Custom Jewelry
You approve the design before we cast it
Every commission stops at a rendered CAD file that you look at, change, and approve in writing. Nothing is printed, no metal is bought, and no gold is poured until you have said yes to the design in front of you.
That is the point of everything below. You should never be surprised by the object that arrives.
What a commission is
One piece, made to one person's specification, cast and finished by hand in our Brooklyn Park, Minnesota studio. Not a configurator and not a colour choice on an existing listing — a piece designed for you and built from raw gold grain.
One bench, one CAD seat, one printer, one kiln. That is a real constraint and it shapes everything on this page: what we take on, how long the queue is, and why we will not give you a date the bench has not confirmed.
The five approvals, start to finish
Five points where you approve something in writing. Each one names what becomes fixed and what is still open, so you always know where you stand.
| Approval | What you approve | What becomes fixed | What you can still change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Specification | The written brief — piece, metal, stones, size, engraving, what it is for | What we are making. Every later request is measured against this. | Anything, at the cost of restarting the brief |
| 2. Quote | The total, what is included and excluded, the terms, and the completion date if we have confirmed one | The commercial terms | Full refund until the CAD file is opened |
| 3. CAD | The render — form, proportion, setting layout, dimensions | The design. This is the piece. | Changes from here are a new CAD cycle, priced as a change order |
| 4. Production release | Go to print, burnout, cast | The physical piece | Nothing. Metal is committed. |
| 5. Delivery and fit | Received, correct, fits | Completion | — |
Approvals 3 and 4 are deliberately separate. Your yes to the render is not the same as the studio's yes to casting — between them sit our own feasibility check against our manufacturing tolerances and JR's written authorization to send the piece to casting.
Nothing proceeds on silence, on "looks good" to an earlier version, or on our inference of what you meant. We ask in words, and we record your answer.
What you approve, and when it stops being changeable
Two moments matter more than the rest, and both are stated here rather than discovered later.
CAD approval fixes the design. When you approve the render, that is the piece. Changes after that point are a new CAD cycle and are priced as a change order — the difference in material cost, plus 5% of the total if the model has to be re-cut, plus anything already spent.
The pour is the point of no return. Once gold goes into the flask, the piece exists in a form built for one person. It is recoverable only as scrap, at a refining loss. We do not accept change orders after production release, because there is no physical way to turn a cast piece into a different one. Offering it would be selling you something that does not exist.
What it costs, and how the number is built
You get one total. Call it T. It is built from three things, and every one of them is measured rather than judged.
- The gold. The gram weight of gold in your piece, measured off the finished CAD model, converted to pennyweight and priced at the day's cost of casting grain at your karat.
- The stones. The carat weight and specification of the stones, measured off the same model.
- The work. CAD modelling, resin printing, burnout, casting, stone setting, and hand finishing at the bench — the hours it takes one jeweller to turn that model into that object.
Your quoted total is those three together: the day's casting-grain cost at your karat, the stones, and the work.
Weights are measured off the model, never estimated by eye. Metal and stone prices are pulled the day your piece is quoted, so a quote reflects the market on the day you got it rather than a number set months ago. Every quote is approved in writing by JR before it reaches you.
Deposit — 50% of T, due when you accept the quote, before any CAD file is opened. It is made of two named parts: 20% of T is the design and CAD allocation, and 30% of T is the material commitment. Naming them is what makes the cancellation table below arithmetic instead of an argument.
Balance — the remaining 50% of T, due on the completion notice, after the finished piece has passed inspection. The notice comes with photographs of your piece and is payable within 10 calendar days, before the piece ships or is handed over. You pay the second half against something that exists and has been inspected, not against a promise.
No work begins before the deposit clears — not the CAD, not a queue slot, not a material order.
Revisions
Two CAD revision rounds are included after the first render. Additional rounds are 5% of T each, paid before the round begins.
A round opens when your consolidated list of changes arrives and closes when the revised render is sent. Changes that arrive after a round has opened go into the next round rather than extending the open one — so send your changes together rather than one at a time.
A revision is a change inside the specification you approved: proportion, thickness, setting layout within the same setting style, engraving text or placement, shank profile, bail placement, finish direction. A change outside it — a different piece type, a different setting style, a different metal or karat, a different stone count, size, shape or type — is a new design, and that is a change order with a new quote.
The test is mechanical: if it changes the material cost, it is not a revision.
