royalstarrynight
Shiny_Rock
- Joined
- Oct 29, 2012
- Messages
- 354
Hi All!
I'm back with an update to my first project!
For reference sake, this is the thread that was the initial stone searching phase.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-this-spinel.182210/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-this-spinel.182210/[/URL]
I really want to thank the PS community for their help with my project including those who commented on that thread and those who had posed questions previously!
The main reason why I've waited so long to update is because my project had quite a few hiccups. Instead of naming names and blaming people, I thought it would be helpful to document my process, the issues that I faced and things I wished I had done especially trying out new vendors.
1.Oct 2012- Nov 2012 Obtaining stone- I milled about looking for a spinel. They truly fascinated me! Jeff Davies was lovely in pulling out a stone from him inventory after I requested a "blue violet steely grey .8 ct spinel". He had great customer service and often would answer my mundane questions patiently and immediately through chats. Plus his stone was in a comfortable price point to start testing the gem collecting waters. I loved the outside color, was eh about the inside color and completely enamored by the color change aspect.
2. Finding the Setting
Part 1: I adored Frekechild and tetefufu ering. ([URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-wedding-rings.158367/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-wedding-rings.158367/[/URL]) and decided to kind of make a copy of it. (I know this is controversial in RT but I had no idea!)
3. Mid-End Nov2012 Finding the vendor
While I was waiting for my stone to arrive from Thailand, which takes 2-3 weeks, I looked for a vendor.
It made sense for me first to ask danielm since he was the original maker but I was honestly very shocked by the prices. To be fair to danielm, it was CAD and I was very naive to think most settings in argentium silver were under $100.
I went around asking for quote obsessively from everybody on Etsy and a lot of the budget recommended vendors. There were cheaper quotes than danielm but they were in sterling silver. I was insistent on either palladium, argentium silver or white gold since I was scared of tarnishing.
A PSer mentioned custommade.com, I made a project and waited for vendors to get back. One vendor said he could do the price I wanted in 14k but wasn't particularly responsive and the other vendor was sweet and responsive who fit under what I considered reasonable.
4. End Nov2012- Mid Jan 2013 Finalizing the design
Part of the reason why I went with my vendor was because they were local. During the initial meeting, we talked briefly about what I wanted and dropped off my stone as my "deposit". They usually do a 50% down initially and then 50% later, later I found out my stone was a much stronger deposit than the money.
I also wanted to lock down the price since they said they could potentially try to make it more affordable. The vendor pushed back and said that they would come back with a price when the design was completed. I was comfortable with that as long as it did not exceed the price previously agreed upon.
When I visited their studio and looked through their gallery, I also realized that there were not many prong set settings. They had some pave work up but it was "artistically blurred" Big red flag! But I chose to ignore it since I had already left my stone there by the time I saw that.
Timelines are usually critical. I asked when the ring would be done and I could feel that they were uncomfortable. I knew it would not be completed before Christmas and said that. I also said that I wasn't in a rush but would hope that it would be complete by January. They said this was totally doable.
I was promised my first CADs before Christmas and they arrived the first or second week of January. Little did I know, this was only the beginning of problems.
I had a huge problem of wanting to take elements from different rings. I love uprongs, v shapes, wanted double prongs. My designer also had the issue of not being particularly familiar with CAD and rolled personal things into why they could not complete the CAD on time. I also waffled a week or so on whether to go single or double pronged. LD brought up the great point that my stone was not large and that the prongs would cover up my stone. My vendor said that they could make the prongs as small as single prongs. I naively believed them.
5. Early Feb 2013 Casting
Now that the design was complete, I checked back into pricing to lock it down. They naturally assumed the highest price was the agreed upon price, which irked me when the previous language led me to believe that there was a potentially lower price. I think this was another red flag, that they did not have control over their pricing earlier on.
How custommade works is that your vendor sends a proposal and you agree therefore creating a binding contract. Her contracts had plenty of unexpected things! It asked for 50% down initially even though we had verbally agreed that my stone was the deposit and said that I had agreed to pay in check or cash. I didn't feel comfortable with paying in check or cash with the missed deadlines and wanted the protection credit card or paypal offered in case the ring was defective. When I pressed this issue, their communication became laggy. Eventually when I called them for an update, they said, "you know credit cards and paypal cost me extra fees..". And no, I didn't. But I felt that it was unfair for her to change the terms of payment.
