By Joyce Cook


From the outside, the working day of a custom jeweler may appear to be a rather unsociable one. Isolated away for hours on end, concentrating on creating their latest masterpiece; you would be forgiven for thinking they enjoy being solitary creatures. For many custom Pittsburgh Jewelers, nothing could be further from the truth.

Much of their time is spent meeting with customers and understanding exactly what it is they want in their custom jewelry. As custom jewelers are people too, it's not hard to imagine that this can often be their favorite part of the job. The social aspect of these meetings cannot be overstated, and real relationships are built between customer and jeweler throughout the series of meetings that occur.

Firstly, word of mouth. Ask around, family members, friends, co workers. Most people will know someone who has purchased jewelry at one stage or another. A recommendation from a personal friend or relative is pretty much the best review you can get and can lead to you getting introduced to a trustworthy jewelry sales person.

Some pieces of jewelry are indeed seasonal. Therefore, these wholesale jewelers can forewarn their patrons regarding what will go on sale, what will increase in price, and what will be the most sought-after jewelry for the season.

Once you have found a jewelry store that fits your criteria, shop them a little. Sit and talk with a sales associate. Ask them to show you a few pieces of jewelry and inform you about warranties, return policies, etc. If the sales associate is friendly, knowledgeable, and patient, you see very good signs.

Ongoing follow-up meetings- One of the first tasks that need to be taken care of in follow-up meetings with your jeweler is to view a collection of stones that may be used in your final piece. Having ascertained the color or style you have in mind during the first meeting, your jeweler can then source examples for you to choose from. As the design and creation process continues through the sketching and rendering stages, further meetings can take place over Skype or even email if visiting the store isn't convenient for the customer. Scans of drawings and photographs of the clay model can be sent and approved, with regular progress reports possible too.

The final meeting and presentation- Depending on factors including the design process, the complexity of the piece, or simply how busy your custom jeweler happens to be, your completed piece should be ready in 4-6 weeks. For both you and your custom jeweler, the final meeting is the most exciting of them all.

After going through the process, from initial meeting through viewing the sketches and renderings, seeing your final piece sparkling and ready to be worn is an understandably emotional moment. For your custom jeweler, witnessing the joy on your face the moment you open the box is priceless; many jewelers rank this split-second as the favorite part of their entire job.




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