Gold Jewelry Recycling & Repurposing: Melting for New Creations

Question
I would love to know if it is possible to melt down a piece of jewelry in order to make a new piece. I ask because I have both my fathers wedding band and my brothers claddagh ring (they have both passed away) and I want to melt them down to make 2 small crosses for myself and my sister-Hers will be a gift for her wedding day so she would have something of theirs to wear that day. I gave you the background as it is very important that I know if I can have this done that it would be the same jewelry transformed and not just a new piece of jewelry. Thank you in advance for any insight you can provide.

Answer
Greetings,
In theory this is possible and quite simple...in fact people have been doing it for thousands of years and your gold may in fact contain some of the silver that Judas was bribed with.
Anyhow, dependant upon the type of gold you should be able to melt them both together. Fortunately a cross is quite simple and shouldn't offer too many difficulties in the remelted gold.
The only thing that sometimes occurs is cracking when working the gold...in this case a cross should present no difficulties.
The only time you have a real issue is when you are making setting in a ring or pendant, so what I would ordinarily do is make the shank/body of the piece with old gold and then make the detail/settings with new gold.
Hope taht answers your questions.
Cheers and Good Luck, P