How much would you pay?

[Slug Toy]

yes, how much would you guys be willing to pay for custom silver rings? simple question, but ill explain a bit of whats going on.

im sick of school, and im planning on taking the summer off, getting a job, and selling jewelry on the side. most of it will be online sales, and my friend is trying to open up negotiations with some tournaments for prize offerings. i figure ill supply some prize rings to try and get my name out there slowly.

anyways, these rings are going to be about 99.9999% hand made because i dont have the resources to make molds for mass production. i dont like mass production anyways so its not even a question of resources really. every one of the rings ill make will be one-off.

so that brings me back to the question: how much would you guys pay for this sort of thing? keep in mind the effort put in, and the fact that materials alone are about $25. i figure a $50-$75 is reasonable, especially because theres no tax, only shipping, which isnt too bad last time i checked.

ill also take questions, and ideas and suggestions. to get the ideas flowing, ill start off by saying what im capable of doing: rings, chain style necklaces and bracelets, pendants, figurines, stone settings, probably heatsinks (i have to confirm that because ive never actually tried), and to a lesser extent i can do armor and weapons. id rather focus on jewelry if possible for the time being, but i wont turn down a request for a piece of chain mail, plate mail, or regular plate armor. weapons... i probably wouldnt do... probably...

ill answer one question now too. the timeframe: i dont have all the necessary tools yet, and i need about $3000 to buy them. i have half that saved up, so i should be good to go after a month of work. i think i can be operational by mid to late june, maybe earlier. ill be working with a bare bones setup at that time, but i WILL be operational.

so there you have it. question, comments, ideas? anything?

[Airbozo]

Set a fair price for your time, add the cost of materials and then mark the whole thing up 50% and start from there.

[CanaBalistic]

I have an OZ of 925 if your intrested. I think its net value is like $15.

[nil8]

For me it depends more on the design than anything. A well designed/custom made ring is worth way more than just a basic band. I can get one of those at any pawn shop in town.

[DaJe]

Well how much is it going to cost you to make one and how much work are you putting into it?

[Slug Toy]

Set a fair price for your time, add the cost of materials and then mark the whole thing up 50% and start from there.

i dont think i would do that. jewelry is marked up way too high in my opinion. im just going to price it at materials plus an amount equivalent to the work ive done. thats why i figure $50-$75 is a good range.


I have an OZ of 925 if your intrested. I think its net value is like $15.

ill keep that in mind. in fact, im putting a sticky note on my monitor to remember.


Well how much is it going to cost you to make one and how much work are you putting into it?

my cost to make a ring is about $25 in materials. the work put in... that depends on what the customer wants. a simple band can take about 15 minutes of work if im in the zone. if theres any engraving or stones to be set, that time could shoot up to half a day. theres also a 4-6 hour burnout time where the wax cast is melted out and the plaster is brought up to temperate to avoid heat shock. i forgot about the initial wax work too. actually carving and shaping the wax probably takes an hour or two.

if i were to charge materials plus say $20 an hour, it would work out to... about $110 for a simple silver band. i dont know if many people would go for that price, even if its a hand made one.

[Zephik]

Pff, if I had _any_ mulah to spare right now I would be your first customer! How cool would it be to have a ring of silver that says something like "Made by Slug Toy for SnowFire of TBCS" or something like that, you get what I'm getting at.

or...

"Ring of 1337"

or maybe even...

"+25 Fishing Skill"

...god I love WoW.

[Ticien]

Hey slug, if you are seriously going to do this I have a few questions that I would like to ask:

1. How much experience do you have with jewelry making, and if I gave you a design could you craft it according to my specs?
2. Can you/are you willing to/able to make jewelry out of a pricier metal than silver?
3. Would you be able to acquire and set gemstones? (diamonds, sapphires, etc)

If its something you are talented with I would love to get talking about a possible customer (myself)...I have been looking into a custom-made engagement ring for my girlfriend, the design isnt all that complex but it requires more than silver...and i think all the places near me that do that sort of work are hella expensive

[Slug Toy]

How much experience do you have with jewelry making, and if I gave you a design could you craft it according to my specs?

i have a fair amount of experience, and yes i can collaborate with customers and come up with some interesting designs. there really is no limit to how nifty they can be. take this for an example. one of my friends wanted a large silver band, nothing too special at first glance, but the catch was that he wanted it 100% hand done, meaning i couldnt use a lathe to get everything round and symmetrical. i pulled it off, and it looked really good. my friend was really happy.


