Repairing costume jewellery - what glue to use?

[ejstubbs]

The missus wants to wear some family heirloom vintage costume jewellery to a 'do' we're attending tomorrow evening.  The trouble is that a few of the 'stones' have popped out.  She's asked me if I can fix them.  It's clear that they were originally glued in to the settings but it's not obvious what type of glue was used.  Is anyone able to suggest something that would be secure enough to stop the stones from popping out again, but not so permanent as to make it impossible for a professional repairer to re-set them properly at some point in the future?  (I think that would rule out epoxy resin.)

 

We've tried one of the old independent family jewellers in town but they said they can't repair costume jewellery, and the only place in town that they knew of that used to specialise in that kind of work has closed for business  They did say that they very much liked the pieces, though, which was kind of them (we had half expected to get a bit of a brush-off from a shop which has some individual items running in to the high five figures on display).

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Both varnishes and PVA will do the job for a while... Try to 'roll over' any claws so that they supply a little mechanical security. (You could use epoxy resin provided the 'stones' are glass, as acetone or paint stripper will release them)

[AndrewC]

I've had success repairing SWMBO's vintage costume jewellery with clear Gorilla glue. the trick is to scratch the mount and the back of the stone very slightly to give a rougher surface to bind to. 

[ejstubbs]

Thanks both for the suggestions.  A trial run with PVA wasn't particularly successful, unfortunately.  In the absence of clear Gorilla glue or ordinary varnish, an experiment was performed using SWMBO's clear nail varnish, and it seems to have been successful!

 

Unfortunately there aren't any claws to ease back around the large stone - which is probably why it disappeared in the first place.  I replaced it with a stone from a ring which wasn't part of the necklace/bracelet/earrings set.  It's the right size, although the front facet is six-sided whereas on all the others it's eight-sided, and the blue isn't quite the same.  But the missus seems happy, which is the main thing...

[hayfield]

Clean the surfaces to be joined ( new glue on old glue is frowned upon by restorers as the glue that failed is still there and therefore could fail again) Use one of the modern glues, Others recommend No Nails, Gorilla etc. I have found a product called Extreme by Schtuk. Sets even in water and has a slight rubbery consistency if left in a blob. I guess Gorilla and No Nails are much the same. I doubt if PVA is any good on non porous surfaces 

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

I've had success repairing SWMBO's vintage costume jewellery with clear Gorilla glue.

I've seen 'super glue' (CA) formulations (like Gorilla glue) that are described on the label as being for dissimilar surfaces. I don't know if they are actually different, but some of them are labeled for jewellery.

[Tim V]

The original glue may have been shellac, try soaking the mounts in methylated spirits which should dissolve the shellac.

[Hilux5972]

I would use a small amount of hot glue. That way when it comes time to get then properly reset then it can be heated and removed again. 

[Tim Chambers]

Evo Stick-used for repairing Mrs. C's costume jewellery without problem(and for most other things!)