Custom jewelry work?

eaterofdog said:

I have long wanted a nice solid gold men's ring with a star sapphire.

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Like this?

We JUST handed over some silver for some custom work at a local place here that appears to do beautiful work. Jenn hasn't gotten her pieces back yet, but if their selection is any indication, I'm very confident in the results.

We brought in a bunch of 1964 silver half-dollars that her grandfather used to collect.

Depending on what you want done, it's may be that supplying the raw metal will not save you much, if any, money. The guy we talked to made it clear that the rings she wanted done - which involved pulling the silver out into wire - would be about 20% cheaper if he just bought the silver rather than pulling it himself.

This was a reasonably high end jewelry shop and the goldsmith charges $150/hour for his work. The set of cufflinks that Jenn is having made for her brother is going to take about 2 hours. So, again, this isn't about saving money - we could buy a set of silver cufflinks for less money. You get a unique piece, but at a nice jewelry shop, you can find a unique piece anyway - it's just whether or not having it custom made to exactly what you want is something you're willing to pay for.

Might be a little more cost effective with gold, of course.

Gold is about $30/g, so 15g * 30 = $450, * 0.58 (for 14k) = $261.

My wedding ring was a custom piece, melted down from older rings, 14K gold, dont remember the weight nor do I care........ It ran me 150 at the time for the work, and another 50 I think for the wax mold.... Hope that helps out a little, that was just over twelve years ago though.....

Hell i do not even know where that ring is now....... I wonder if she pawned it

Paging AngryMetalsmith.......

is this the new jersey sub forum?

Newly found hobby of mine...working on my second ring right now, wax cast mostly. With gold, things get difficult when recycling. If you want a refined piece, you're going to be better off selling the used gold to a recycler and just buying new gold with the credits (most jewelers will do this for you). The reason being that years of use/sitting around yields accumulation of impurities...when you melt this down and reheat it, removing said impurities is difficult and time consuming (the price of which quickly surpasses what you'd pay for new metal). The end result is gold with easy pitting, and possible discolorations, etc. Have your guy/gal recycle the gold and then mix their own alloy for the new ring. All that said, I've found wax casts to be very time consuming (10-15 hours per plus time for cast setting and pouring), and at 150/hour for a skilled jeweler, you'll be paying way more in labor plus creativity costs than in raw metal. My advice? Get some wax from your jeweler and make your own ring... get some dental tools and jewelers files (maybe 20 bucks all told), and get to work! FYI, 15 grams is a pretty hefty ring...

man-up, nancy.

eaterofdog said:

I recently was digging through my "junk" and threw all the little bits of gold I had here and there and realized I had quite a few random bits. I asked my wife if she had any broken gold and she gives me a bag of pieces. After removing the junk and stones, I throw it on the scale and I have over 15 grams of 14k(!).

I have long wanted a nice solid gold men's ring with a star sapphire. If I pick up a stone, I will have all of the materials needed. I am under the impression 15 grams will make a huge ring.

Anybody ever had custom work done? What were the prices? What questions do I need to ask?

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You've got about $386.00 worth, if it's all 14k. Best option is to sell it to a reputable refiner and use the cash to buy what you want. But having something made by a goldsmith who knows what they are doing will still cost more in labor than the materials. Most jewelers will take your metal and just throw it in with the rest of their scrap to be refined later and use new material new make your piece. The reason they do this is because they can never be 100% certain of the Karat or the alloy. In my studio, only new metal that comes from a single, exclusive refiner that I've dealt with for a long time, is used in fabrication. No exceptions, no ugly surprises.

This is timely. My wife was just given a ring that was owned by her great uncle. She was talking about having something new made, and I suggested having it re-sized instead since the ring has some history. Given the problems with reusing the metal, re-sizing is sounding even better.

If you want to make the ring yourself, check into local community colleges and arts centers. Often they have metal studios and offer jewelry making classes. Some schools offer night classes that cost less than $200 for an eight week course and they will allow you access to the studio during non-class time. Buying everything you need would be an astronomical expense. Having access to the equipment and a qualified instructor will make the experience rewarding and a lot less frustrating. Jewelry making is a very difficult craft to learn and having an experienced goldsmith to guide you is essential.

BAh....how hard could it be? melt melt melt, pour pour pour, polish polish polish.

pfffft.

AngryMetalsmith said:

If you want to make the ring yourself, check into local community colleges and arts centers. Often they have metal studios and offer jewelry making classes. Some schools offer night classes that cost less than $200 for an eight week course and they will allow you access to the studio during non-class time. Buying everything you need would be an astronomical expense. Having access to the equipment and a qualified instructor will make the experience rewarding and a lot less frustrating. Jewelry making is a very difficult craft to learn and having an experienced goldsmith to guide you is essential.

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I googled you Yoli to see what new pieces you've done and all I could find was an article in the paper. Nice pics too, you sexy viking pillager you.

Here's the response I got from AngryMetalSmith for posting a link to complimentary article about him:

Thanks for posting my name Jackass. I try to keep some anonymity on here but you like to screw with it. Fvck you Butch !

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Hey Yoli, if you wanna play nice, just send me a note asking me to delete a link. Like I just did even though you didn't ask me to.

bizutch said:

Here's the response I got from AngryMetalSmith for posting a link to complimentary article about him:



Hey Jack, if you wanna play nice, just send me a note asking me to delete a link. Like I just did even though you didn't ask me to.

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I wonder if he has noticed all the Glitter I have been spreading around his house yet? I was having trouble finding where he lived until you posted that link. Thanks....

jdcamb said:

I wonder if he has noticed all the Glitter I have been spreading around his house yet? I was having trouble finding where he lived until you posted that link. Thanks....

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This made my day.

Sweet spam