my mom needs an awesome christmas/birthday gift.

October 13, 2011 3:44 PM

awesome custom jewelry designers in the bay area (ca)?

i searched ask, but most of the questions were related to engagement jewelry, so here goes.

my mother, for the longest time, has wanted a mother's ring. you know, the cheesy rings with all the birthstones of the kids and grandkids and whatnot. but most of what i am finding online is just that - cheesy, or it doesn't fit six people (my brother, his wife, their two kids, me and my sig other). also, since my mother is in training to be an RN, i think a ring might be a really bad idea in terms of germ pickup and catching on things, so i'd like to get her a pendant so she can actually wear it. something i would design with the help of a jeweler.

my mom is awesome, and works really hard, and loves us all completely unconditionally (which has to be difficult as all hell, if you knew us). i want to make this a reality for her this christmas (and her birthday, which is five days later). she's having a really hard time with school and i want something that will make her happy.

i have never done this before, and would like some help with finding a good jeweler in the bay area (i can go as far as sausalito north and monterey south). the following apply: she likes gold, and i want real gemstones, and nothing gaudy or crazy expensive. so tell me, mefites, of your experiences with custom jewelry in the bay area. pictures of your finished product and comments on how the jewelry held up for you would be lovely too.

tl;dr: help me find a great jeweler in the bay area so i can make a six person mother's pendant for my mom. thanks!

posted by koroshiya to clothing, beauty, & fashion (8 answers total)

It's just a hair north of your boundaries, but I love the two guys who run Mar-Chet in San Anselmo (Marin). They did our wedding rings, got the rough and tumble look of my simple scraped gold band right, and got my wife's delicately inlaid and floral cut gold with gemstones in it well too.
posted by straw at 4:02 PM on October 13, 2011

Do you need to see the jeweler in person? We had a really good experience getting our wedding rings made by Tamara McFarland up north.
posted by juliapangolin at 4:20 PM on October 13, 2011

I live in VA, so I've got no experience with CA jewelers. However, I did find this online, which can fit up to 7 stones. If you don't have any luck with in person jewelry design, it might work. (I think I'd get a different chain, though)
posted by jenny76 at 4:40 PM on October 13, 2011

Um, koroshiya? You say: "my mother, for the longest time, has wanted a mother's ring". My italics of course.

I totally get your very practical reasoning re substituting a pendant. But you know, this sounds like it will be a bit of an investment and so the only chance your mother may ever have of getting a long-held wish (sort of) granted. If your mind's made up, it's made up - but the heart wants what the heart wants. It may well be that your mother simply wants to have this ring. Maybe just take it out and look at it from time to time. She may only want to wear it at home. Or save it for 'best'.

(I've been on both sides of versions of dream-gifts being given - with best of intentions. I don't recommend it.)
posted by likeso at 5:40 PM on October 13, 2011

She could wear a ring around her neck as a pendant. Maybe you can commission a piece that is somehow designed to be both.
posted by danny the boy at 5:43 PM on October 13, 2011

This store in the gourmet ghetto in Berkeley showcases a lot of different artists' work, and I know many of them will do custom work. (M.Lowe Jewelry, in case the link doesn't work.)
posted by small_ruminant at 8:48 PM on October 13, 2011

Pavé in Rockridge made our wedding and engagement bands. They were pretty great.

I really love the store Shady Lane in Palo Alto--there might just be something in there with 6 stones/pearls/something that would work for you. It's not a jeweler's, though, just a quirky little jewelry shop.
posted by wintersweet at 9:55 PM on October 14, 2011

i marked everything a best answer because they were all excellent points of view, and i will be looking at all the places mentioned. thanks, everyone!
posted by koroshiya at 11:42 AM on October 17, 2011