I don’t do sketches of all the designs that I create for my collection. Sometimes I skip the sketch and go directly to the wax model. Other times, I do a very rough sketch to convey a concept. When I was working on my Cleves swan ring, I scribbled something that looked like two deformed ducks kissing in order to show the desired position of the swans’ necks. All of the beautification work was done in wax.
The early stages of the wax model for the Cleves ring.
The completed Cleves ring in 18K gold and diamonds. Click to purchase.
I don’t do sketches for all custom work, either. When gorgeous blogger Jill of Stella’s Roar asked me to create a pair of mud flap girl cufflinks with ruby nipples, I didn’t give her a picture. I just made the cufflinks. We both knew what the mud flap girl looked like, so why re-draw her?
The typical mud flap girl silhouette.
My Mud Flap Jill cufflinks. Click to purchase.
There are other cases where I won’t provide a drawing. If a gorgeous client asks me for a diamond solitaire in a four-prong setting on a 2 millimeter shank, I’m not going to spend billable time drawing it. You can draw that yourself … or look at one of the eleventy billion pictures of similar rings that exist online. If those don’t help you get a handle on what you’re asking for, I doubt a drawing is going to enlighten you either.
Of course, certain jobs call for some kind of illustration. When gorgeous blogger Susan of Une Femme d’un Certain Age asked for a customized version of my Siobhan perma-stacked stacking ring, I gave her a drawing. Even though she knew the ring’s style, we were going to have to make changes to accommodate the stones she wanted to use, so I wanted her to understand how it would look.
The original Siobhan. Click to purchase.
Sketches of Susan's ring, showing side and front views and detail of stone setting.
Susan's finished ring. Click for more information.
The sketch for Susan didn’t amount to a black-and-white technical drawing or a color rendering. I save those for original and complex pieces. Such images require serious effort because they’re not just about how the jewelry will look — they’re about how the jewelry will be made. I’ve seen many jewelers and artists create stunning 3D, full-color renderings of jewelry that can’t be made as drawn/painted/created on a computer. Just because you can imagine something doesn’t mean the metal and gems will oblige! The laws of physics come into play, as do economics. Not long ago, I asked a jewelry artist with expertise in a certain type of design for a rendering of a pair of earrings, and he came back with a pencil drawing that I wanted to frame and hang on my wall. That would have been the best use of that drawing, because it was so elaborate that it would be ridiculous to try to recreate it in metal. If I did half as much detail in metal, people would look at the earings in awe and say, “This is the most detailed thing I’ve ever seen!” Now I have to waste time sitting with the maker of the wax model, pointing at different features on the drawing and saying, “Leave that out. Simplify that. Pretend you never saw that. No, I don’t know what he was thinking either.” Oh, and the model maker is charging me an hourly rate, so all of this comes out of my pocket.
Customers who request an original, elaborate and expensive piece from me are welcome to request a rendering before we move ahead. (Sometimes I insist on providing one for their approval.) But there are rules:
- I take enough time to ensure that the design is one that can be done in metal, not just on paper. Rough sketches don’t work in these situations.
- The design doesn’t leave my hand unless you’ve made a down payment on the finished jewelry or a separate payment for the design. (The latter would be applied to the cost of the finished jewelry, should we move ahead.) That means that if you haven’t paid anything, we’ll get together and I will show you the drawing in person, but you won’t get a scan, a Xerox, or an email. You won’t get to take an iPhone photo to show your significant other. You won’t even get to walk out of my field of vision with the design in your hand.
Does that sound tough? Well, I had to toughen up after spending lots of time and money on superior renderings only to find out that the would-be clients weren’t that serious about doing the custom piece in the first place. They just thought it would be fun to see what the possibilities were. It’s like window-shopping that costs the shopkeeper money. Even worse is the customer who takes my design to another jeweler. Withholding a drawing doesn’t always prevent that. I’m still mystified by the former client who bought a pair of earrings from me, then merrily told me, “I love my earrings so much that I took them to ‘my’ jeweler and had him make me a necklace to match!” So she gave him my design, deprived me of a sale, and added insult to injury by telling me the whole story! I bet he charged her more than I would have because he had to create the design from scratch while I already had a mold ready to go. Her loss.
Anyway, those are your three options if you’re doing custom work with me:
- Least expensive: No sketch.
- More expensive: Rough sketch.
- Most expensive: Technical drawing/full-color rendering.
Think you’re ready to discuss a custom piece?
- First read this, which gives you more background on the creation of a custom piece.
- Browse my custom gallery so you get an idea of the amazing quality of my work.
- Then click this link and bring it, while Will Smith provides a delightful musical background.
Wow, thank you for sharing! I love learning about some of the behind details that go into making your amazing jewelry!
The nerve of that client!
I love the sketches of Susan’s ring.
Wendy, I can tell from your wax that you know how to make a mean sprue!
If I drew a detailed design and sent via email with exact dimensions, you might be able to conservatively ballpark it given specifics on materials?
When I had some made for a supplier friend of mine, just a simple sterling base and surround was good enough. But for my personal ones, I want something nicer, and I’ve been dragging my feet for over a year now because I’m buried in other projects.
Yes, of course, send away! wbjewelry at hotmail dot com.
