Customizing Designs

Ordering a customized piece can be as simple as making a few changes to an existing design. For many of our pieces you can make change the following elements:

1. Gemstone selection:

If you're looking for the ultimate durability, a diamond is your best choice. It is a 10 on Moh's hardness scale. Next in hardness, at a 9, is corundum aka sapphire and ruby. 

Select the cut of gemstone: round is most common; old miner; oval; cushion; emerald; square emerald, radiant, square radiant; Asscher, princess; step cut; baguette, and an endless number of custom cuts. 

The G.I. A. also known as the Gemological Institute of America is a great place to gain knowledge about diamonds and colored gemstones. Here is the link https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/

2. Metals options:

We will suggest which alloy will be best for certain projects. Metal prices are constantly changing. If you obtain a quote from us, we will make it available for a limited amount of time before the price will need to be confirmed again. The metal options available from Catherine Iskiw Designs are as follows:

a) platinum 

b) palladium

c) 18k or 14k gold in yellow, rose, or white

d) sterling silver

3. Finish options:

a) high polish

b) circular satin

c) wire brush matte

d) sandblasted matte

e) random scratch

Highly polished is the most traditional finish. We like to work with satin or matte finishes usually highly polished just on the top of bezels. Satin or matte finishes lend a more modern or even industrial finish to our designs. 

4. Plating:

Sometimes we will plate 18k or 14k white gold to give it a whiter look or you can just choose to appreciate the slightly gray color. We often plate silver with black rhodium or white rhodium. If the finish on the jewelry is matte, platings adhere much better although most will wear off in time and can be redone if desired. 

These are some ways to take one of our existing designs and have us customize it to your taste or to start an entirely custom project. We are happy to discuss possible projects and to answer your questions. 

Here are just some of our custom projects:

 https://catherineiskiw.com/collections/custom