Tips for Perfect Jewelry: Planning Before Designing

While designing a piece of jewelry for an individual, so many things should be kept in mind. Firstly the person for who you are designing, secondly shapes, styles, and colors for that particular type of design, including all requirements and limitations that are necessary to make the piece comfortable and functional. If these aspects are kept in mind, your client will have a piece of jewelry that will fit an individual’s personality, way of life, and be most becoming to his/her appearance. In this way client will accrue jewelry that can become an integral part of their wardrobe and remain cherished possession for many years and perhaps many generations.
The first and foremost thing to be remembered is:

Preferences of design: First important point is that the person for whom we are designing is a male or female. Knowing this would make the work easier and a designer can design the piece accordingly.

We must also concern on age factor i.e., kid, youth and aged while designing. Other then this we should focus on the variety of jewelry to be constructed i.e. ring, earring, pendant, brooch, necklace etc…? This is the most important point which needs to be remembered during designing any jewelry because lacking here might cause a complete mess in further designing.

If we have decided this then numerous variations are there to be taken care of, i.e. it should be a real or costume jewelry.

Theme & Occasion: After deciding the type of jewelry a designer should identify costumer’s interest in design. Some time costumer orders all designs on a particular theme for example love, music, ocean etc…

So we must design on those themes by keeping the latest trend in concern.

Along with this the occasion on which costumer is going to wear it matters allot ,it may be Engagement, Wedding , Birthday, Anniversary, valentine day, Deepawali, Ied, Christmas, official gathering etc…

Size of Jewelry Piece: Some jewelry pieces needed a certain size to wear i.e. Ring, Bangles, Bracelets, Necklaces, etc. Ring Size may be 5 us to 13 us (15.7 to 22.2 m.m.). Use a ring that fits you to determine your ring size. Place your ring over the nearest size circle. The inner edge of the ring should align with the outer edge of the circle then if your ring appears to fit between two sizes, buy the larger size. Women’s Standard Necklace Sizes can be 16″ Choker length , 17-18″ Will reach the collarbone and bead string – 30″ Below the chest and for male’s Standard Chain Sizes can be 18″ Base of the neck -for smaller neck sizes , 20″ to collarbone -The most common length for the average size man, 22″to 24″ A few inches below the collarbone . Similar to ring and necklace bracelet must design according a particular size. The Standard Bracelet Sizes is 7¼” Average woman’s wrist , 8½” Average man’s wrist or woman with larger wrist & 9″ For man with larger wrist . So keep in mind size factor too. The design would very accordingly.

Metal: It is important to sketch out the design before it is converted in real Jewelry piece so designer must show metal rendering in their design. What is appropriated metal i.e. gold ,silver, platinum, alloy, brass or other substance.

Jewelry is made out of almost every material known While high-quality and aesthetic pieces are made with precious metals, less and costly costume jewelry is made from less-valuable materials l and is manufactured.

If customer wants to buy gold jewelry, the first thing to keep in mind about is the word karat. The karat is the unit used to represent the proportion of gold in the piece of jewelry. Pure gold is set at 24 karats but there is no 24-karat gold jewelry because pure gold is too pliable to be fashioned into any form of jewelry. The diamond Jewelry is popular in 18-k (75% gold), 16-k (66.67% gold), 14-k (about 58% gold), and 12-k (50% gold).
And purity of Silver jewelry is 92.5

One particular metal which has gained in popularity quite greatly in the past ten years or so is that of platinum. Platinum is used to make all different types of jewelry items.

Learn about how and why this process occurs and how different metals create different shades of color.

Metal decoration: Metal decorations enhance the beauty of jewelry. So after decide metal designer should workout on metal decoration i.e. enameling, Filigree or textures or finish of metal. Whether it can be Matt finish, Florentine or satin finish so many type of finishes are there can be used. Hammering textures are in recent trend.

Polishing and plating of jewelry is important to decide before manufacturing. Whether jewelry piece would look elegant in rhodium or antique look.
If vacuum electroplating is conducted on nickel or brass metal-like color on the surface thereof, such as golden yellow color to appear like gold, or light gray to appear like platinum, etc..

