Whether its high school, college or grad school, graduation is a big milestone for every person who achieves it, and an event worthy of grand celebration.  The graduate is sure to receive many gifts meant to send them on to the next phase of life with confidence and an arsenal of tools for success.  Why not make your gift stand out by adding a personal touch?  Custom engraving is a great way to personalize graduation gifts, offering the graduate a commemorative memento of this momentous occasion, as well as a reminder of your own enduring love and support to be treasured for many years to come.

Custom Engraved Jewelry and Gifts

Engraved Jewelry

Engraved jewelry is a classic graduation gift, and one that can be truly personalized in a variety of ways. Everything from rings to bracelets to pendants can be engraved with a personal message to the graduate.  You might choose to simply have the date of graduation engraved to serve as a wearable reminder of this achievement, but you can also get more personal with words of encouragement engraved into a piece of jewelry, or a sentimental statement.  A monogram engraved into a brand name watch is a great college graduation gift, sending the graduate into the professional world with style and sentimental support.

Picture Frames and More

Engraved picture frames and plaques are also great ways to commemorate the graduate’s achievements.  It’s true, these gifts aren’t wearable like engraved jewelry, but they will make a nice addition to home décor as your graduate embarks upon this new phase of life.  An engraved picture frame with a sentimental photo and personalized with an inspiring message is a gift that will be cherished by the graduate each time they see it.  Of course, you might decide to commemorate this event with humor, too.  Because this is a truly personalized graduation gift, the options are virtually limitless and will truly reflect the unique nature of your relationship.

Don’t Forget the Younger Graduates!

Younger graduates deserve recognition and appreciation of their accomplishments, too!  Kindergarten graduation, grade school, middle school…each of these milestones provides an opportunity to acknowledge how proud you are of your little graduate, and engraved jewelry is a great option, as they will build a collection over time and multiple accomplishments.  A charm bracelet, with a custom engraved charm commemorating each phase is a perfect choice for younger graduates, as they’ll have multiple milestones honored in a single, evolving piece of custom jewelry.

With the technological advances of today, the popularity of custom design jewelry is higher than ever. What, at one time, took months to accomplish can now be done in a matter of weeks. To custom design jewelry of nearly any style gives today’s fine jewelry consumer the opportunity to express their own personality and taste without costing an arm and a leg. There are a few simple things to be remembered when working with a jeweler to create a unique, one of a kind custom piece, especially if the intention is to use diamonds and precious gemstones.

Custom design your engagement ring

While gemstones come with a similar certification, diamonds set the standard for valuation of all precious stones through the use of the four C’s of diamonds. Some may have heard about these C’s but if custom design jewelry is a coming project, knowing at least the basics of diamond certification is wise. The jeweler creating the custom design jewelry should produce the certification of the stone’s worth and its origin. If either of these certifications cannot be produced, move on to a different jeweler. Without the proper certifications, you may end up with custom design jewelry worth far less than you paid.

The four C’s of diamonds are Color, Clarity, Cut and Carat. Diamonds vary from clear or white to every color imaginable, the most valuable being the traditional clear diamond. Clarity rates the flaws and inclusions within the stone. While most of these inclusions and flaws are not seen by the naked eye, the value of the diamond is directly affected.  Cut is the diamond’s facets and is what produces the prism like sparkle when light passes through the stone.  A diamond can appear cloudy or dull, even have a dark center, if the cut is incorrect or poorly done. The final C is the most commonly known of the C’s, Carat. Simply put, Carat is the weight of the diamond. Keep in mind, that a larger stone my look pretty but due to the inclusions or cut, the value may be less than a smaller more quality diamond. Make sure to go over each of the C’s with a professional jeweler to determine the perfect diamond for the custom design jewelry being created. As stated, gemstones are rated in a similar fashion.

Custom design jewelry can be the perfect way to express one’s personality and style and in today’s highly technological era, custom design jewelry is more affordable than ever.

In a world filled with chaos and life’s distractions, it’s often hard to remember the little things. We have our careers that take up much of our time, school activities for our kids, after-hours business meetings and get-togethers with friends. It seems as if our days get filled with so much “stuff” that we neglect the person most important in our life…our romantic partner. Valentine’s Day is over but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a little time to gift this person something romantic…just because. Custom designed jewelry is all the rage these days. What is it, you ask? It is designing a piece of jewelry from an idea in your head and making it come to life.

