Everything You Need To Know About Our Custom Jewelry Making Process

What comes to mind when you think of custom jewelry? Is it the idea of your jewelry standing out?   Is it the lure of creativity that draws you to jewelry customization? Or is it that you want something special, something that can’t be bought and only created? 

Whatever your reason is, today we are talking about why you should do it! 

The Custom Jewellery Making Process

At Austen Jewellers, we do a lot of jewellery customization. We have been creating custom jewellery pieces for 15 years and the requests for unique custom jewellery are becoming more and more popular within our client base. 

Our process works like this: you come into Austen Jewellers, either with a picture or a vision you have of the perfect custom piece. Or, we can start from scratch. We will work with you and guide you in the process of your heirloom. Already have existing pieces of jewelry that you want to modify or enhance, we can customize those too!!

We invite you to come into our store and bring what you have - It could be an image of the perfect ring which you happened to fall in love with on Instagram, or you could bring in an existing piece of jewelry that you would like to customize and make your own, regardless we love hearing your ideas and vision, we brainstorm together and make the jewellery magic happen! 

Once we have brainstormed and drawn out what you have in mind, we will estimate the $ amount of your design. Taking into consideration the gold you currently/ do or do not have to provide & from here we create a computer-aided design (CAD). Don’t know what that is? A CAD is a 3D image, created on the computer that gives four to six different views of your item. Once you have fallen in love with the CAD drawing, we then press print and you get a 3D-like resin print of your design. 

The resin print WAX is a special part of this process because it is a life-size print version of what your custom jewelry piece will look like. Designing a custom wedding band? The resin print allows you to hold your custom-designed piece of jewellery in your hand so you can see and feel what the real ring might look like. 

The next step is to cast your custom jewellery design in the precious metal of your choice. We recommend starting with 14 karat gold for custom jewellery items so that we have more gold content to work with, versus alloy content. Elyse Austen of Austen Jewellers said that “a major benefit to custom jewellery design is that you will know exactly how much GOLD is in your ring, as opposed to the alloys that are also used when creating jewellery”. 

More gold is always better, don't you think?

Yellow, rose or white gold is often a prime choice of precious metal when it comes to designing custom jewellery pieces. 

How Long Does The Custom Jewellery Process Take?

At Austen Jewellers, we are professionals and have been in the custom jewellery business for more than 30 years, we love what we do. With the interesting events of the past year and a half, the timing for everything has become rather unpredictable - before COVID happened, we were turning around pieces in about two and a half weeks. Currently, four to six weeks is a more realistic time frame for custom jewellery. 

After the initial consultation and brainstorming, we can give you an estimate of the time we will need to complete your custom jewelry piece. Bear in mind, it will depend on the custom piece of jewellery you have chosen, and the complexity of work involved. 

Can You Bring In Old Jewellery To Repurpose Into A Custom Jewellery Heirloom?

Perhaps you have a sentimental piece of jewelry laying around at home? Perhaps it was your great grandma's ring that has been passed down through generations. You love it but you can’t bring yourself to wear it because it’s just not your style or too thin to wear? That’s OK. If it's something very dear to your heart we can recreate and transform it into something you can wear on a daily basis so that it’s always near to you, and something you actually love wearing & keep the intrinsic value along with the monetary value. 

• A sentimental piece of jewelry that has been passed down from generation to generation is most certainly worth a redesign or full new custom. 

• You could include the original metal into a new custom piece. That way, the metal of the original piece of jewelry will always be with you!

Why Choose To Customize Your Jewellery? 

Custom Jewelry making is a great way to put your unique fingerprint on a piece of jewelry. The custom process means you are fully involved in every decision and every step of making the perfect piece of custom jewelry for yourself. 

Don’t you think there’s just something so special about knowing that you put the blood, sweat, tears and creative thinking into producing the perfect piece of jewellery for yourself? Sometimes creating a custom piece of jewellery comes with all these emotions. 

Designing a custom piece of jewellery is a great bonding opportunity for couples or family members. Perhaps a big anniversary or a special birthday is coming up and you want to celebrate in an extra-special way with an extra-special piece of jewelry that will mark the occasion. Whether you are designing a custom wedding band with your partner or designing a custom necklace for your mom, it is a bonding experience that will give you lasting memories every time you look at your piece of custom jewellery. 

Bet you didn’t know this: Custom Jewelry designs can sometimes be a  budget-friendly option too! 

When shopping for an engagement ring or wedding band you are limited to retail choice and therefore, retail prices. Depending on your budget, you might only have a limited selection of rings to choose from which means a limited price range too. When creating a custom engagement ring, custom wedding band or any other custom jewellery piece, you get to decide what aspects you want to spend more money on and which you’d like to save money on. 

Custom Jewelry making allows you to get the most out of your budget, while also creating something meaningful to you as a couple. Additionally, when creating a custom jewellery piece, you are often able to bring in your own materials for us to work with - isn’t that just sentimental! Perhaps you have a family heirloom or gemstone you want to be included in the custom ring design. This way, you may be able to keep your costs down while still getting a fabulous custom piece!  Here at Austen Jewellers, we will credit your gold towards making something new. Please note that creating something custom is a little bit higher than purchasing off the floor because we have to create a computer-aided design first for your item. Usually around $250-$500. 

Time To Design Your Own Custom Piece Of Jewellery!

Are you convinced? 

Will you now only ever consider custom pieces???

There are so many pros, plus designing custom jewellery can be a fun and engaging process! We don’t think there’s anything more special than making a custom piece with or for someone you love, especially if that someone is yourself! Love yourself and come on down to our store to begin your custom jewelry-making process!