My design was sent to the caster and the caster was "really busy", so my ring was casted half a week later than promised. Then we found out that the caster had casted in sterling silver and the vendor needed to search for another caster. The vendor had also blamed the untimeliness on the fact that most of the industry in the area was moving out of an area and were resettling and the vendor needed to find them again.
A second caster was found Feb 14th and the casting was completed Feb 28th.
6. Feb 2013- March 5 2013 Setting and polishing
My vendor was doing the setting and polishing and needed a few days to a week to complete this service. We decided on a time and I picked up the ring.
It didn't have claw prongs like I had hoped and there were parts that were overpolished. The sidestones were also set unevenly. As my friend puts it, they looked like they were mashed in there. Under further inspection, it was not polished before the stone was set either. On the bright side, the underside is smoothly polished. I was so exhausted by this project that by the end of it all. I just wanted to pick up my ring and leave.
Lessons Learned:
I wish I had read http://cecileraleydesigns.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-to-consider-when-requesting-custom.html... My price expectations would had been much more reasonable.
Ask to see a sampling of work that is similar. At the very end, this vendor admitted that my project was one of the very first CAD projects they had ever done.
Lock down pricing. Know all the little fees and changes. Know if they're ok with paypal credit card, mailed check. Another comment is that sales tax cost as much as shipping.
Set firm timelines early on.
Double prongs are not that great for small stones and make them look squarish.
Things I am glad that happened:
I am so glad I read obsessively on PS on every spinel thread. This community is such a wealth of information.
I am glad I started with a cheaper stone. There are things that bother me but overall, I still care for it. I've learned I like color shifters, prefer stones a maybe a hint larger than 6mm. I also wasn't testing out a new vendor with a largely expensive stone.
I am glad that Jeff Davies was so willing to talk about the stone even after I had purchased it. Like it should be prong set. He's a great source of gem information too if you chat with him and often has things that he hasn't posted in his inventory.
There were some PSers who know who they are, that essentially hand held me through some of this experience and I thoroughly appreciated their time, thought and insight.
I'd prefer not to reveal my vendor's name because I have provided the feedback back to them and they have taken it graciously. I do believe especially because they are a new business, they will improve! They really were sweet and kind in their correspondence.
Here's a bunch of random shots of my ring....I'm still working on photography......
I'm back with an update to my first project!
For reference sake, this is the thread that was the initial stone searching phase.
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-this-spinel.182210/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/thoughts-on-this-spinel.182210/[/URL]
I really want to thank the PS community for their help with my project including those who commented on that thread and those who had posed questions previously!
The main reason why I've waited so long to update is because my project had quite a few hiccups. Instead of naming names and blaming people, I thought it would be helpful to document my process, the issues that I faced and things I wished I had done especially trying out new vendors.
1.Oct 2012- Nov 2012 Obtaining stone- I milled about looking for a spinel. They truly fascinated me! Jeff Davies was lovely in pulling out a stone from him inventory after I requested a "blue violet steely grey .8 ct spinel". He had great customer service and often would answer my mundane questions patiently and immediately through chats. Plus his stone was in a comfortable price point to start testing the gem collecting waters. I loved the outside color, was eh about the inside color and completely enamored by the color change aspect.
2. Finding the Setting
Part 1: I adored Frekechild and tetefufu ering. ([URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-wedding-rings.158367/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-wedding-rings.158367/[/URL]) and decided to kind of make a copy of it. (I know this is controversial in RT but I had no idea!)
3. Mid-End Nov2012 Finding the vendor
While I was waiting for my stone to arrive from Thailand, which takes 2-3 weeks, I looked for a vendor.
It made sense for me first to ask danielm since he was the original maker but I was honestly very shocked by the prices. To be fair to danielm, it was CAD and I was very naive to think most settings in argentium silver were under $100.
I went around asking for quote obsessively from everybody on Etsy and a lot of the budget recommended vendors. There were cheaper quotes than danielm but they were in sterling silver. I was insistent on either palladium, argentium silver or white gold since I was scared of tarnishing.
A PSer mentioned custommade.com, I made a project and waited for vendors to get back. One vendor said he could do the price I wanted in 14k but wasn't particularly responsive and the other vendor was sweet and responsive who fit under what I considered reasonable.
4. End Nov2012- Mid Jan 2013 Finalizing the design
Part of the reason why I went with my vendor was because they were local. During the initial meeting, we talked briefly about what I wanted and dropped off my stone as my "deposit". They usually do a 50% down initially and then 50% later, later I found out my stone was a much stronger deposit than the money.
