Custom Made | Bringing your sketch to life

Hello!:) 

It has been a while since my last blog post. If you have been around Eileen M from the early days you might have noticed more and more one of a kind pieces coming out of the studio. Earlier this year I was startled to realise my camera is full of 4 years worth of  pieces made that I just never got around to posting online.

Custom made is where illusive dreams come true, a delicate dance between imagined non-tangibles and technically sound pieces. It is a space where if desired you get full creative control whilst I scurry around behind the scenes filtering your wish through a million hoops to find that one perfect combination.

Im writing this blog post is to show you how one such project went. A custom made Wavy four gemstone necklace. 

It started with one creative sending a clear, uncompromising idea of what she wants:

I was delighted to receive mostly clear instructions because immediately we could start discussing what kind of gemstones, gemstone cuts and gemstone settings could work. You see, there are a lot of ways to bring this to life, different materials & manufacturing methods. Each with its advantages and disadvantages. When working with any client, we settle on what will work by identifying non-negotiable must haves and a price cap. 

Possible stones and illustrations of basic differences in possible setting styles

For me this a fun step since it gives me a chance to blow you away with my knowledge and expertise 😆 lol. My job is to grasp all the variable details and put them together such that your piece comes alive in a way you will love! 

Her Stones 

If you are sending me your stones, then our design options can only be what works with your stones. Yes I absolutely work with clients’ stones almost all the time. 

When working with a gemstone sent in; I still get my chance to blow you away because I will test the stone to make sure it is what you say it is or what you were told it is 😉  The testing is done using gemological equipment to measure stone-properties. It is non-invasive and does not damage the gemstone in any way. 

After we have our stones, we will chat through any remaining details like size and particular fit on you. With this Wavy 4 stone necklace, my client wanted to see a few more possible designs before settling. This I quickly did, 🪄blending pencil sketches and adding the stones digitally. 

Again I greatly appreciated her clarity regarding what she wanted. She used terms like organic, uniform, non-uniform, varying thicknesses etc. I am well versed in working with clients who know exactly what they want and those who are not exactly sure. I enjoy both because I would get bored pretty quickly if I only worked with only one or the other.

We finally circled back to her original sketch and agreed on details like the 2 white stones have to be perched just so and connected by a chain coming out of nowhere. Once modified this became the design to manufacture:

Final design: her modified sketch with specific line-work over the blue stone.

Only after all this was done did we finally start manufacturing. Manufacturing takes anything between 7 days to 10 weeks depending on how busy we are. This Wavy 4-stone chain was straightforward to translate to metal after the consult. The point of going custom made is to get what you want so I followed her exact sketch on the wavy part.

And this was the final piece: 

And there you have it dear reader, a blog post bringing a sketch to life. I hope  it answers some questions about custom made or is just interesting to read. The process of translating the Wavy 4 stone necklace into metal is by no means representative of the full extent of the custom made pieces I work on. It is a good example of sketch to metal from this year. Hopefully I’ve painted a clear picture of the nuances that can come with a custom made piece and gotten you dreaming about what is possible.

Do get in touch if you would like to work with me. Let's talk and get it right; after all when taken care of these pieces will outlive both you and I.

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