By way of the above steps, the declaration can have the effect as a metal inlaid with jewelry, and the quality and value of the production are greatly enhanced.

Choice of Gem stones:
Jewelry is a wonderful accessory which can be designed in a wide range of metals & gemstones. These gem stones can be used with different sizes, colors, and varieties. Diamond is the most beautiful Gem materials that compose your jewelry design.

Diamonds; When using diamond & other color gem Stones in jewelry , there are four aspects that must be considered. These are the cut, the color, the carat, and the clarity of the diamond. Of these four aspects, the most important is the carat of the diamond. As the weight and size increased the price become very higher. The facets of the gem stone should be balanced and this is called symmetry. And finally, the cuts should be made through specific lines to avoid chipping off the surface. Gemstones should be clear . No inclusion over it. Otherwise it will less their price. Jewelry last for long years so try to use good quality of Gem stones whether it can be precious or semi-precious.

However, looks can be deceiving, but if you are not wise enough to choose a good quality of gem stones, you might end up with poor quality of gem stones.

Gem stones either depend on customer choice or the look of jewelry. Some time they choose it or like to wear it according their planetary position.

Setting of Gem stones:
It is very important after choosing gemstones to workout that what type of settings would use.

Sons are secured into their settings by first cutting a seat in which the stone rests and then covering the stone from above with some additional metal. This traps the stone so that it cannot move down or up. There are several options on how to secure a stone into a mounting. The most common settings are Prong Setting, Grain Set other styles are Rub Over, Pave, Channel, Illusion, Star Setting, Invisible Setting, Suspension Setting and Countersunk.

The Prong setting is the most frequently seen method of setting gems and Diamonds, there are a variety of other methods also used to set gems in precious metals. So Stone setting is an important feature of jewelry designing and making.

Link, clip & clasp:
When design comes to jewelry making, it will be easy to manufacture if we show proper links, clips and clasp in our design. Designer should use them as an integral part of the jewelry making? Many designers have done just that to great effect. Check out jewelry designs whether links, clips or clasps have been used or not. As clips or clasps are essential jewelry components so it should properly placed. If a designer design chain to make it faxable therefore, draw the correct no. of joints or loops with in certain distance. A jewelry piece such as a bracelet, necklace, earrings, or other ornamental item required a proper locking system . These locks may contain some designs over it. If you want to fix a brooch to a dress the best way is to fasten it with a pin-needle that can be fixed or pinned on a clasp. There are different kinds of variants to this version to keep the broochs’ needle from coming out . If you want to fix an earring to the lobe of an ear, A threaded hinge is used as a stop. “U” type clip is the most simple way to wear an earring with the ears pierced and it is best use both for aesthetics reasons and for a good balance. Some most comely used closing is lateral hinge closing, keg closing, box closing, spring clip and a spring ring closing.

Budget of customer:
Jewelry has no value limit but if customer ordered it for a particular amount that time we have to design our product but keeping in mind this limit. Just imagine that a customer required a piece for fifty thousand rupees that piece should be fifty thousand after charging our profit. We must mind about profit and cost. If jewelry piece costing is fifty thousand that time it is very difficult to convince them why the price is out of budget. So is must be very clear that price of ordered piece should not exceed beyond to customer’s budget.

Certification: A Designer must know about certification of jewelry and gem stone . Hallmarking of gold, gem stone & diamond purity certification will build your trust & lasting relationship with your customer. It is a guarantee of authenticity and quality. So if you are a designer cum manufacturer make your jewelry certify.

Packaging :
If we are designing a Beautiful Jewelry Piece & Getting it manufactured we Must think a designer Jewelry box for it too. It will show a designer’s complete designing sense. Many designers don’t realize the importance of packaging of their jewelry in right way. Proper jewelry box will enhance jewelry’s look and also help to keep jewelry piece in safe manner. Designer can printed their specific brand over it . It’ll create your good image but mind it that the design of the package fits in with your product range.

Jewelry is unlike clothing or appliances. The value of jewelry does not depreciate and therefore, So that your jewelry piece should durable and it remain same for a long ..longer time.. a Proper planning before designing and making any jewelry piece will make your work easy and it will save your time and cost too.

Neeru Jain: Assistant Professor of Jewelry Designing