Design Your Own – Gabriel Mountings

Many family-owned jewelers have artisans employed that are trained in custom designed jewelry. And contrary to popular belief, it is not nearly as expensive as it used to be. In the past, custom designed jewelry was painstakingly slow. You had an idea, you gave it to the jeweler, the jeweler drew it on paper and attempted to create the piece you had in mind. Oftentimes, it would take many revisions before the piece was perfect. This created long wait times and could often become very expensive based on how many revisions were needed. Today, that has changed.

Today, computers have made the job of custom designed jewelry much easier. You work with your jewelry artisan to create a 3-dimensional image on a computer. You are able to see the piece as the computer creates it and make changes to the image before the piece is ever created. It allows you to have full knowledge of what the custom design jeweler will be creating and give you full disclosure of what will be created for you. This frees up time…and money. You may still have to wait a few weeks for the piece to be delivered to you, but more often than not, the piece is perfect on the first try.

Does your wife thrive on simplistic or vintage? Is she classy or flashy? Know her tastes and styles and get in to your nearest custom design jeweler and create the piece of her dreams. Nothing says love like an original piece, created by you with love, when she least expects it. “Wow” her with a custom designed jewelry piece and watch her smile light up your world when she opens it.

Christmas and New Years have long passed. Valentine’s Day memories are fading quickly. How do you go about keeping the romance that the holidays produced going? Simple: remember that romance needs no holiday. A tried and true way to keep those romantic flames blazing is by creating unique and affordable custom design jewelry.

Surprisingly, custom design jewelry is far more affordable than most think. Often by using old and tired jewelry, you can create a fresh, new piece that will thrill the love of your life and spark up that romantic feeling without breaking the bank. You know she’s got broken gold necklaces and a few gemstone rings she has mentioned turning into new jewelry. Why not surprise her with a sparkling pair of gemstone earrings, made from the jewelry debris cluttering her jewelry box? But, how do you go about that. It is far more simple that you think.

Find a trusted and capable jeweler. Generally custom design jewelry is not something that the chain jewelry stores that you find in the mall can do, so look into family owned and operated shops in your city. They are far more likely to have the artisan capable of creating your custom design jewelry. Also make sure that the jewelry store you choose has the capability of melting down the metals you plan to recycle.

If you don’t have your own ideas for the custom design jewelry, (after all, you’re not a designer or a jeweler), trust your jeweler to show you some of the designs that you might like. Also, be sure that the pieces you plan to use in the custom design jewelry are comprised of the quality metals you want in the new piece. Again, your jeweler can help you determine which will work best.

The most important aspect of creating custom design jewelry from old, broken and forgotten pieces is to be 100% sure that the old pieces are just that…old pieces and not heirloom jewelry passed down but not worn. It may be a bit tough to keep the new piece a surprise if you need to ask but if you don’t ask, you could make a mistake that will definitely affect your hopes for romance.

Bottom line, if you want to keep the romance alive all year round, custom design jewelry is one of many ways. The best idea is show your love on a daily basis, gifts of jewelry or not.

The concept of designing a piece of jewelry may seem like something that can only be done by people who have an excess of both time and money. However changes in technology as well as a renaissance of people dedicated to hand crafted arts has helped custom jewelry design become something that everyone can afford.

Amidon Jewelers Custom Settings

The use and wearing of jewelry may be as old as civilization itself, but it is something that is very modern which has helped revolutionize the industry. Much like they have done for almost every other element of our lives, computers are making custom jewelry design stupendously easier. Using design programs that allow the jewelers to create three dimensional models on the computer means that time and materials do not have to be wasted creating a mock up. In just a few minutes’ time, the jeweler and the client can see exactly what the piece of jewelry will look like. They can determine if it will work structurally and it gives them the opportunity to immediately make any changes on the spot so they can see exactly what they are getting.

Once the technology is done, it is then time for the artisan to take over. Like any other business, the jewelry industry sees itself go through cycles. For many years throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s people associated jewelry stores with the sterile palaces of national chains located inside of malls. At the time it made sense: malls were replacing traditional downtown shopping areas as the place to go for everything, including fine jewelry, and a population that was more on the move than ever before wanted to know they could find the same objects no matter where they were in the country.

