By Tom Weishaar
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth instalment in a six-part series on creating custom jewellery. Over the course of the year, we’ll share the processes the author’s store went through to develop custom sales. We’ll also show you the methods used to create six custom pieces.
Many people have nightmares about things like spiders, snakes, or falling. Being a custom bench jeweller, my nightmares tend to be a bit different. Missing due dates, stones breaking, and rings melting are what keep me up at night. Nothing is worse for me than to have a sales associate tell me a customer is in the store to pick up their ring and I haven’t finished setting the stones yet.
We have a wooden box in the store where incoming repair jobs are placed. When I first started here, all the salespeople (employers included) would write ‘ASAP’ in the space marked ‘due date.’ This practice just would not do, and it took me several years to break the more hardcore individuals from doing this. That same box now has a sign that reads: ‘Jobs without due dates won’t get done on time.’
