Jewelry Gemstone Insiders Guide

Custom Jewelry - Should You Bother? by Guest Author Ann Elizabeth Dennis

I am always on the lookout for funky jewelry. I especially like beaded jewelry that is unique and unlike anything else I've ever seen.

The only problem is that any time I find a piece I like, it's usually at a retail store where they sell lots of others just like it.

I don't want to be at work and see someone wearing the same bracelet I'm also wearing, which is why I like to search online to find nice pieces of custom jewelry.

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• HINTS AND TIPS

Bead earrings can be custom designed for you by many crafters. Be sure that the crafter uses good quality materials, so that your bead earrings will stay looking nice and to prevent problems with allergies to certain materials.

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A woman I know owns a business where she creates custom jewelry according to whatever specifications you have in mind. I asked her to make a necklace for me using small beads, and I wanted the necklace to be red and brown. I left the design part of the necklace up to her and she came up with a gorgeous piece of custom jewelry that is the only one of its kind.

She makes the beads herself in her home, and no two are ever alike, so even if she repeated the same design for another customer, I know that another necklace would never be exactly like mine.

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When my husband and I bought new wedding bands, we decided to melt down some of our other gold pieces and design our bands from the old jewelry. We designed plain bands with a small logo on the side that we came up with, and the jeweler who made it for us specializes in this kind of custom jewelry.

This is a very different process from going into a jewelry store and selecting a piece of jewelry from their current inventory.

Our rings are unique and we will probably never see another that looks like them.

We also had them inscribed inside, so even if we did, there would never be any confusion.

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• HINTS AND TIPS

You can buy or make funky earrings to express your personality, or more expensive bead earrings are available with beads, gold, and crystals coming together to form pretty designs.

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Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt did something similar when they designed their wedding rings, but unfortunately they are famous so their custom jewelry design was ripped off and now there are many people with rings similar to theirs.

I guess it's not all that unfortunate if you consider the fact that they are divorced now and their rings probably don't mean much to them anymore.

I always thought that getting tattoos together would be the closest you could get to unique custom jewelry, even though tattoos are not jewelry at all.

But now that I've discovered the world of online custom jewelry artists, there are so many more options available.

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Tags: bead earrings, custom jewelry, elizabeth dennis, funky jewelry, old jewelry