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Awesome thread! It would be great to get an actual jewellery megathread going...but I guess between jewellery techniques, gems, and metals it would be ridiculously long. I'm just coming up to the end of my first year of jewellery school, and to the person asking about CAD, it is by far the newest, fastest way of producing both custom one-off pieces and parts for pieces as well as more production type work (many reproductions of one ring or necklace). HOWEVER. Just like Johnny said, designing jewellery in CAD still requires all the principals of traditional metalwork, despite a few exceptions. My first designs before would be considered haggard by the jewellery community. A few years later and while i'm still learning they're getting a bit more on track  If anyone is curious about CAD I can try to answer some questions about milling and 3D printers as well. Also the ridiculously expensive jewellery CAD programs like gemvision matrix.https://www.gemvision.com EDIT: An actual question, Johnny do you do much in terms of repairs and engraving and re tipping? I got into jewellery from a more artistic background and everyone keeps telling me that I will probably need to offer repair services in my shop to keep money coming in. I however like to think that I will be able to not starve by only making my own jewellery, and maybe repairing pieces I have made, instead of repairing the random things that people bring in (like old women with costume jewellery tigers covered in foil backs). Please tell me I can live like this 
Claes Oldenburger fucked around with this message at 17:45 on Mar 2, 2012 |
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Mar 2, 2012 17:30
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JohnnyRnR posted:Could you live like that? Sure! Do you want to? Probably not. This makes lots of sense! How do you price that then? I mean it's obviously good that you're giving your customers the ability to have repairs done, but is it at that point more for marketing? I can't believe you would make much profit off repairs when it's being sent to someone to do them. Unless he does it pretty cheap? Funny we learn all about making jewellery but not much about business practices :P
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Mar 5, 2012 01:30
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JohnnyRnR posted:There are pricing guides that you can buy which will help you price out repairs. They generally have all the component prices you'll need, an estimate of how much time each repair takes, and a suggested markup. The shop price books just help to make you aware of how much you should be charging if your goal is to make money on repairs. I really like that idea. Thanks!
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Mar 9, 2012 05:18
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Xipe Totec posted:Is normal CAD software ok for jewellry design? Are specialist programs like gemvision linked earlier worth it? I am deep in the midst of figuring out a "reasonable home printing jewellery solution". So far hobbyist 3D printers (the ABS and PLA plastic kind) are just not able to reproduce the details required for finer jewellery (anything with stone settings, most rings, small earrings and so on). I've seen the lower cost printers pull out some awesome bangles, drop earrings and things that are generally larger and not so complex. In terms of printers a good guy to follow is Junior over at http://3dhomemade.blogspot.com/ because this form of 3D printing can actually achieve the small details in jewellery down to about 50 microns or 0.05mm (I have no idea what that is in inches :P) and while that's still not as small as the $50,000 machines, it's getting pretty close. Okay so software, I wholeheartedly believe that gemvision matrix is worth it, but not to start out. Artcam jewelsmith is a program my school teaches, and it is very good to start with, and i'm sure it's much more reasonably priced. Lots of people make jewellery in Rhino and ZBrush (both cheaper programs) and if you're familiar with CAD software already, i'm sure you wouldn't have too much trouble making things in Rhino. And if you need help, go to youtube! Chances are people have done what you've tried to do (or something similar) and have made a tutorial about it. The thing that really sets matrix apart is the presets. It has setting for every kind of standard gemstone, and can create settings in any surface you present it with. It's got all the standard ring sizes ready to go, and has automatic signet ring and eternity band builders. On top of that it has a ton of other features to help you tweak and make whatever you're working on look great. It's a pretty amazing program, but obviously that $7,000 price tag is kind of a hurdle :P Oh and the fact that it's an add-on means you would have to purchase Rhino as well.
