Advice/Thoughts on Custom Designing Jewelry

[goldie_locks]

This is a question for those PSers experienced with doing custom designs.

As some of you may have seen in another post, I was trying to work with a local jeweler on a custom design for a garnet I recently acquired from Precision Gems. After a few rounds of CADs, I just feel underwhelmed and uninspired with where the design is and so I think I'm going in a totally different direction with an already existing design from a favorite PS vendor.

When I let the jeweler know, he requested $300 payment for the CADs which he had had his CAD designer do. While I get the reasoning for it, and I think it's fair, at the same time, I feel let down by the process. I felt like the jeweler didn't do much other than pass my design ideas and requests to his CAD designer. I guess I was hoping for a little more input from him since he's the expert, but perhaps I had to be more specific? In addition, I found that he was slow to respond to questions (often 2-3 days), didn't answer emails/questions about designs before implementing them into a new CAD design, and even missed answering some of my questions so they had to be repeated.

I'm chalking this up as a learning experience (one of many in my colored stone adventures), which is fine. But did I have unreasonable expectations? Do any of you have suggestions for how to approach custom jewelry design if I were to try again in the future? Does the price for doing the CADs seem reasonable?

Thanks!!

 

[Rfisher]

In my handful of experiences with custom jewelry-
300 does not sound unreasonable for a couple rounds (2? 4?) of cads, the cad persons and the jewelers time.
( I yanked the plug on a project not that long ago and up front offered to pay for her time. She refused. The account of it ( horribly written!) is knocking around here somewhere. So I've been there)
Would I try to negotiate a lower price? Possibly depending if other details warranted it.
Buying stones/jewelery/getting settings done - it seems like almost every individual/company I have contacted has had a few unanswered questions and I feel like a pest having to repeat them for answers. I thought it was just *me* for awhile. Heck- maybe it is? But ultimately it's up to the consumer to have their questions resolved before proceeding or who is to blame?
A couple of days to answer questions - I don't think is bad.
If I wanted to have a discussion and wanted their thoughts before my ideas were implemented - I would be sure to make that clear up front. It's quite possible the jeweler just doesn't get creative that way.
I've also used a designer popular on here as an intermediary between myself and a jeweler. It streamlined the connection between myself and the jeweler - but still it was not a great volleying discussion of evolution of design ideas I naively envisioned, but it succeeded mostly well enough.

 

[goldie_locks]

Thanks! Hearing your experience really helps give me some perspective. I don't necessarily think I am overpaying for the CADs and I certainly don't think that the designer should do it for free. I guess it was partially a communication/expectation problem and partially just not liking my original design ideas (in hindsight it was probably ambitious to think I could be a great jewelry designer on my first try, lol ).

As for the 2-3 days waiting for a response, I think what bothered me most was I didn't know what was happening in the process - was I just waiting for answers or was there going to be a new CAD rendering? Good to know the timeframe is nornal, though. Probably the norms in my own profession bias how quickly I think others should respond vs what is normal.

 

[elle_71125]

I can only go off of my personal experiences here so please take it all with a grain of salt.

I think that $300 is a reasonable amount to charge for the CAD's, the jeweler's time, and the CAD designer's time. It's too bad that it didn't work out but I know what it's like to just want to start fresh.

I usually get most of my questions answered but they have been missed here or there. If it's important to me, I'll ask again. If it's not, Ive just learned to let it go. My email responses can be as fast s a couple hours to as long as a couple weeks. Usually, I receive a response to my questions within a couple days. Updates on CAD's can take up to a week.

Lord knows I'm no jewelry designer. I just don't have the creativity necessary to do that. I usually find pics of what I like and send them off as inspiration. Even then, you have to be specific with what elements you want to keep (or things you don't like at all). I went through a couple rounds of CAD's once, before I decided I didn't like the style after all and had to start fresh.

Building up a good relationship with your jeweler makes this process a lot easier.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

I have a confession. You're all going to hit me with the stupid stick if you knew the way I went about getting my rings made.

I get a pic off the internet, send it to the jeweller for a quote. Jeweller will tell me if they can do it or not and give me a price. My instructions are ridiculously random. Last set of instructions was "Can we make it look like the picture but fix the prongs. Those prongs are clunky. I like your normal prongs."

No CADs, zip zilch. Both rings have exceeded my expectations though so I suspect I'm just very vague and like the general idea of things but have no focus on specifics. I don't think I personally would have the focus and energy to analyse a CAD. I send one liners like "Dear ZZZ, please make sure there is no gap between halo and stone! Hate gaps! Pet peeve!"

The jeweller I work with is not overly verbose but replies within a few hours if he's free. Quotes can take a week but I find once I've started the project his replies are super fast.

 

[goldie_locks]

Thanks for sharing your experience @elle_71125. Seems like my experience is very normal.

