I get requests for custom work every week, and, of course,
sometimes there are fiscal surprises on the part of the customer. I might quote $250 just for labor, not
counting silver, gold, or a gem. Here are some things that help avoid the surprise and let
you calculate ahead of time, starting from the least labor intensive to the
most.
Using a finished piece and popping in the gem: a number of
my jewelry pieces are actually finished as is and hold a specific size
stone. All I have to do is have it set. My stacking rings are an example, so are many
of the gold pendants with a fixed bail.
This is the cheapest you can do in terms of labor, because I just call
in the casting or buy the finished piece.
Minor and doable modifications are changing the bail, adding one in a
different place, soldering posts onto earring settings, or switching out ear
wire. With these jobs, I can charge very
little for labor. But major
modifications, including changing the gem size, are impossible.
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| Rose Gold and Silver Castings |
Basic assembly: many of my other rings use finished stone settings
and silver wire, which comes in almost any mm size, square, flat, or half
round, and sometimes with patterns (you can also get rings with 2 settings for
side stones and an opening in the center for your main gem, so all you do is
solder one setting). Some of my dangly
earrings are the same. I buy settings
and components (like ear wire, or basic metal shapes) and solder them
together. I pickle and tumble the piece,
pre-polish it to get rid of soldering spots or smooth over seams, then I have
the gem set and pay out for a final polish under the large wheels of a
professional service (which includes ultrasonic and stem, plus rhodium plating
for white gold). My basic ring charge is
$70 (without the stone), in silver this includes the materials unless they’re
heavy, it includes all my labor, or hire out for, setting and final polish. I often don’t have time to do the assembly
myself, so then I put the materials needed, i.e. wire clipped to size, setting,
stone, and any instructions in a jewelry envelope and drop it off with my
jeweler (and then setter and then polisher).
But when I do them at home, figure on an hour to make a piece, not
counting other labor (convos, photos, shipping…). One limit to these designs: it is nearly
impossible to solder together several parts.
Adding the gold balls is tough, soldering settings side by side between ring
shanks nearly impossible without it looking uneven or the settings being in
each other’s way (the setter still has to get in there, too).
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| Silver Wire and Settings |
Wax design: my melted rings and flowers are made from wax,
and I usually charge $90 for one of those if I make one from scratch. My wax work is not precision work, it’s done
by hand with sheet wax which is then passed over a candle for a melted
look. The wax then gets cast and pre-polished. I can then add beads, or prongs, or even a
setting. Then I have the gem set and
final polish done. By contrast, making a
gemstone setting in wax requires a different technique, using burrs and wax
files, and it takes a lot of practice and time, possibly all day. (Nowadays all that is done by computer.) I love wax work, but often no two items come
out the same. The rings have to be made
to size, though some of my flowers are now castings (why do the same thing over
and over?).
Bezel making: settings for odd shaped rose cuts, pieces of
rough or cabochons often have to be made, the commercial settings don’t come in
that many sizes and only fit rounds or ovals.
For this, the bezel wire has to be shaped around the gem, soldered, then
refitted (to make sure it still fits) or reshaped, then soldered onto back
plate, the plate cut and filed down, then a bail or ring soldered on, filed
again, pickled, pre-polish, then stone setting, … If I am very fast I can make
2 in an hour, but usually I set aside an afternoon to make 5 or 6. I usually charge $70 plus materials. And for gold, I hire out, because
periodically I still botch a bezel, and you need to be very precise to cut down
on metal waste.
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| Bezel Set Emerald Ring, Made from Scratch |
Advanced metal-smithing: channel setting, and more elaborate
ring designs in gold require metal-smithing techniques beyond my
expertise. Also, the channel setting
requires lazer soldering, and a lazer machine is about $40,000. A good channel setting job takes about an
hour, but you also pay overhead and machine use, so the jeweler I use charges
anywhere from $50 to $120 – my cost, for channel setting, not counting ear
wire, jump rings, or other materials. He
charges anywhere between $80 and $200 for a ring.
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| Channel Set Diamond Pendants |
CAD design: do you like the halo rings that I now have? Those are made in CAD, computer design
software. You can scan in the gem you
want to use, or enter the dimensions, and you can make just about
anything. (Imagine someone carving the
tiny prongs for diamonds out of wax, or worse, soldering them all together –
it’s just about an impossibility). For
CAD designs, I have to hire a designer.
It can involve a lot of back and forth, but the results are often
perfect. 3-D printing gives you a piece of
plastic, which then has to be cast. The
cost is $200 minimum for design and plastic.
All the other steps, and costs, still follow (casting, pre polish,
setting, etc etc). But if you want the
perfect ring, this is the ideal way to go, of course.
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| 6mm Cushion Halo Ring, in Production |
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