Custom Design Process

Design

In this step you work with our designer, Rod, to create the piece of your dreams. Whether we are re-creating a design seen in the past or an original design, this is the time to bring all of your ideas to the table. Pictures are great tools to help us learn your specific likes and dislikes and get an overall sense for the style of jewelry you are drawn to.  Sometimes people like to draw from several different styles to create an original piece, but it doesn't always make for a beautiful piece of jewelry. This is where the expertise of the designer comes into play. He can give you a professional opinion of what will and will not work together so you can tweak the design to create the perfect piece.

Keeping in mind your wants, Rod will typically create a series of drawings for you, modifying them slightly so there is a selection of designs to choose from. If the perfect design is not in the first selection of drawings, designs can be revised to find the right balance. 

 Wax

Your design is now carved into a 3-dimensional wax model either by hand or machine. Any stones included in the piece will be set in the wax model to give the client the best idea of how the piece will look when it is finished. We encourage you to try on the wax models to get a sense of how the piece will look when it is worn. We are still able to make changes to wax models so it is important to get customer feedback at this time. It isn't the easiest time to make changes but we'd rather do it at this point before a piece has been cast into metal.

It is important to note that this step does not exist if we are fabricating your design. Fabricated pieces skip directly to the Metal phase.

Metal

This is the step where we fabricate or cast the piece into metal. For fabricated pieces, Johnny Pavé will hand forge sheet metal or wire to create your ring, pendant, bracelet or earrings. If we are casting the piece we use the lost wax casting technique to go from wax to metal. From here the piece is filed, sanded, polished, stones are set and the piece gets a deep cleaning. Finally any special finishes are now added to your piece. This includes oxidizing/antiquing, satin, brushed, hammered, or florentine finishes, milgrain, or any other specialty hand finishes.