If you change your mind
Cancel in writing at any time. It takes effect when we receive it, and what you get back is tied to what has actually been spent by that point.
| Cancelled at | You receive | We retain |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit paid, CAD file not yet opened | 50% of T — the full deposit | Nothing |
| CAD in progress, before you approve it | 30% of T | 20% of T — the design allocation |
| After CAD approval, before printing | 30% of T, less any non-returnable stone at documented cost | 20% of T, plus documented stone cost |
| After resin print and burnout, before the pour | 20% of T | 30% of T |
| After casting — the gold is poured | Nothing | The deposit and the piece |
| After stone setting or finishing has begun | Nothing | The deposit and the piece |
| After delivery | Final sale, with the 7-day defect window and conformance remedy below | |
Each step is tied to a spend we cannot recover, not to a penalty schedule. This table is the whole of it — the 25% restocking fee that applies elsewhere on the site does not apply to a commission and is never added on top of these stages. Refunds are issued within 10 business days of your written cancellation, to the original payment method.
After the pour we do not pursue the balance. You may complete payment and take the piece, or walk away — in which case we keep the deposit and the piece.
If we cancel, you get everything back, including the design allocation. If we find at any stage that the piece cannot be made to our tolerances, or our capacity moves such that a date we confirmed can no longer be met, we cancel and refund everything you have paid, at whatever stage we have reached. Our failure is not your cost.
After delivery
A delivered commission is final sale. There are no change-of-mind returns on a piece made for one person. What you do have is a defect window, and it is the same one that applies to everything else we sell.
You have 7 days from delivery to contact us if the piece is faulty, has a manufacturing fault, arrived damaged, or does not match the specification you approved. The piece must be unworn and in its original condition. There is no restocking fee on a fault, and return shipping is paid by you, including on a confirmed fault — send it insured and tracked, and we will tell you where and how before you ship anything. We will repair, replace, or refund — we choose which, based on the piece and the fault, and we tell you which and why before we do it.
A piece that does not match the specification you approved, or that fails our finished-piece inspection, is corrected or remade at our cost. You never carry the cost of our error. That is a conformance remedy, not a warranty.
Seven days is short, so inspect the piece the day it arrives. Full terms are on our Returns & Exchanges page.
Bringing your own stone
We accept customer stones, on conditions stated in writing before we take the stone rather than after.
- We assess the stone in hand for the setting you want — not from a photograph, not from a description.
- We record it at receipt: type, measured dimensions, carat weight, any documentation you hold, and photographs.
- You declare any treatment you know about — fracture-filled, heat-treated, dyed, oiled, clarity-enhanced. An undeclared treatment is the most common reason a stone fails at the bench.
- You accept the risk terms below in writing before we set it.
The risk, plainly. Setting applies force. A stone with inclusions, feathers, chips, existing abrasion, or a treatment can fracture, chip, or lose colour during setting or removal, and some do so with no warning visible beforehand. That risk is real on any stone and higher on one we did not source or grade.
What we take on is labour, not asset value. If a stone you supplied fails during our setting, we will set a replacement you supply once, at no labour charge. We do not insure, appraise, grade, or state a value for your stone, and we do not replace it. Your stone is returned to you at any cancellation stage, removed at no labour charge if it has already been set.
We decline any stone we judge unsuitable for the setting you want, and any stone whose ownership cannot be established. A declined stone is not a declined commission — we will offer the piece with a stone we source.
Timing
A commission is not a stock order. Ready-to-ship and made-to-order pieces on this site are quoted at 2 to 3 weeks. A commission is not, because it is drawn and built from nothing for one person — so we do not publish a turnaround time for commission work, and we will not give you a date the bench has not confirmed. Not a range, not a season, not "before the holidays."
Here is how a date is actually produced. Your specification is checked for feasibility, then the studio returns a capacity read against the real queue — the earliest start, and the stage sequence behind it: CAD, print, burnout, cast, finish. The completion date you are given is the one the studio confirmed. It is quoted before you pay a deposit, so you commit to the date at the same moment you commit the money.
If the studio cannot confirm a date, you are not given one. You are told your position in the queue and the stage your piece is in. That is a real answer; a guessed one is not.
The studio closes for a period each August. No commission is scheduled to complete, or to occupy a bench stage, inside it. If your piece would land there, you are told before you pay a deposit, not after.
Working to a specific occasion? Tell us the date first. If we cannot meet it we will say so in writing rather than take your deposit. There is no rush service and no queue-jumping — one bench cannot reorder itself without breaking someone else's confirmed date.
Start a commission
Email GemtasticJewelry@gmail.com or call (414) 324-0498, Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Central.
Starting a conversation does not commit you to anything, and nothing on this page asks you for payment.
Tell us as much of this as you know. We will work out the rest with you.
- The piece — ring, pendant, band, bracelet, charm, grill — and what it is for
- What it should say when someone looks at it
- Metal and karat, if you have a preference
- Stones — type, count, layout, and whether you have a stone or we source it
- Setting style, if you have one in mind
- Size and fit — ring size, chain length, or who it is for if it is a gift
- Engraving, exactly as it must read, character for character
- Reference images — direction for us to interpret, not a piece to copy
- The date you need it, and what the date is for
- Your budget range, before we quote, so the quote is a conversation rather than a rejection