Amazing...

It is truly wonderful how many people find my website and connect with me to discuss and consider a custom piece of jewelry. I love the interactions too - since I usually work from home, it's wonderful to have the emails and phone conversations - and the occasional face-to-face meeting to talk about details, expectations, desires and, of course, design.

One of the questions that frequently comes up around custom work is time. I thought I would lay out some of the steps involved in creating a custom piece and help you understand what that can mean as far as time is concerned.

The first step is the design development process. Sometimes people have a very clear idea of what they want, and if they can send me a sketch we can jump light-years ahead on the project. In this case a picture really is worth a thousand words - maybe more. It lets me understand the idea and get onto the same page as the client. If someone describes something to you, say a ring, and they say it has a diamond, with 2 smaller rectangular stones on each side, it's white gold with yellow accents, with some swirls or scroll like patters - what do you picture? I can assure you that everyone reading this is picturing something completely different - where if I were to post a picture - even a very simplified sketch - everyone would be starting from the same place. It gives a starting off point for the beginning of the discussion.

The design phase can last for days or weeks, depending on the clarity of the client, the deadline (if there is one), and availability of my time and the clients. I've had designs that went back and forth 10 times in 2 days, and other clients who didn't get back to me for 3-5 days after a concept was sent. Basically, this phase depends on both myself and the client and can be very quick or take a very long time.

Next time I'll talk about signing off on the design and getting started.