I also wanted to lock down the price since they said they could potentially try to make it more affordable. The vendor pushed back and said that they would come back with a price when the design was completed. I was comfortable with that as long as it did not exceed the price previously agreed upon.
When I visited their studio and looked through their gallery, I also realized that there were not many prong set settings. They had some pave work up but it was "artistically blurred" Big red flag! But I chose to ignore it since I had already left my stone there by the time I saw that.
Timelines are usually critical. I asked when the ring would be done and I could feel that they were uncomfortable. I knew it would not be completed before Christmas and said that. I also said that I wasn't in a rush but would hope that it would be complete by January. They said this was totally doable.
I was promised my first CADs before Christmas and they arrived the first or second week of January. Little did I know, this was only the beginning of problems.
I had a huge problem of wanting to take elements from different rings. I love uprongs, v shapes, wanted double prongs. My designer also had the issue of not being particularly familiar with CAD and rolled personal things into why they could not complete the CAD on time. I also waffled a week or so on whether to go single or double pronged. LD brought up the great point that my stone was not large and that the prongs would cover up my stone. My vendor said that they could make the prongs as small as single prongs. I naively believed them.
5. Early Feb 2013 Casting
Now that the design was complete, I checked back into pricing to lock it down. They naturally assumed the highest price was the agreed upon price, which irked me when the previous language led me to believe that there was a potentially lower price. I think this was another red flag, that they did not have control over their pricing earlier on.
How custommade works is that your vendor sends a proposal and you agree therefore creating a binding contract. Her contracts had plenty of unexpected things! It asked for 50% down initially even though we had verbally agreed that my stone was the deposit and said that I had agreed to pay in check or cash. I didn't feel comfortable with paying in check or cash with the missed deadlines and wanted the protection credit card or paypal offered in case the ring was defective. When I pressed this issue, their communication became laggy. Eventually when I called them for an update, they said, "you know credit cards and paypal cost me extra fees..". And no, I didn't. But I felt that it was unfair for her to change the terms of payment.
My design was sent to the caster and the caster was "really busy", so my ring was casted half a week later than promised. Then we found out that the caster had casted in sterling silver and the vendor needed to search for another caster. The vendor had also blamed the untimeliness on the fact that most of the industry in the area was moving out of an area and were resettling and the vendor needed to find them again.
A second caster was found Feb 14th and the casting was completed Feb 28th.
6. Feb 2013- March 5 2013 Setting and polishing
My vendor was doing the setting and polishing and needed a few days to a week to complete this service. We decided on a time and I picked up the ring.
It didn't have claw prongs like I had hoped and there were parts that were overpolished. The sidestones were also set unevenly. As my friend puts it, they looked like they were mashed in there. Under further inspection, it was not polished before the stone was set either. On the bright side, the underside is smoothly polished. I was so exhausted by this project that by the end of it all. I just wanted to pick up my ring and leave.
Lessons Learned:
I wish I had read http://cecileraleydesigns.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-to-consider-when-requesting-custom.html... My price expectations would had been much more reasonable.
Ask to see a sampling of work that is similar. At the very end, this vendor admitted that my project was one of the very first CAD projects they had ever done.
Lock down pricing. Know all the little fees and changes. Know if they're ok with paypal credit card, mailed check. Another comment is that sales tax cost as much as shipping.
Set firm timelines early on.
Double prongs are not that great for small stones and make them look squarish.
Things I am glad that happened:
I am so glad I read obsessively on PS on every spinel thread. This community is such a wealth of information.
I am glad I started with a cheaper stone. There are things that bother me but overall, I still care for it. I've learned I like color shifters, prefer stones a maybe a hint larger than 6mm. I also wasn't testing out a new vendor with a largely expensive stone.
I am glad that Jeff Davies was so willing to talk about the stone even after I had purchased it. Like it should be prong set. He's a great source of gem information too if you chat with him and often has things that he hasn't posted in his inventory.
There were some PSers who know who they are, that essentially hand held me through some of this experience and I thoroughly appreciated their time, thought and insight.
I'd prefer not to reveal my vendor's name because I have provided the feedback back to them and they have taken it graciously. I do believe especially because they are a new business, they will improve! They really were sweet and kind in their correspondence.
Here's a bunch of random shots of my ring....I'm still working on photography......
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