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Mar 9, 2012 19:05
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JohnnyRnR posted:Color change garnets come in a few different types. There's a brown/orange, a lavender/teal, and this type which is blue/red. This material is exactly like Alexandrite, but at 50% of the cost. That's amazing! Alexandrite is my favorite stone, but it's unfortunately also known for it's huge price tag on any piece that has a decent colour change 
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Mar 29, 2012 22:13
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Swarovski Crystal Elements are just faceted glass, think like a crystal wine glass, etc. Don't know anything about the social shopping stuff. Yea it's a bit different from wine glasses and (new) decanters because it's lead glass. The added lead makes the glass way easier to facet and not have it shatter. But it also means it's still just glass, and nothing special. Zvezda posted:For £70, I assume "plated silver" means that it is made of sterling silver that has been plated (with fine silver, maybe, since they specify rhodium on other pieces?) to stop it tarnishing, and not that it is some other metal "silver plated". So that's good. Yea it's a pretty good bet that it's fine silver if they specify rhodium on other things. And for that price one would hope it's actual sterling under there but you can never be too sure. I also have no idea what the social shopping is....is it like shopping with message boards about products? Although I couldn't find anything like that on the site so I have no idea. EDIT: Johnny I asked a teacher about those beautiful Madagascar garnets. She said she had only seen one in her lifetime that she had years ago and wishes she never ever had sold it. She did say though that the person who bought it was absolutely in love with it, so I guess that's a win :P Claes Oldenburger fucked around with this message at 02:15 on Apr 16, 2012 |
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Apr 16, 2012 02:07
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Alterian posted:You can take it to a mom and pop jeweler and they should be able to tell, but amber does float in salt water. There's a couple of tests you can do yourself if you're willing to do like poke a spot you don't see with a hot needle. It should smell like pine tree resin and not plastic. Last semester we did a bunch of tests on amber, but most of them were the hot needle test :\ it's destructive but fairly accurate (unless you can't tell burning plastic from pine needles). Johnny, I also think those roughs are amazing and want to know how much they cost!
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May 8, 2012 20:04
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Dead Pikachu posted:They spewed all the typical, "but you must get a diamond" nonsense. I hate this, why can't they just be happy you want to buy something special and not something they think is special? I am also a huge fan of Moissanite! We did a ton of tests on it last year in class (mostly trying to tell it apart from diamonds) and even side by side with diamonds I think it looks pretty awesome. Pinky Artichoke posted:I've been toying with the idea of buying myself some moissanite jewelry with similar thoughts. I can afford equivalent jewelry with diamonds, but I really like that silicon carbide is such a versatile material that has a bunch of industrial applications that are relevant to my interests (electronics and fast vehicles, mostly)....and also, somehow, it's pretty. Pretty neat. I am into that idea too. The idea that someone makes this thing that is so sparkly and full of fire yet has so many applications for real world things and not just "look at how much I am worth" is really neat. EVG posted:Here are the pictures they took before sending the completed ring: I go nuts for properly made tension set rings and that is by far one of my favorite tension set rings I have ever seen. TL;DR "Diamond" Stores are super annoying Moissanite rules for a plethora of reasons That ring is gorgeous.
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Jun 9, 2012 03:19
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Thanks Johnny for all your help, and this is a perfect time! I'm opening up my own jewellery business here in Toronto as we speak and I will definitely be buying some gems from your online store. Will there be a way after this to get in contact with you about purchasing other gemstones after this is all said and done? Some of these gems are so beautiful, the pictures are amazing! I want that tsavorite garnet so bad.
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Jun 19, 2012 17:12
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Thanks! I'll definitely send you an email once all the craziness of opening a business slows down :P But I did just send an order!  Any idea on shipping time to Toronto?
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Jun 19, 2012 18:08
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^^^ I'm also curious what's changing!JohnnyRnR posted:I'll get everything shipped out tomorrow. Shipping time to Canada should only be a couple of days, I think. Great thanks! Some of the jewellery on your site is amazing. I love the work done by Anthony Lent.
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Jun 19, 2012 23:15
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Wrecking Ball posted:This may be some strange rambling/whining bit of .. questioning, may even be suited for e/n (but I really don't want to go there if I don't have to).. Apprenticeships do exist, I did one even before I started in a jewellery program. But it was unpaid *sigh* and the owner was a total douche. Although I was going from literally nothing so I guess he knew just how bad I would be. Sometimes I set up practice time trials, like i'll design something and then try and get it done as fast as I can with as much precision as I can. Keeps the fingers nimble!
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Jun 29, 2012 14:24
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Hey Johnny, sent you an email to the SA-goons one. It's from my new work email not the email I made the order with so I just wanted to make sure you got it. I really can't thank you enough, the gems are fantastic. Can't wait to make some new pieces with them!