@mellowyellowgirl - you must be very mellow indeed!! I don't think my personality would allow me to give up so much control over the final product - I'd feel so responsible if I didn't like the final product. I'm glad it's worked out for you so far, as it clearly works with your personality!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

@goldie_locks I have very definite preferences like NO BEZELS but I am terrible on minor details. So as long as something is not badly made I am too lalala to actually know what I want in terms of fine details if that makes sense?

Hubby ALWAYS tries to get me to pick paint colours for the house and it drives him insane because when I focus I can pick really good colours but I am usually not focussed and I don't care. So he makes me do it and I pick and then he's all "Did you just randomly pick so I won't hassle you or did you actually try." haha but he always likes what I pick which sends him a tailspin! I'm like "You pick what you like! Why all this drama of me picking?"

 

[marymm]

This is a question for those PSers experienced with doing custom designs.

As some of you may have seen in another post, I was trying to work with a local jeweler on a custom design for a garnet I recently acquired from Precision Gems. After a few rounds of CADs, I just feel underwhelmed and uninspired with where the design is and so I think I'm going in a totally different direction with an already existing design from a favorite PS vendor.

When I let the jeweler know, he requested $300 payment for the CADs which he had had his CAD designer do. While I get the reasoning for it, and I think it's fair, at the same time, I feel let down by the process. I felt like the jeweler didn't do much other than pass my design ideas and requests to his CAD designer. I guess I was hoping for a little more input from him since he's the expert, but perhaps I had to be more specific? In addition, I found that he was slow to respond to questions (often 2-3 days), didn't answer emails/questions about designs before implementing them into a new CAD design, and even missed answering some of my questions so they had to be repeated.

I'm chalking this up as a learning experience (one of many in my colored stone adventures), which is fine. But did I have unreasonable expectations? Do any of you have suggestions for how to approach custom jewelry design if I were to try again in the future? Does the price for doing the CADs seem reasonable?

Thanks!!

Yes, I think $300 is reasonable for more than one round of CADs is reasonable.

However, if the jewelry did not advise you beforehand, meaning at/before the time you entered into the custom design project, that he would charge the fee if you decided against moving forward with the project post-CAD stage ... well, I think that is poor business practice by the jeweler. Ideally, there would be order form with pre-printed policies on it (if B&M) and/or a custom work policies page on the vendor's website.

Relatedly, I would urge anyone interested in custom work to be sure he/she first knows and understands the jeweler's policies surrounding that kind of transaction.

 

[Gemobsessed]

Yes, I think $300 is reasonable for more than one round of CADs is reasonable.

However, if the jewelry did not advise you beforehand, meaning at/before the time you entered into the custom design project, that he would charge the fee if you decided against moving forward with the project post-CAD stage ... well, I think that is poor business practice by the jeweler. Ideally, there would be order form with pre-printed policies on it (if B&M) and/or a custom work policies page on the vendor's website.

Relatedly, I would urge anyone interested in custom work to be sure he/she first knows and understands the jeweler's policies surrounding that kind of transaction.

Yes first and foremost they should have informed you they would charge you. Things can get so messy otherwise.

 

[goldie_locks]

@marymm and @Gemobsessed - maybe this is the real issue I have. It's not that it's unreasonable or a surprise to be asked to pay for the work already done, it's that there wasn't a clear agreement or policy for what would happen if we canceled the project and what each part of the project cost. I could imagine that I could have gone several more rounds of CADs, and maybe several more hundred dollars?, without realizing what it was costing me. Also, I assume that this would have affected the final price - since I was only provided an estimate for the total project at the beginning. Is it reasonable/normal/advisable in the future to ask the jeweler to estimate prices for CAD, material, and labor? Or is it probably ok just to find out what the policy is for canceling custom orders?

 

[marymm]

Most often I have seen that jewelers offering CAD-based custom work will quote a project with an inclusive price (usually, no more than 2 rounds of CADs, plus metal and any diamonds, plus labor (production, setting, and finish work)).

Certainly you can ask for a cost breakdown, but it might be more valuable if you ask for the details of what the inclusive price actually includes ... how many rounds of CADs, metal type/karat/alloy, melee specs, etc. And, make sure it is all written down in your order.

Personally I would want to know the cancellation/walkaway fee, which may increase depending on the stage you cancel.

And, while custom work as a rule is nonreturnable, make sure you understand their workmanship warranty (i.e., if there are manufacturing or production/finish defects, do they repair (including back and forth shipping if necessary) at their own cost?)

While the jeweler should disclose all this info as a matter of course, and may well have an online presence which hopefully also includes all of the vendors's customer service / custom work policies, IMHO it is on the customer to ensure he/she knows, understands, and has a written copy of the relevant policies *prior* to entering into any purchase or custom work order.

 

[goldie_locks]

@marymm - this is extremely helpful, thanks!

 

[Rfisher]

Heck - I stopped a ring design process with a local guy before it even got to the hand drawing/CAD stage because while discussing his quote I realized he had not even included the dang shank in it.
I could have walked out of there after signing a work order without knowing this!
He did not think it was a big deal. But if I have to dig that deep for information - I don't care how lovely his stuff was.