We have been buying lots of new colored gemstones to liven up the cases at Custom lately. Next time you are in the store just browsing or dropping off a jewelry repair, take a minute to look a the the new stones. We have collected some very unusual stones, like a 52 carat Moldavite, a stone created by a cataclysmic impact with the earth millions of years ago. Glenis has a great website describing Moldivite’s history here. We also have a great collection of very unique sapphires in unusual colors and even some star sapphires. We are going to make pieces for some of these stones, but will be displaying the majority of them in the cases for you to commission pieces that can be uniquely yours. See you soon.
This was a commissioned piece that includes a trillion cut Mozambique garnet, with .005 ct. round diamonds and smaller 1.5 mm round Mozambique garnets as accents. The color of the 18k gold in this piece really sets off the color of the garnets. The hand engraving makes the ring so unique, that the lucky owner can be confident that no one else will have a ring of its like. Happy Birthday!
Yet another Custom jewelry piece finished in the store today. There was a slight lull in jewelry repairs today, so we took the time to continue filling the cases with new work. These unusual titanium sphene stones are just one example of the new stone stock we have in the store. Come pick yours before they are all gone.
One of the new Custom jewelry pieces just finished today. In between jewelry repairs we are spending our time putting together precious metals and some of the new precious and semi-precious stones that arrived in the last week. There are plenty more stones to look at in the Custom store, so come and see.
One of the most common jewelry repairs we encounter is a ring that spins on the finger. For any number of reasons a persons knuckle can be bigger than the base of their finger. When this is the case a ring must be sized to fit over the knuckle, meaning it will be too big when at the base of the finger and spin. There are a number of solutions for this. One is an adjustable shank. While being a great solution, they are usually on the expensive side and require more labor. Another is a butterfly, we will come back to that in a later post. And finally there are sizing beads, or speed bumps. Sizing beads are small balls of gold or platinum soldered into the inside of your shank. They are positioned to pass under the soft skin under your knuckle. Once the ring is at the base of your finger the beads take up the extra space between the ring and your finger and also provide some grip to keep the ring from spinning. As far as jewelry repairs go, adding sizing beads are fairly straight forward. If you have a ring that spins on your finger, bring it to Custom jewelry store and we will determine the best solution for you.
In another example of the Custom jewelry we are capable of creating here, is this fancy brown diamond white gold engagement ring. It was commissioned to duplicate a ring the lucky fiancée had seen online, only our version is bigger and better. The ring is set with 125 small diamonds and features a 1.25 karat, fancy brown diamond center stone.