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Jul 7, 2012 06:01
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drat Bananas posted:Would there be a point to rhodium plate a platinum ring? I'm thinking more for scratch resistance than color - would there even be a color difference when it starts to wear away? From my experience I have never heard of platinum rings being rhodium plated. I would think because the colour is too different but maybe there are other reasons? Plating is in fact done by dipping the metal item into a solution. It's a liquid that is usually somewhat translucent with little molecules of the metal to be plated floating around in it, sort of like murky water(although sometimes it is clear). An electrical current is hooked up into the solution and to the piece to be plated. When the item is dipped into the solution, it completes the circuit and those little molecules of metal attach themselves to the item being dipped in. As far as i'm aware the longer you leave it in, those molecules will keep attaching until the power is turned off, you take the piece out, or all the little floating metal particles are used up. As for gemstones, i'm pretty sure the common stones can handle it. The solution has to be heated and that's the only reason I can imagine some stones couldn't handle it (such as emeralds, they hate going from cold to hot). Claes Oldenburger fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Jul 10, 2012 |
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Jul 10, 2012 21:50
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*Whoops double post
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Jul 10, 2012 21:51
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Scaramouche posted:Do you know what the alloying material is? I took a look around and I've found Stuller's 'X1' line, but they announced that in 2005. I also found this: I think most of the companies that alloy these metals keep the exact formulas pretty secret. They could be adding trace elements to make it a brighter white that doesn't change the other properties of the metal. I know a Japanese company was trying to do the same thing with 24k gold (because of the market in Asia for really yellow golds, and 24 karat is generally too soft for jewellery) and ended up with some alloy that was a bit above 23 karat but worked like 18 karat. I can't for the life of me remember what company it was though. I really like Stuller's X1 line, from what i've seen it ends up being much whiter than other "white golds" i've seen. (Also not answering for Johnny) The moonstones i've seen range from cloudy white to almost clear, and the colour is from when they are tilted. The stone "flashes" colours inside it as it tilts from one side to the other, and can range from lighter flashes to really strong colours. They are one of my favorite stones, and that play of light is called adularescence 
Claes Oldenburger fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Jul 11, 2012 |
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Jul 11, 2012 23:34
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Scaramouche posted:Could be this: I hadn't heard of the laser thing but that's pretty cool! The second ring is Titanium, which can be a made a variety of colours. The third is (i'm pretty sure) a technique using chemicals to darken silver or gold. But it ends up with more of a dark grey than a black. I'm also fairly sure that ring is a digital render. The shading just doesn't look right, and the stone is a bit off looking. I too wish I could make rings this black!
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Jul 20, 2012 23:12
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Moto Punch posted:Thanks for the info, I love the look of the blue topaz (the ones erring more on the teal side, I saw a lot of sites calling them 'london blue'?). And the irridated stones I saw are stupid cheap - so I can spend a bit of $ on a nice setting I guess! Do you have PM's? I have some ideas that you might like
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Jul 31, 2012 16:38
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^Please do!Absolute Lithops posted:What are you general thoughts on the big-name prestige brands, like Harry Winston, Piaget, and Cartier; and jewelry-art by enterprises like JAR? Do you agree with that distinction? As far as the big name prestige brands go...I think they have a place. Jewellery is something worn by (most of) the wealthy, and the wealthy (who are not really into the whats what in jewellery) love big brands they can still show off to their friends. These companies have made strides in their own respective areas too, so despite them being more commercial I feel that as far as jewellery is concerned, they are still helping the community as a whole. I know this is a bit of an old example, but Van Cleef and Arpel creating the mystery setting pretty much solidifies them to me, as an amazing jewellery company no matter how commercial they ever get. Art jewellery is my deal. I love everything about custom, one-off pieces and collections with artistic inspiration. Whether they are sterling silver and $150 or gold and ALL THE JEWELS for $1,000,000. I see it as art, like sculpture with extremely expensive materials instead of clay or bronze. Hell, I don't even care if you can wear it, that is how much I love art jewellery. Examples! The badass mystery setting:  Looks amazing for flowery brooches. Absolutley insane the amount of work to make it look like this, ESPECIALLY since it was developed in the mid 30's.  Art jewellery and a favorite designer of mine, some wearable...some...you probably wouldn't want to wear it out. http://pinodesign.net/ Love of jewellery edit: For those into scandanavian design/minimalism, http://www.georgjensen.com also a favorite of mine. Claes Oldenburger fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Aug 3, 2012 |
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Aug 3, 2012 16:52
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Scaramouche posted:Have a weird customer complaint was wondering if you guys had any insight. We sold him a silver ring and he's saying it's covered with a powdery white goo. I've never seen silver tarnish white so I'm assuming it's left over polish that wasn't buffed out properly. The problem is, he's tried to polish it out himself and he says the stuff won't budge out of cracks/crevices, even with a stiff brush. I'm just going to get him an exchange for defective goods, but have any of you jewelry pros come across that kind of thing? I sell stuff so I'm not really behind a bench, are there polishing agents from the manufacturer that can only be worked out with a buffing wheel or the like? All of the polishing agents I know are black when polishing (even if they are white before you use them). Wrecking Ball posted:Could it maybe be some left over borax or flux stuck in the cracks? If there's no stones in the ring you could try to ultra-sonic it out. Or steam clean it. Yea that sounds like borax or flux for sure...I really can't think what else it would be. Previously melted and then hardened flux can be a bitch to get off without a pickle solution so that would be my first thought.
