I sometime find myself revisiting how to best explain the meaning of what a handmade piece of jewelry truly is. It certainly deserves more of an explanation of “it was made by hand”.
The amount of work that goes into making some of my pieces can range from hours to days. And yet, even before I can start on a new piece, I must first source the materials from suppliers I can trust knowing they will deliver the quality I expect, and you deserve.
Performing the simplest of search for jewelry on google, Amazon, Esty, etc., will bombard you with thousands upon thousands of options for earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. Prices ranging from “really, that cheap?” to “OMG, who can afford to buy that?”
For the purpose of this article, let’s put all this jewelry into two buckets: machine made and handmade. I can’t tell you percentage, but for the most part, the bucket containing the machine-made jewelry would be much fuller than that of the handmade. A simple wedding band can be quickly machine made or casted (molten metal poured into a mold) in bulk – quickly and cheaply. As a jeweler I frown on these processes because every ring is identical and – since it was made by a machine – perfect.
Any good jeweler will always strive to make the perfect piece, but we know it’s impossible and those slight imperfections are what makes a handmade piece of jewelry a unique, one-of-a-kind work of art.
For the jeweler who makes a simple wedding band, it may start with melting the amount of precious metal needed for the ring then using a roller to create the width and length needed. This length of metal is then curled until the ends meet forming the “ring”. The ends are then soldered together. From here it is truing the circle by placing onto a ring mandrel and hammering into the most perfect circle possible.
We check and recheck, ensuring the size of the ring is exactly as ordered. Next, we begin to file any scratches on the exterior and interior of the ring. Special attention is paid to the joint, where the ring was soldered together. The goal here is to make the joint invisible. It’s a slow process, but after all, we are striving for perfection. We inspect, file, inspect, and file some more. Under the magnifying glass we can see the micro scratches, but those will be buffed out when we set out to polish. Hours later, when we think the ring is done, you see me in my chair, holding it between my fingers turning it over and over as I try to see it through the eyes of the person it was made for.
I decided to write this article to convey the best possible explanation of what a small business values of handmade jewelry truly are.
Would love to hear why you treasure handmade jewelry as well!
