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Client
Previews 
First comes the basic idea, defined into a working
blueprint
Special order takes thoughtful planning. Most sales
clerks barely have an understanding of how jewelry is constructed, so things
can get exciting... I have zero respect for benchworkers who just sort of
"grow" something without planning professionally. I often joke about assuming
that the benchworker has taken the "G.I.A.
Mind-reading Courses" ... Often it's necessary to call the store
and find out what they promised their customer, something that few appreciate
is that disinterested salepeople are hardly help the process... A fantastic
special order job "starts" with detailed information and specific details...
It's the boneheaded jeweler who builds something for their customer with
no plan. No custom wax should ever be carved without the stones, with measurements
you can get close but if you want "dead on" you get there by aiming at defining
the idea as well as you can... I've started using the computer to define
projects, rendering photo-realistic renditions of what the items will look
like when finished, customers deserve to know what is happening :) Remember
that at it's best the item should be "exactly" what the customer had in
mind! 
We provide working drawings to our customers (nearly
daily) to help identify the project before we begin. It helps my clients,
and gives my customer a really fine "preview" of what we are going to build.
I wish the store folks would understand better that it's the detailed sketches
and definition of the project which are the most important, not just the
due date and a vauge crude sketch... I had a store reciently that asked
for "ideas for a name pendant" but after having the renderings done they
said "well, we didn't want to pay for the ideas"... Har-dee-har... If they
did they did their job defining the project the sketches wouldn't have been
generated, so the moral here is "THINK PEOPLE" if you're selling jewelry/ideas...
Rather than service the trade exclusively I've decided to dedicate this
site to you, the real people for whom jewelry is symbolic of significant
events. "If you don't know what your
customer wants how the hell will the shop, without design work & time?!?!?"
The stores are often way to fast to "build something" to see if it's what
you want, not appreciating the cost of doing it wrong... Promises are all
too easy to make, but the benchworkers are the ones who must try and keep
them... Designs are easily modified at this stage, on paper anything is
possible! We can start working from your detailed FAX, a high quality picture
or good drawings... Quality begins at this important stage folks, approval
of the design and project means having what you need to "see what's being
built for you"... 
Tradeshop Incorporated is Staffed by Master Union
Journeymen, They will take those working drawings (after approval of course) and begin the wax rendering stages of the manufacturing process. This is where if the depth of the stone, length of a row of diamonds or structure of the item are not well thought out the customer ends up with something ugly, or weak, or both... Most designs are a compromise between what the clerk promised and what is actually possible. So submit yer design to me, a master jeweler and diamond setter and get a better job for less.
Without bench experience or product knowledge it's a crap shoot sometimes. If you get the feeling that the person you're talking to hasn't a clue about how the job will be constructed ask yourself, "How will they explain it to the benchworker who's actually going to built it?!?!?" If you don't see clarity in the clerk's initial workup for the job why should you expect the finished article to be any better? Many stores don't like special order at all, because their staff can't guess how much something they've promised costs to actually do, or what steps and proceedures it involves either... If knowledge is power then the reverse of that is uncertianty at best. Make sure that you are well served before you agree to any special order job, with detailed plans and finite estimates based on product knowledge and facts, not just a pleasant salesperson speaking in soft reassuring tones... Yer going to take what they build home, not the salesperson, so make sure it's what you want... So, if yer tired of sales babble and showrooms designed to part you from yer hard earned cash you'll love the alternative we offer. In depth product knowledge, vast experience in manufacturing, design and stone setting mark this site from all the rest.
On to Wax Carving!!
