I did my first proper repair the other day.
For myself, I have to fix my work often, since I do have and wear a few of my own pieces. Sometimes I just want to change the configuration, or after I play with it a lot (maybe trying to prove how robust it is… Murphy’s law perhaps?) it needs restringing.
In this case though, I was a little worried that it might be a fault of the piece. No one feels good about sending out a works that breaks, but in order just to get on with it, in the end I just had to figure that it’s jewellery, it travels a lot (if you’re lucky and your piece is worn) and sometimes it does break.
I picked up the piece, and was surprised. The chain, which had been blackened and afterwards waxed to help the patina stay, was silver. The patina was worn through, and in fact, the silver had a burnished shine.
I was genuinely touched. I can only assume that the break came after consistent wear. It changed my whole perspective of the situation.