4 Things You Should Know Before Customizing Jewelry

Do you dream of creating your own jewelry piece? Or rather, create something entirely new from an inherited or older piece of jewelry? Whatever the case may be, custom jewelry is the perfect way to create and update jewelry pieces to showcase your one-of-a-kind style.

The Benefits of Custom Jewelry

Compared to widely-available jewelry pieces, custom jewelry proves to be sought after because it:

• Preserves a Family Heirloom: Oftentimes, we create custom jewelry pieces from loose stones that have been passed down through generations. We can also update an heirloom to a stunning, modern jewelry piece. This is the perfect way to honor a loved one and give an old piece a new life.

• Adds Personalization: Another benefit of custom jewelry is taking a mass-produced piece and customizing it to make it your own style. Adding a loving message or incorporating other stones can be a great way to show off your unique style with an established piece.
  
• Showcases Meaning in Gifts: Custom jewelry can be a tangible way to show someone how much they mean to you. This is often shown through custom elements in an engagement ring or gift that shows your unique connection.

• Creates a One-of-a-Kind Design: If you can’t quite find a jewelry piece that meets all of your wants, creating your own design can be the solution you are seeking.

What You Should Know Before Customizing Jewelry

Once you decide that custom jewelry is what you are looking for, it’s important to understand the details of the customization process before you begin.

Research Extensively

Before you meet with your jeweler, it’s crucial that you thoroughly research your wants and find inspiration to inform the jewelry designer. A great way to do this is by browsing Pinterest, exploring fine jewelry collections online, and taking notes of the styles you or a loved one like. Having this information prepared before time will allow one of our jewelry specialists to begin crafting a design right away.

Clarify Budget and Timeline

Additionally, you should review your budget for this piece and establish a timeline. If this is a gift, you’ll want to start planning ahead to ensure that you have the piece in time for that special day. If you are designing a custom engagement ring, this will also need to be part of your proposal planning as custom jewelry takes, on average, 6 weeks to design, create, and deliver.

If you are unsure about how to properly budget your custom design, please contact us. We’d be glad to help you clarify the details.

Prepare for a Collaborative Process

Unlike browsing jewelry collections and then purchasing a piece right on the spot, the design process calls for more collaboration between you and your jeweler. There will need to be conversations on the design at the beginning of the process and then approval later on once a design has been created from our computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software. You will need to communicate and collaborate with the jewelry designer to ensure that you stay on the timeline for your commissioned piece.

Understand All of the Details

As part of the communication process, you should ask questions throughout the entire experience, especially at the beginning. Your jeweler should set expectations at the start that will be followed by both parties throughout the design process until the delivery of the final product. This creates peace of mind for you, especially if you are planning on popping the question with a custom-designed engagement ring.

Additionally, consider who you are designing this piece for, whether it is yourself or someone else. Factors such as allergies to certain metals or the amount of wear this piece will receive should be questions your jewelry designer asks and you are prepared to answer.

Design Custom Jewelry with Brittany’s Fine Jewelry

Completely customizing a piece of jewelry is an exciting process that produces a beautiful, meaningful, and unique accessory that you or your loved one will cherish for a long time. At Brittany’s Fine Jewelry, we have been creating and producing stunning jewelry pieces since 1985.

Our custom design specialist, Kristina Cohen, is ready to serve you in all of your custom jewelry needs. Please contact us or visit our showroom to get started on your custom jewelry design. You can reach Kristina via email or phone 352-372-4640 to talk through your vision!