Can you/are you willing to/able to make jewelry out of a pricier metal than silver?

yes. theres a "smelting" company in town that i can get... silver, gold, platinum, palladium, and maybe a few other metals. i also have a contact to get tantalum, which is a dark blueish grey metal that is very heavy. its an expensive one though, and it melts at a ridiculous temperature, so it would be a real experiment. i dont think tantalum has ever been used for jewelry. understandably i would ask for a deposit before hand for all of that stuff... materials for a simple platinum band would be about $600 because platinum is somewhere around $1200 an ounce now.

actually, now that i think of it, titanium is an eventual option too. a lot of titanium rings are machined instead of casted, and im not even sure if it can be casted... it might ignite into a very intense white fireball. if i can cast it, its an immediate option. if i cant and have to machine it, well i need a big lathe, and that would take time.


Would you be able to acquire and set gemstones? (diamonds, sapphires, etc)

i have a contact for stones at a store called mountain gems. seems to me they carry everything except diamonds, but i can scrounge around for a diamond supplier. i can get a hold of quite a few things. sapphire, emerald, ruby, tourmaline, iolite, amethyst, too many to name actually. my favorite one that ive seen is black star sapphire. imagine a star ruby, except its black, and the star is somewhat gold coloured.

i can do bezel, gypsy, claw, and tensions settings, and a few others that arent even classified... i sort of made them up on my own.


If its something you are talented with I would love to get talking about a possible customer (myself)...I have been looking into a custom-made engagement ring for my girlfriend, the design isnt all that complex but it requires more than silver...and i think all the places near me that do that sort of work are hella expensive

i would say im talented, im the only student to ever get 100% in the classes. just keep in mind that i have to get all the materials rounded up first. im doing my best right now, but its going to be at least a month. i can have you slated as the very first customer though. if you have any ideas, you can start drawing them up and email a picture to me, my msn address is showing somewhere around here. or you can tell me the general design and if you want stones, and i can see what i can come up with.

[Spacehonkey]

Do you have a portfolio of any kind? I don't mean to be a poor sport but a picture is worth a million words.

[Slug Toy]

no pictures on hand at the moment, and ive sold all but one. the one i have left is my VERY first bezel set. ill see if i can get a camera charged up for a picture... three cameras in the house somewhere and none are charged. give me a while to work on that. hopefully i can get a good macro shot... or i may have to invest in a good camera along with the rest of the supplies.

[Drum Thumper]

"+25 Fishing Skill"



You could probably make a mint on ebay with that one! I know I'd take one, it'd go great with my [Green Linen Shirt].

[Slug Toy]

ok ive got good news. not only did i find a working camera, but the pictures are good, and i found another test ring lying around. ive got two samples for you, and ill keep looking for others... i may have stashed some and forgotten about them.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/FirstBezelSet.jpg
this one is my first bezel setting. its simple... silver with a hematite cabochon. it nearly killed me though. i went with REALLY thin bezel walls so i could get the small profile, and because of that i accidentally melted the setting down twice. i got it on the third try though, and it paid off. that is a very low profile setting. most people bring the silver up about half way on the stone... mine is only up about 1mm at most.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f26/z1gg3rm4n/HybridSetting.jpg
this is a hybrid setting that i made up to compliment the clear zirconium. its a cross between a gypsy and claw setting. i also drilled a hole through the ring underneath the stone to let more light in. that was the first of its kind, and my first shot at engraving too. its been beaten up a bit and i havent polished it in a couple years i bet.

i DO have another ring, but its my VERY VERY first ring ever. its copper with some silver soldered on. its not very nice though because i used it for more testing... electro-removal of material, deep engraving, and fine sanding. its a mess really. if you want i can take a picture of it... but you probably dont want to see it.

[nil8]

That's really well done work for a DIY at home ring maker.

Would you be willing to do some specific carving or symbols?

[Slug Toy]

That's really well done work for a DIY at home ring maker.

Would you be willing to do some specific carving or symbols?

why thank you. i can only get better too. i feel ive already progressed quite a bit since those rings were made.

i can do any sorts of carvings given enough time, time being the operative word. before i put a hold on jewelry to go to school, i was working on a band that was going to be engraved with a continuous image of an african savanna. i had trees, grassland, and detailed clouds all set up in form. never did get to finish it though, and i dont know where it is. anyways... point being that i can do whatever you want. its just takes a while... the african savanna took three days and that was only half the work needed.

