Sometimes you run across a photo of a loved one that is old, faded or damaged. These are special photos to me and I love working on them, doing my best to restore what might be lacking so that the photo can continue to be treasured indefinitely. I received one such photo during the holiday season -- a wonderful new customer wanted to give her mother our Vintage Merlot Necklace containing the only surviving photo of the mother with her own mother, who had passed away very young.
The photo was darling -- a sweet little baby and mother in a lovely sepia tone. However, the photo was cut off at just one side of the mother's face, making it difficult to position nicely in the charm of the necklace without looking very off-center. It was also somewhat faded. I decided to see if there was anything I could do. A little time in Photoshop allowed me to deepen the tones a bit and remove any speckles and imperfections. I then set about rebuilding the cut off side of the image, extending the background and filling in hat, clothing, and -- taking some artistic liberties while keeping in mind the hairstyles of the era -- her hair. It certainly couldn't claim to be an exact replica of the missing part of the photo, but it allowed enough extra margins to the photo so that the image could be properly positioned in the necklace, and I was really pleased with the way it turned out.
Old, faded photos don't have to be written off as unusable. Many times they can be restored beyond expectations. This is certainly true of using photos in jewelry, where the small image size doesn't demand the same level of perfection that a large print would require. Do you have an old photo that you'd love to see in a piece of our jewelry? By all means, let us know and we will tell you how we can help.
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