Cool Ideas

A customer wanted to give his daughter a very special gift for Christmas. Here's his story:

"After some initial discussions, via telephone, I decided that a ring might be the best choice. Cathy and I worked via phone and email, as well as Facebook during the process. After deciding on a ring, Cathy called me and we spoke at great length about my daughter, her likes and dislikes in jewelry as well as mundane things like ring size. She forced me to think. I provided pictures of my daughter so she could see her and the kinds of things she wears. Armed with that information Cathy went away and came back with suggested designs. I was floored! I could actually see my daughter wearing any of the possible designs. It was amazing! Over a period of a few weeks, the design was refined and I selected the option I liked best. The finished rings were outstanding and my daughter loved them. ... In a way, Cathy got into my head and brought out the perfect gift. Trusting Cathy with this important gift was the best thing I did! All of the things that one might think of negatives were not; long distance communication, no input from my very selective daughter, and ring design when Cathy had not ever met my daughter. It all worked out. ... My daughter loves her rings ".

His final choice were these stack rings, which struck me as being very versatile, since they could be worn alone, or as a group, or paired with other rings she might have. The rings were 3 different colors of sapphire, all set in gold, with textured and plain bands. I thought the petite baguette stones would be just the thing for a petite young woman.

"The rings are gorgeous! Far more beautiful than I could ever have imagined. ... You made the whole process easy for me. You may be certain that I will tell everyone that might be interested in truly outstanding custom work to look you up on your shop's website or Facebook page. I look forward to working with you in the future. "

I love feedback like that and the knowledge that I played my little part in helping a Dad show his daughter how much he loved her.

My customer brought me an antique silver cuff that was very badly tarnished, thin, and had split almost into two pieces. She wondered what, if anything, could be done with it. I told her that because of the split and the thinness of the metal, a repair probably wouldn't hold up under the strain of putting the cuff on and taking it off. But the cuff had potential! I wondered if I could use the metal to make earrings and pendants.  My customer has two granddaughters; she thought they might each like these as a memento. As you can see, once I cleaned up the metal, the beautiful pattern emerged! As she wrote me:

"I hope that your creative work will inspire others to dig out those broken/unused heirlooms and work with you to breathe new life into them!"