[GT40_GearHead]

i voted more "more than 100"

oh and if you need titanium give me a shout i will probably be able to help you ;)

hope it all goes well :banana:


PS: you also may get a request for two wedding rings from me also :D in the not so far future

probably titanium, i love titanium ! :D

[Slug Toy]

PS: you also may get a request for two wedding rings from me also in the not so far future

probably titanium, i love titanium !

oh my, well hopefully not too soon either. remember i have to find out if i can cast titanium, and if not, i need to get a lathe to machine it. thats going to take a while.

[xRyokenx]

I would love to have a silver or titanium ring, I'll have to think of a good pattern for it, simple, but not too simple, and with a purple gem with like an asterisk cut into it bottom or somewhere, but with more lines in the asterisk... it's called like a starburst or something, I'll have to find a pic on a class ring website. If you get your business rollin', I'll send a real detailed description to ya, and see if I can't get it for earning my Eagle rank in Scouts or for graduating high school or something.

[Slug Toy]

I would love to have a silver or titanium ring, I'll have to think of a good pattern for it, simple, but not too simple, and with a purple gem with like an asterisk cut into it bottom or somewhere, but with more lines in the asterisk... it's called like a starburst or something, I'll have to find a pic on a class ring website. If you get your business rollin', I'll send a real detailed description to ya, and see if I can't get it for earning my Eagle rank in Scouts or for graduating high school or something.

im pretty sure i know what you mean already. i have a good idea for a purple stone too. i mentioned iolite earlier and its very nice in my opinion. its kind of like a dark purple-grey but not dirty looking. its also pleochroic, meaning that depending on the angle you look at it, it can appear purple or black sometimes. tourmalines do that too. i was actually planning on making a ring for myself with a green tourmaline surrounded by iolites, and it would have been 20K gold with a crosshatch engraving all over.

[xRyokenx]

Sounds cool... my parents may be getting me a ring, hopefully from you, for earning my Eagle, it'll be like what I said earlier, but with a fleur-de-lis on either side of the stone, and the aforementioned pattern. Now I have the dilemma of choosing tourmaline or iolite... I like green, and purple... is there a way to cut each stone in half and set them next to each other so it's like a half circle of each or something like that? Or would that jack the cost up a lot?

[Slug Toy]

is there a way to cut each stone in half and set them next to each other so it's like a half circle of each or something like that? Or would that jack the cost up a lot?

haha, thats just a bad idea. period. these stone are maybe 5mm in diameter. its hard enough to cut them in the first place, let alone cut them in half accurately and meld them.

ill tell you what i CAN do though. i still have the tourmaline and iolites i was going to use. its one 5mm green tourmaline and two 3mm iolites. i think the price tag came out to about $57 for them. i could use those if you want. or i could go find some other ones if you want bigger or smaller. im already thinking of a design to incorporate the fleur-de-lis and starburst. ill PM you once i get a drawing done.

[GT40_GearHead]

oh my, well hopefully not too soon either. remember i have to find out if i can cast titanium, and if not, i need to get a lathe to machine it. thats going to take a while.



well basically you can't cast titanium, not with out screwing up the composition, titanium will not oxidize at room temperature, but when you get it very hot (red hot or melted) it starts to absorb oxygen , and nitrogen, which is bad because it makes it become VERY hard and bridal

the only way to get around this is to cast it in vacuum, but that is way to complicated i would say


best bet is to use a lathe, you don't need nothing special, if it can cut trough steel it can also do titanium

[Slug Toy]

best bet is to use a lathe, you don't need nothing special, if it can cut trough steel it can also do titanium

yep, just as i thought. so that means its going to take some time... and more money before i can machine titanium.