The story with this client sounds like such an insult on her part, wow.
I can’t believe a client took your design to another jeweler and thought that was no big deal. It’s bad enough other designers copy from their peers, but to have a client do it once they work with you? Unbelievable.
Thank you so much for sharing this process AND the link to your custom design page. I am seriously in love with both Susan’s and heather’s engagement rings. I want one. First I need to find a fiance. Hmmm. Can you design one of those for me – preferably tall dark and handsome?
I would definitely make the big bucks if I started designing fiances! Good idea!
This is so interesting. You’ve said previously that you’re not a designer – you’re an editor, and the process of the division of labor between you and your artists and modelmakers is fascinating. (I asked a question previously about how your models got made. I may have a fixation with model- and mold-making.)
Also: the errant client. Points for not maiming her. Did smoke actually come out your ears?
Well, I’m definitely a designer! — because these designs wouldn’t exist if I didn’t dream up the concepts — but I find my management/editing skills as valuable or more valuable than mechanical skills. That reminds me, I once hired a guy to do some computer renderings for me and he tried to claim that he designed the piece. Um, no, he was a hired hand who did some sketches. He didn’t even do them well. I had to throw out his work and start over. But once in a while I think of him, because if he was the designer of the (complicated mechanical) piece, I’m amazed that I haven’t seen similar work from him. All the work that looks like that one design seems to come from … me!
As for the client, I wished her good luck with her life.
hi there-a really insightful post and heres hoping future clients will understand fully now the thought processes and hard work which go into your designs x
Oh, that was a stupid error on my part. I’m sorry. I meant to say that I believe you mentioned, in your response to my question on a different post, that you weren’t a sculptor by training. You’re obviously a designer. That’s not even a question.
And the computer renderer may have some delusions of grandeur. Perhaps in a different century, he would have been an inept royal adviser, and seized power only to be killed by irate nobles.
It was like someone who sews the polo ponies on Ralph Lauren shirts calling himself Ralph Lauren. I was REALLY mad! Never used him again, obviously. He wasn’t even competent and then he’s telling me the whole design was HIS idea? What?! Sigh. Peeps are crazy.
Plus, where can they get this wonderful attitude. LOL…
sweetness personified!! seriously, what you are trying to say is you are a professional and want to be trusted as such. work with me and you will be satisfied. Custom orders cost a lot… and the drawings are 2 dimensional and jewelry is 3 – dumbass. vision is something that not everyone possesses..
Like a great piece of WB Jewelry, or six of them. Some of us know, start collecting them ladies.. Men come and go, but a nice piece of Wendy Brandes, lasts forever.. and increases in value..
xoxoox
I want to put this on my business card: “Men come and go, but a nice piece of Wendy Brandes, lasts forever.”
I don’t know, it all seems a bit sketchy to me.
Haha.
How could anybody complain about getting a wax model to look at and not a sketch. It’s beyond me.
Actually, I don’t always show the wax model to people. Often the wax doesn’t have all the details on it…those get added on a silver model that comes after the wax. People can freak out over a wax model because it’s not complete, but they can’t understand how it’s not complete. Susan was excellent to work with…very easy. I showed her a sketch and a wax model, just so she understood where we were at in the process. I knew she wasn’t going to panic.
Hey! You didn’t show my rings, which we did blind!
Yes, yours were a little different than I what I was getting at here because you were willing to be surprised by the design. That’s not the typical job!
Wow, really insightful post. It’s good to know the process behind your beautiful designs. The client sounds like a right nightmare….
I absolutely love the ring that you designed and made for Susan. It is so chic and the perfect ring for her.
Also, I love the fact that you add history and humor to your work.
Are you coming to the jewelry show in Las Vegas?
I wish….next time!
Susan’s piece is incredible! Not so incredible is the fact that someone would have you do all the work and take the design to someone else, but I am learning the hard way that sharing ideas freely attracts people who like to take them freely with little regard to its affect on MY work. I will have to toughen up to.
And when I win the lottery, I will celebrate first thing with a one-of-a-kind incredible made by Wendy B.
Keep buying those tickets, girl!
This is a good way of putting it, btw, “sharing ideas freely attracts people who like to take them freely ” — so, so true.
the cufflinks are so cute!
belle de ville I may be at the jewelry show in vegas this year is there a particular wendy brandes piece that you want ?? maybe I can wear it for you out there, if you are interested in purchasing it let me know.
I may be going out there earlier in june also, that one may be a long shot. But the jewelry show is likely.
This was such a facinating post Wendy, I love finding out all the details like this that go into making things. Man though doesnt it piss you off the absolute idiots this world has produced. I have had people ask me all kinds of odd questions about things Ive been selling, really gone out of my way to help them and then 20 questions later they say oh I cant actually aford that I was just wondering arrrgggghhhhhhh !!!
This is yet again fascinating- especially in regards to what I had been asking you about earlier in the value of gold. This really isnt the package you get when you buy something from the mall…
but then again, is a chain retailer like Tiffany’s worth their weight in gold?
oh Wendy, how talented and great you are! I would love to have this ring, it’s perfect!!! so tender and beautiful :))))
love those rings!
brett
If the boyf ever gets around to proposing, I want you to make my ring.
I would love to!