Today the pendulum has shifted back and people, instead of looking for conformity are now more interested in self-expression. Combining this with a “return to roots” as people extol the virtues of shopping locally and supporting the businesses of the community have created a demand for professionally trained craftspeople who can help people create custom design jewelry.

The next time there is a need for a piece of fine jewelry, anything from diamond engagement rings to birthday presents, take the time to talk with the jeweler about their custom design possibilities. There is no piece of jewelry more beautiful than the one that is unlike anything else in the world.

My fiancé has always had a bit of an artistic side to him. Even though he knew it was something he wouldn’t pursue as a career, he took a lot of art classes in school and loves to visit museums. I knew he was talented, but I discovered just how gifted he was when it came to my diamond engagement ring.

Gabriel Engagement

He started asking me questions about what kind of ring would I really love. At first I was kind of shy and said that any diamond ring he bought would be fine, but he kept nudging me, telling me to really think about it. I mentioned that I always thought platinum was a great color, and instead of a big stone on its own, I would rather have something with a a few smaller stones. I finally summed it up by saying I wanted a diamond engagement ring that didn’t really look like a typical ring.

Six weeks later we were on a weekend getaway when he surprised me twice in about thirty seconds. The first was when he dropped down to one knee and proposed. The second was when I saw the ring he had bought for me. It was almost exactly like what I had described. I asked him where he found it, but he didn’t say much until we got home that Sunday night. That was when he showed me the sketches he had been working on.

It turns out he had been looking at rings for several months, and during one of his visits to the jewelry store, he learned that they offered custom designed jewelry. He talked to the artisan and got more information about how the process worked. When he realized it could be done inside his budget, that was when he started asking me the questions.

He didn’t just custom design the diamond engagement ring either. He also made sure that the two wedding bands matched so they looked like a set. In fact, my wedding band is designed so that the line of diamonds on my engagement ring will slide right over it and locks in with the rest of the ring. I would have been happy with any ring, but I love this one almost as much as I love him.

I love my girlfriend very much – that’s why I’m going to propose to her – but shopping for gifts for her can be maddening. She has exceptionally simple tastes and claims that everything, even if it something simple like a scarf, is too much. Granted, once the protesting is over, she wears it and enjoys it, and I’m smart enough not to push it by getting her something garish or ostentatious, but I was starting to get worried about when it came to looking for diamond engagement rings.

Princess Cut Diamond Solitaire

A lot of what I was seeing seemed to fall into the “bigger is better” category. They were certainly beautiful rings, and I was surprised by the complexity of designs and different precious metals that were being used, but I knew that none of these would be the right ring for her. It’s one thing to buy a scarf that maybe has too bold a pattern; it’s quite another to propose with a ring that she is never going to be comfortable wearing.

I was talking with my mom about something that was totally unrelated when I caught myself looking at her diamond engagement ring repeatedly. I guess I never really paid attention to it growing up, but now that I could see it, I knew that was the style of the ring that would be perfect. As soon as we were done talking, I raced down to the jewelry store.

I described the ring to the gentleman behind the counter and he took me to a display case full of diamond solitaire engagement rings. Looking at the selection, I could tell that my mother’s had been a square cut diamond on a gold band, but here there were a dozen different cuts of diamond and half as many different precious metals to choose from. Thinking about what other fine jewelry my girlfriend likes to wear, I found the perfect princess cut mounted on sterling silver.

When the proposal came, we were sitting in our favorite park of the local park, overlooking the lake. She said yes, I slipped the ring on her finger, she took a long look at it and then looked at me smiling, and said “Perfect.”

My wife’s birthday is March 25^th. Probably the best thing about it happening when it does, besides the fact that it gives us an extra reason to celebrate the end of winter and the beginning of spring, is that is gives me exactly three months to make up for what I didn’t give her on Christmas. Usually I do well, and what diamond jewelry she doesn’t get in December, I can always make up for on Valentine’s Day, but her birthday gives me one last chance to give her the perfect gift.

diamond Halo Pendant

Make no doubt about it…my wife is always perfectly happy with whatever I give her. If anything, it’s me who spends the next few days pestering her, asking her how happy she was, and if there was something else that would have made her happier. Half the time, I think she just makes something up so I’ll stop being a pain, but she’s smart enough to know that whatever she says will probably show up in a box at the end of March.