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Aug 9, 2012 01:25
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Scaramouche posted:Is Monkey Lincoln still around? Because I've got an exciting new link he should add to the OP: Thanks Scaramouche! I am very excited to be opening the thread, and even more excited for all the goony jewellery I
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Aug 10, 2012 01:57
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marshmallard posted:I found another one of those apparently "black gold" rings, this one's actually for sale. What do we think? Scam? That is 100% a digital render. I have no idea what the actual metal would look like. It says the black gold is an alloy over white gold, and wears off. So it's some sort of plating.
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Aug 11, 2012 20:35
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marshmallard posted:Thank you for finding that out. He does have black gold items for sale, but there's a disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't have an actual image, but my school JUST got a trial size thing of "black gold plating". It ends up looking sort of like tungsten, that dark grey colour. Most things i've found that are some sort of "blackener" or "black" metal in the jewellery industry are that shade of dark grey.
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Aug 22, 2012 12:30
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huskyjackal posted:I have a very dumb question, er two questions, I need to ask because I'm having a debate about it with my boyfriend and I don't agree with him. He believes gold rings, particularly 14k and above, are too weak and malleable to wear for long periods of time or everyday use. He also believes that rings with stones that protrude and are secured in place by prongs are all going to snap off and break under everyday wear. I cannot seem to convince him that not all prong-set jewels are going to "just pop off" as he puts it and that gold rings can be worn just fine every day under normal wear otherwise why would so many people buy them as wedding and engagement rings? I am just asking to find out the truth about these little things--is a say 24k or 14k gold ring too malleable to wear every day (obviously circumstances are different for everyone but I mean general wear) and are stones set protruding out from the ring too weak to withstand long term wear? Thanks in advance guys, I love this thread, we're currently looking for engagement rings and I'm super excited about it. <3 Different golds wear differently, and 24k and 22k is indeed too soft to be worn for everyday use (especially on rings). 14k however and 18k are strong enough to withstand everyday wear (and just like you said, exactly why they are worn for wedding rings). Prongs if made and set properly are not going to just "pop off" from everyday wear although from my experience prongs can bend or loosen their grip around the stone if they are hit against other hard things (countertops, a rock or something made of rock, metal) really hard at an awkward angle. Usually that won't cause the stone to come out, and the prongs can be re-tightened. My experience is a bit more limited than the other pro's on here and I'm sure they can shed some more light on the subject but hopefully that helps!
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Sep 23, 2012 02:15
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Scaramouche posted:Wow, I uh, thought you were kidding but it turns out there actually is a Palladium Alliance: Haha I also thought this was a joke. I do really like palladium, both as a metal and for it's working properties. White gold (with palladium) as opposed to the more North American standard white gold (with nickel) is much easier to work with and set stones in. It also causes almost no reactions to peoples skin like nickel white gold does, and that is the reason nickel white gold (from what I hear) is banned in Europe.
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Sep 26, 2012 04:04
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Yea that's really beautiful! I love the colour of london blue topaz
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Oct 8, 2012 01:43
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Snowy posted:I'm looking to have a custom hand engraved deep relief silver signet ring made, somewhere along the lines of this one: While I have done some signet rings, my skills can't even come close to that. If you want it to resemble that at all, you're going to have to find a hand engraver. Unfortunately they are getting harder to come by I do not know any myself otherwise I would refer you!
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Nov 1, 2012 20:49
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Snowy posted:Thanks guys- I got into this after spending time browsing some engraving forums. There is so much mind blowing work out there. I look at a bunch of engraving forums too Sam Alfano is a craaaazy person. So good! Those forums are definitely a good place to start looking.
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Nov 2, 2012 19:46
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I am in shock, that's BRUTAL. At that point it's just scamming, I mean like legitimate fraud. How can that dude sleep at night?!
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Nov 8, 2012 15:39
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Take a penlight and look closely at the stone. Is there marked visible crazing all over the table? If so, start looking for perfectly spherical air bubbles. Find one? Congrats, you're fired! Yea those perfectly spherical bubbles are definitely the dead giveaway. Our teachers would give us stones to identify that had only one or two tiny small perfectly round bubbles hidden in facet junctions and other weird spots. SO ANNOYING. But it does mean we learned to search for and spot them :P
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Nov 9, 2012 06:32
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GrAviTy84 posted:Got married almost a month ago and just realized that I never posted my wedding rings in here. Love the shape of that european comfort fit! And that hand engraving... 
