How We Create Your Custom Engagement ring
Davidson Jewels · Calgary
How I Make Your
Custom Ring
We go through five steps together, from the first conversation to the ring you pick up.
"You work with me at each one, and nothing is cast until you have worn the resin prototype."
The Davidson Process
Five Steps from First Conversation to Pickup
The Studio Consultation
We meet by appointment on 17th Avenue. Bring ideas, photographs, a budget, or nothing at all. Plenty of people arrive with only a feeling. I ask the questions that matter and sketch while we talk. First visits are complimentary, and they run about 1 hour.
The Stone
At this meeting I show you every diamond cut — round, emerald, oval, and the rest — from one carat to five, so you can judge what size belongs on your hand. Then we search my broker's inventory. He is overseas, and he holds thousands of diamonds, each with photographs, a rotating video, full dimensions, and its certificate. We sort by size and quality until a few feel right. You choose from that full record, not from a tray of whatever happens to be in a shop that week.
The CAD Design
I model the ring in CAD, a tool I have used since 1989. You see it from every angle, and we adjust proportions, prong style, band width, and how high it sits on the finger.
The Resin Prototype
I print the approved design in resin so you can wear it. This is the step most studios skip. You hold it, try it on, and live with the shape for a few minutes. Changes at this stage cost nothing.
The Bench
I make the ring in 18k gold or platinum, set the stones, and finish it by hand here in Calgary. When it is ready, you come back to the studio and pick it up.
Most rings take six to ten weeks from the first meeting to that last visit. If you have a proposal date, coming three to four months ahead leaves room to adjust the CAD or the resin without anyone feeling rushed.
Davidson Jewels was one of Calgary's earliest adopters of CAD-assisted jewellery design, which is what makes the resin prototype possible before anything is cast.
People Also Ask
Frequently Asked Questions
Most rings take six to ten weeks from the first studio consultation to pickup. If you have a firm proposal date, come in three to four months ahead so there is room to adjust the CAD or the resin.
About thirty minutes, by appointment at 909 17th Avenue SW. It is complimentary, and it is enough time to talk through what you have in mind, ask the questions that matter, and sketch a direction.
Commissions begin around $2,500 CAD and most fall between that and $15,000, depending on the stone and the metal. We talk about your budget at the first meeting, before any design work begins.
No. Bring ideas, photographs, a budget, or nothing at all. Plenty of people arrive with only a feeling, and the questions I ask are what turn it into a design.
It is a printed model of the approved CAD design that you can wear before anything is cast. You feel the width, the height, and the balance on your own hand, and changes at that stage cost nothing.
We search my broker's overseas inventory of thousands of stones. Each one comes with photographs, a rotating video, full dimensions, and its certificate, so you choose from the complete record rather than from whatever is in a shop that week.
Ready to Begin?
Book a complimentary thirty-minute consultation at my Calgary studio.
Book Your Studio Session