This year, she said that as beautiful as the diamond jewelry was that I bought her, she always imagined having a piece of jewelry designed just for her. Turns out she did enough research on her own to know that custom design jewelry was not only easier to do than ever before, but also more affordable than it had ever been. She gave me enough hints so that when I met with the artisan at the local jewelry store, she and I could come up with a stunning unique diamond pendant that was exactly the style of jewelry that my wife wanted.

It isn’t just pendants than they create, either. The artisan was telling me in the last year she has helped people design diamond engagement rings, diamond earrings, even bracelets and necklaces. Technology has made the process of custom design jewelry so efficient that as long as a person has just a few weeks, almost anything they can imagine can be theirs for just about the same price as a traditional piece of diamond jewelry. I’ll find out soon enough if it is the perfect gift, and if it’s not, I’m not worried. Our anniversary is in June.

My wife is very talented artistically, and always has been. She loves to paint and draw, and many of our friends love it when the holidays come around because they know that, more often than not, the gifts we give are going to be something that my wife has created. Knowing this about her, I knew that she probably could design a better diamond engagement ring than any I could find in the store. That was why when I proposed to her, I did everything just like you are supposed to…except one. The box I had her open was almost completely empty. Instead of a ring, it was an appointment at our local jewelry store.

Gabriel and Co Semi Mountings

There we met with one of the talented craftspeople who was going to help us design the ring of my wife’s dreams. I had already spoken with him earlier so he would know the budget that I had to work with. Using the latest in computer assisted design software, he showed us the different looks we could come up with, including the various precious metals that were available and the many different cuts of diamonds.

Just as much as he knew about designing rings, he was equally knowledgeable when it came to loose diamonds. He explained to us the four C’s – cut, color, clarity and carat – and how each diamond was graded in relation to these four categories. With what he taught us, we were able to find the exact look that my wife wanted and still stay within our budget.

I know that every woman supposedly dreams of that moment when they open the box, or the boyfriend pulls it from his pocket, and they see their diamond engagement ring for the first time. I feel a little bad for not allowing my wife to have that moment, but I also knew that because of how creative she was, the moment of seeing the very ring she designed would be that much more powerful and meaningful to her. As beautiful as many of the diamond engagement rings are that I saw at the jewelry store, I knew the one my wife could design would be the most beautiful one of them all.

Loose diamonds come in a variety of colors. Your jeweler will likely have many of these colored certified loose diamonds on display when you enter their store. Depending on the kind of jewelry you are hoping to design, you will have many choices when it comes to the colored stones you will use to decorate this item. These colored diamonds make perfect accents to some holiday jewelry.

Fancy Colored Blue Diamond Earrings

Loose diamonds are formed deep within the earth by Mother Nature herself. These beautiful rocks endure some pretty extreme conditions before being thrust toward the earth’s surface via volcanic eruption. It is hard to believe something so gorgeous can be the result of such treacherous conditions. Extreme heat and pressure no living being could ever withstand are to be credited with the formation of these stones. Carbon atoms form very cohesive bonds when exposed to these conditions. Their intricate lattice bonds make them the hardest naturally formed material on the earth. The atoms for a protective layer around them and are called rough loose diamonds. It isn’t until a professional diamond cutter gets his or her hands on the rough diamond that the stone becomes cut and polished to sparkle in all of its beauty. Then the diamonds are sold to distributors who will, in turn, sell them to you and me.

Now that you know how the loose diamonds are formed in the earth, we will now explore how these stones become colorful. Most people prefer white diamonds. A perfectly white diamond is colorless. Flawless and colorless diamonds are extremely rare and boast an expensive price tag. Most of the white diamonds you see on your friends’ jewelry and in the jewelry store has some tint of brown or yellow even if you cannot see it with your own two eyes. Essentially, colored diamonds are flawed diamonds and are not as valuable as their colorless counterparts. However, when it comes to loose diamonds, it all depends on your personal taste.

The color of a diamond is determined during the formation process when the diamond is deep under our feet. For example, if the carbon atoms are exposed to boron during the formation process, these loose diamonds will take on a blue tint. Depending on the levels of boron, the diamond will be very blue, barely blue and everything in between. Another example is a black diamond. These diamonds are not typically black the entire way through. The reason they are black is because of the many imperfections within the stone.