Custom Doesn’t Mean Expensive
Posted By mikicatdesigns on September 2, 2009
This article is coming out of a wonderful discussion I had with a very talented goldsmith who is trying to educate people on exactly what custom work is. He writes this whole article on his site where he talks about fabricating a ring for you, or making a wax carving and then manufacturing it for you, or say you want stones on it, you may have your own or you may want to buy from him. Stones come in all qualities so you can spend most of your money on the highest quality stone or go for the glam and save. There are so many individual pieces that go into making a custom piece that people tend to shy away from it. All of the above mentioned type work is what most people think of as ‘custom’, but actually, anything can be custom. A simple droplet earring in the colors of your, a wire wrapped ring, with the birthstones of your children, a funky necklace made to complement your grandmother’s old brooch, they’re all custom pieces. The most important thing he taught me was… “If you can’t walk into a store, point at something in a case and buy it, it’s ‘custom’. So when you think of custom work, don’t think ‘expensive’, think ‘exact’. You get exactly what you want, rather than simply choosing from what’s available!
That can be a great boon to someone who absolutely LOVES this earring, but would much 
rather have it in silver and red, or copper and peach or any other metal, crystal combination. It’s very easy to do and in some cases, such as doing this gold earring in silver, will actually cost you less. But you’ll still get the bragging rights of “It was custom made for me.”
The person I’m talking about I just met on the Orchid forum part of the Ganoskin Project. Pete Schlosser has 7 years experience as a gold smith in the trade, currently lives in Minnesota with his wife and is seriously thinking of moving down here to Florida. In true southern tradition, We all would be so plea-ased to hay-uve y’all come and live dowen here with us. LOL Of course I think the move is a while away. Considering between Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens and Palm Beach is not an easy choice. I’m all the way down in the depths of South Florida so anything north of Boynton seems foreign to me. I just gotta get me out more. LOL You can find Pete’s site at The Goldsmithy. In his own words, “How fast things change. Here’s my website, now ancient in design (2003?). Every piece shown is that old, I never update the site even though I probably should.”
Anyway, I’m hoping that you will learn a bit more about what custom work is and why you should always ask if someone will customize a piece for you. It’s the best way to get exactly what you want, at a price you want to pay.
Miki
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