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Custom
Designing
Process
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Our Custom Opal Inlay
Jewelry Process
"I've looked
through several catalogs and nothing really jumped out at me." "I have a vision
for a ring in my mind but I cant seem to find what I really want anywhere."
"I wish could have more choices for my next piece of jewelry."
These are common
customer sentiments. Most customers today are tired of being confined to catalog
jewelry pieces that inevitably reflect ideas other than their own. We hear often
from customers who have creative, personalized ideas for jewelry, but are frustrated
because they can't find anything on the market that fits their image. At Opals
International, one of the things we take the most pride in is our ability and
willingness to make the customer's vision a reality, working closely with individual
customers to design a unique, one-of-a-kind piece. It may be from scratch or
it may be a drastic re-styling of an exisiting piece or pieces of jewelry that
you are tired of wearing.
With the growth
and expansion of our Internet business, the benefits of being able to custom-design
a piece of jewelry through online communication have become obvious. While it
may not be practical for you to physically come into our store to tell us your
idea or view the piece in progress, we are still committed to designing your
customized creation. We have developed a systematic line of communication so
that, from the comfort of your own home, you can tell us what you are looking
for, approve an initial drawing, and then review wax models, metal prototypes,
and the final product. YOU work with us through the entire process until your
piece is finished, the way YOU desire.
Send us a preliminary
email at: gems@customfinejewelry.com Issues to
be addressed include:
- What type of jewelry
(ring, earrings, pendant, etc.) are you looking for? This also includes the
metal or metals you desire, any textures, artwork, etc. etc.
- What stones do you want?
What size of gemstone are you looking for? What specific color hue/intensity
do you prefer? What shape do you want the stone to be? Most important with
gemstone is quality and this translates into BUDGET, you need to know or let
us know what your maximum budget will be for this center stone, that helps
us locate the BEST stone for your design and budget.
Questions to be answered
in this stage include the following:
- How do you want the
stone set in the piece--how high above the ring band do you want the stone
to sit? Prongs or Bezel or semi-bezel etc.
- What kind of setting
do you want? (For example, do you want white gold, yellow gold, platinum or
silver? 14k or 18k gold?) Do you want the metal textured in any way? Do you
want mixtures, two tone, 18k yellow with 14k white ?
- Are you looking for
a contemporary or traditional style? Can you draw us a simple sketch or rendition,
or send us or email us a picture from a catalog of what kinds of designs you
do like. (we won't copy someone else's work but may be able to do a style
of our own similar)
- Do you want additional
stones on the side of your main stone(s)? What kind, color, and shape? Such
as diamonds or sapphires on the side of a Black Opal
- For rings, what is your
ring size? How thick do you want the ring band? And how wide do want it ?
And do you want it to taper, comfort fit, or skinny wide.
- For necklaces, what
type of chain do you have in mind? The bail (where chain goes through) on
top do you want it to be stiff, dangle,swivel, spin, reverse etc. Another
example of detailed sketches we will do at this point:
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Equipped with this
information, our jewelers will make a wax representation that the jewelers
will use to create the final product. We will make a digital image in
several angles of the wax mold and send you an image. The reason we do
wax moldings is so that they can be changed without using costly metal,
so be sure to tell us your suggestions for change.
In some cases the
piece will be fabricated by hand instead of a wax image, this is sually
done in the final metal and usually only after we are very sure of the
final design concept. The image you receive will look something like this
with the blue stuff being hard wax, hand model or carved exactly to specifications
that ultimately will be a competed product after any changes that you
desire.
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hearing how you would like the design changed or altered, we will design
another wax image, or just modify this one to accommodate your changes and
send updated digital images via email or in some cases send the wax to you
for closer inspection. This process will continue until the design meets
your criteria. After you authorize the wax mold, our jewelers will create
the final product, send more images BEFORE we set the stones in order to
get your final approvals or changes. Then if it is all fine we will set
the stones, polish and take final pictures of YOUR custom creation. We also
prepare an insurance replacement appraisal at NO CHARGE and supply the information
that you need to get the piece insured with our insurance company Jewelers
Mutual Insurance Company. Then we will ship the piece to you. The following
images are unfinished metals that were cast from the "blue wax model" above
and then the final product as shipped to the client. |
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It has been our experience
that custom designs of jewelry has been one of the most fulfilling parts
of our business, both from our perspective as well as the customer's.
The process allows the customer to finally get exactly what he or she
individually wants out of a piece of jewelry.
It allows us the
creativity to help design new, innovative pieces, as well as the satisfaction
of making our customers' jewelry dreams possible. We are interested in
any and every idea you may have. Please feel free to contact us and begin
a relationship with us as we help you design the "special" piece of jewelry
you have always been looking for but no one had the patience to do it
in YOUR VISION !!
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Fine Jewelry made
with you, for you and in your vision. The pictures displayed on the right
are the final pictures of the Diamond and Opal Inlay Mens wedding ring
that we started with a phone call, then a wax, then a metal model, then
the finished piece. It is that EASY.
This Custom design
process follows the same basic ideas for each creation but can progress
in many different speeds and levels of difficulty which of course will
vary from one individual to another.that is the beauty of creating something
special with you!
CALL 1-800-376-6725 for CUSTOM DESIGN
Custom Opal
Jewelry Pricing
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