[GT40_GearHead]

well i could help you somehow
if you ever make a titanium ring,

i could make you some raw ring, to the size yo want send them to you and let you do your magic on them

[Ticien]

Dunno how but i lost this thread for a few days. I will draw up the design and either send it to you or post it here. Story goes (cheezeball warning) when my girlfriend and I had first met she lived in FL and I lived in MI. Well the first time she visited me she gave me her ring. It was a really neat mood ring like ive never seen before, and I wore it on a shiny new silver chain. one day I was at a party with my family and some friends of my step-siblings and I took it off in my room to put on a wetsuit. When I came back later to get it someone had stolen the whole thing. I felt really bad because the ring was a one of a kind. So...now I want to have her engagement ring custom made to look just like the ring I lost, of course you know, made out of a little pricier metal than silver and with something other than a mood gem thing in it...The design is in my head I just have to draw it out. Ill get on that, It is fine if it takes time, im not planning on popping the question tomorrow lol

[GT40_GearHead]

Ticien reminded of something

the mood ring thing, how does it work :|

does it really work ??

[Slug Toy]

of course you know, made out of a little pricier metal than silver and with something other than a mood gem thing in it...

you know what would look good? gold and alexandrite. alexandrite changes colour depending on the light its in. it can go from a blue green to a orangy red. kind of like a mood ring... but natural and awesome. the downside: good quality alexandrite is rumored to sell for $45000 a carat.


the mood ring thing, how does it work :|

its a man made material that changes color with temperature. it doesnt sense mood, it senses bloodflow and therefore the temperature of your finger. mood has nothing to do with it.

[Ticien]

well technically mood has nothing to do with it. the premise is that when you are feeling a certain way the bloodflow in your body is either increased or restricted, changing the temp and the ring...eg. you are angry, and bloodflow increases throughout your body, making you hot. The ring turns red. and your little paper says "red=angry". thats all it is.

LOL slug, alexandrite would be cool, and while I was fully intending to pay more than $100 for a ring im not sure 45 grand is in my budget :P

[Slug Toy]

LOL slug, alexandrite would be cool, and while I was fully intending to pay more than $100 for a ring im not sure 45 grand is in my budget :P

well actually i was looking up some cut alexandrite stones last night for the heck of it. a few sites sell reasonable sized round cut ones for not too much money. for instance a 3.8mm diameter round cut is $205 and that equates to about .28 carats. fairly good quality too... the colours just arent "ideal". what they look for is a change from pure green to pure red... thats like the holy grail for jewelers. the ones on this site tend to go from turquoise to purple, but i think thats just as awesome.

[Zephik]

http://www.gemstone.org/gem-by-gem/english/alex.html

cool

[Slug Toy]

well id hate to do this, but... BUMP.

if its not too much trouble, i WOULD like to get some more votes going on here. im not really sure if 18 is an indicative sampling.

i know theres more than 18 people out there. even if you arent really interested, put a vote in. id like to get some more results happening.

more questions too if anyone has them.

[nil8]

I would love to see some examples of your ornate work, even if it's just the molds.
I would totally be willing to buy a couple of rings off you within the year under a couple of conditions.
1. I see some examples of the detail you can create.
2. You don't ask questions about the designs.

[Slug Toy]

I would love to see some examples of your ornate work, even if it's just the molds.
I would totally be willing to buy a couple of rings off you within the year under a couple of conditions.
1. I see some examples of the detail you can create.
2. You don't ask questions about the designs.

alright, give me a little time to get some things in order. ive got xRyokenx measuring his finger up for something and possibly Ticien although im not 100% sure. i should have one wax done this week if all goes well. i might even start one for myself too, but i have to figure out what i want.

[xRyokenx]

I'm trying to get to the jeweler's to get my finger measured. I've just got a crazy schedule, got a orthodontist appointment tomorrow morning, and have to work that evening, and I'll try to get there as soon as I can, don't want you to have to wait on me too much. :D

[Zephik]

You got Mail!

...or PM. whatever. lol check your pm slug.

[Slug Toy]

dont worry about keeping ME waiting... im the one that shouldnt keep YOU waiting. after all... even if i get the wax done tomorrow, i have to go out and buy equipment and i need money first. oh good news about that though, i checked my parts list again and lowered my startup by about $750. i dont know if that means anything or not yet... because i still have to find a job.

[xRyokenx]

Heh, don't worry about the time, I'm patient. Good luck on finding a job, and hopefully you find a good place to work at.

[Ticien]

I would love to see some examples of your ornate work, even if it's just the molds.


As would I...If you can convince me of the quality of your work I will most definitely get with you on that ring...as for now I am still thinking of the best way to convey the design

[AJ@PR]

I vote $100...

Just my take on it. :)