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Nov 19, 2012 02:09
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Omgbees posted:This is what gets me, why bother with white gold? White gold is an extremely different beast to work with. It cracks easily and often when cold worked, and is very difficult (compared to yellow gold and silver) to set stones in. Gold and its alloys hold a polish extremely well like JohnnyRnR said and will stay shiny for a very, very long time. Silver does not do this, it's okay to work with but to stay looking bright and shiny with everyday wear is pretty difficult without getting it re-polished periodically.
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Dec 2, 2012 02:56
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JohnnyRnR posted:Since there is still some interest in this thread I thought I would post something unique I recently acquired. This gemstone is amazing. I wish I could make it into a necklace! Saint Fu posted:Thank you for the advice. I don't mind supporting an independent artist, good to know that it isn't a blatent rip-off. Yay supporting independent jewellers! Despite the cheesy names (which happens a lot on etsy) some of the work in that shop is absolutely fantastic.
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Jan 9, 2013 19:57
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JohnnyRnR posted:I have a ring being built now for the spinel I showed a page back. Here are a couple renders of the design. Amazing as usual! I love those circles of white stones around the outside, a beautiful frame for larger coloured stones.
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Jan 25, 2013 23:29
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WAFFLEHOUND posted:Hey Claes, you still doing any custom stuff? On and off, school is still crazy but if you have something in mind PM me! I get my 3D printer next month and that's going to change a lot for my turnaround time and what I can do.
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Jan 26, 2013 14:56
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I got my hands on a pair of the most brilliant moonstones I have ever seen. They did cost a bit (sorry student loans! ) but I'm going to set them into a pair of earrings with some small diamonds and hopefully sell them. Here they are, I've been lucky enough to find a gemstone dealer in Toronto who deals with almost completely untreated/unaltered stones. Sri Lankan Rainbow Moonstones  I love moonstones and I LOVE these. They look like little raindrops with a huge flash of a range of colour. I'll post more pictures when I make them into earrings!
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Feb 1, 2013 14:51
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JohnnyRnR posted:It doesn't look like this would be a major piece. I'd encourage you to have it repaired as the sale price would likely be about the same as the repair costs. I certainly will! WAFFLEHOUND posted:Those are pretty! The cuts look a bit lopsided, is that just the picture? Yea it's just the picture, it makes them look like little kidneys! I tried to get the best example of the flash that I could :P Let me sell some of my gems first then i'll get back to you :P
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Feb 2, 2013 02:02
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JohnnyRnR posted:I promised an update when the spinel ring was ready, and it's finally finished. I'm very happy with it. Absolutely AMAZING! I did not know that about Burma spinel and that is very cool. Do you write the GIA cert inside all your rings with large stones?
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Feb 17, 2013 15:34
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Grrl Anachronism posted:I have a question about a setting. About seven years ago when I purchased my class ring, it came in a setting I really liked, but haven't seen anywhere else. It has four prongs and two 'straps' over a marquise-cut sapphire that is probably artificial. Are there any similar settings for engagement rings? I know they traditionally show off the stones and it would probably be a waste to put a diamond in the same setting, but there might be something I haven't seen yet that looks similar. Here's the ring: Missed this! I have never seen a setting like this before, but I think it's really cool! Zratha posted:My mom just got back from Tanzania and took these pictures for me of some tanzanites. The one by itself was worth $365,000 (She didn't ask about carats or heat treatments, unfortunately). Apparently there was one priced at 11 million but he wouldn't let her take a picture.  Those are beautiful! I love the deep blue/purple colour. Fun fact, all tanzanites are heat treated! When they mine them they come out as this brownish/blue colour, and are heat treated to the lovely blue everyone knows them as. In the early days of mining tanzanite they found some minerals that were gem quality and that lovely blue, but I'm fairly sure that no longer happens.
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Mar 10, 2013 01:15
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Zratha posted:There are still some on the market that are untreated by people, but they would be quite rare and expensive. It's really neat to check if they have been treated because they look really different under the dichroscope. She brought me back a heat treated piece of rough on a necklace, and a little chunk of untreated rough and the reactions were really distinct. It was a great example to use in class. Oh cool! That's good to know I only briefly did some gemmological testing in class, but would love to get some of the less expensive tools for my own use. Can you recommend good ones to start with? I don't know how expensive polariscopes or refractometers are but I assume they're pretty pricey.
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Mar 10, 2013 14:28
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