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-62974 size-full" src="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-iris-necklace-landscape.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-iris-necklace-landscape.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-iris-necklace-landscape-150x113.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-iris-necklace-landscape-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-iris-necklace-landscape-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />Opal with garnet on 9ct white gold setting</div>
My daughter, who is ten, doesn&#8217;t quite get the emotional resonance of wearing a piece of jewellery from her great-grandmother yet, she&#8217;s more delighted that opals happen to be a trendy stone this year (a total coincidence as it happens). But I&#8217;m absolutely in love with my H, with its chunky gold chain to mitigate my horrific clumsiness.
The cost
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="wp-image-62971 aligncenter" src="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-detail.jpg" alt="" width="553" height="736" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-detail.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-detail-113x150.jpg 113w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-detail-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Biagio-H-necklace-detail-376x500.jpg 376w" sizes="(max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px" /> 
The work involved in turning my ring into two bespoke necklaces was £85 for the small pendant and £185 for the gold H necklace  &#8211; just the sentimental value of what has happened has made it worth ten times that, never mind having two pieces of gorgeous bespoke jewellery for £270. Obviously the price will totally depend on the complexity of the piece (Is it involving CAD design? Are you choosing platinum or silver? How intricate is the work?) but I think Biagio as as store in general is incredibly good value.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-63069 size-full" src="https://bucksoxon.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/biagio-bag.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="750" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/biagio-bag.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/biagio-bag-150x113.jpg 150w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/biagio-bag-300x225.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/bucksoxon/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/biagio-bag-667x500.jpg 667w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />
The good news is you don&#8217;t have to pay a thing to ask advice. So if you do find something languishing that could be updated or reconfigured (I&#8217;m betting there are loads of us in this situation), I&#8217;d definitely recommend popping in to Peter or Bagio. H is for Happy after all.
<a style="font-style: italic;" href="https://www.biagiothejewellers.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Biagio the Jewellers</a>, 2 Greyhound Walk, Thame and Pioneer Square, Bicester. Tel: 01844 217001 (Thame); 01869 252323 (Bicester).
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Revamp your forgotten gems

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