Custom Designs

How I start a Custom Design...

I'm in the process of designing a new Bangle for one of my clients. I was asked to design a new bangle based on one of my smaller bracelets sold in my Ruby Lane Shop. Here is the letter I received...

...This bracelet is wonderful, as are all of your designs. Can you give me an idea of what kind of ballpark $$ on having 2 and/or 3 of these made? I would like the sterling and differences in individual designs. I really like heaver jewelry.I would want you to choose the particulars of the appearance. I am not opposed to stones, patination, use of and inclusion of different metals, etc. Please forgive me for my endless questions and be assured that as this would be a purchase for my use, there would be no time constraints. Thank you for the help and I hope this is and will be a beautiful season for you.

Based on my original Leaf Bangle and her request, I designed this bangle for her. I was planning on 2 or 3 bangles like the one I designed to the right but each having their own unique design.

I like the design but was concerned about her width after further discussion. She was looking for a Bangle that was about 2" if not wider so I redesigned this bangle to one large bangle instead of three.

This (to the left) is just one bangle measuring 2.25" wide. I want to use several stones that sit next to the stems. Some of the stones that I'm considering 5 or 6 stones such as Citrine (yellow), Amethyst (purple), Topaz (blue), Tourmaline (Pink)

I would like to also incorporate 14K or 18k into this bracelet. Possible gold surrounding the stones.

But to get an accurate price, sometimes you have to spend a little more time on the piece. So I'll take you on one of my projects from start to finish.

At 9:45 am I started to lay out the stems for this bracelet. The process I use is called Lost Wax. I actually sculpt wax to make the piece. At 6:45 pm...this is what I had. It's only half finished but this will give me a good idea about the weight, cost and of course, how the bracelet will look once cast in Sterling Silver.

I have a lot of shipping to do today but I will continue to form this piece tomorrow so that I can get a weight from the wax to converted to the weight in silver.

I hope all of you find this interesting, I personally think it's all pretty amazing!

Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow! I will be starting another project at the same time. This is an amazing piece that has a wonderful story behind it.

Dawn