custom design faq

After your free consultation, every project goes on our custom work waitlist. We review projects based on our current capacity, our expertise, and how well each piece fits our artistic vision. When your project is selected, we collect your deposit and start designing.

It varies with our capacity and the projects in our queue, usually 1–8 weeks. We'll give you an estimate at your consultation and keep you posted.

Our current capacity, how well the project fits our expertise and aesthetic, timeline needs, and how excited we are to bring your vision to life.

No. Consultations are free, and deposits are only collected after your project is approved.

We'll let you know, and when we can, we'll recommend other artisans who may be a better fit.

More than just people who know how to make pretty jewelry, the team at Balefire are skilled craftspeople with decades of experience creating pieces that are not only beautiful but structurally solid and built to last. When we suggest a minimum ring width, a particular setting style, or a certain material, it comes from that experience, not personal preference.

Take engagement, wedding, and commitment rings, or any piece meant for everyday wear. We believe any style can serve that role, but not every material holds up the same way day to day. Diamonds, sapphires, gold, platinum, and some alternative metals like steel are what we recommend for daily wear because they're the most durable. Opals, emeralds, inlay stones, and similar materials are gorgeous as accents, but we don't recommend them for a ring you'll wear every day, and some more delicate designs are best saved for occasional wear too.

If you're drawn to a softer metal or a more delicate design, that's completely fine. We love those pieces too. We'll just work with you to find a way to incorporate them durably, or suggest a second, everyday ring so your delicate piece can be saved for special occasions.

The internet can be a great place to find inspiration and see more unique approaches to jewelry. However, not all jewelry designers are actual makers and many don't know (or don't care) about creating high quality lasting pieces. Lastly, many pieces sold online are not as advertised or may even be cheap knock-offs of copyrighted material.

The same caution applies to AI-generated jewelry sketches and renderings. They can be a fun way to explore a mood or a general shape, but they're built to look convincing, not to be physically accurate. AI tools routinely get scale wrong, showing a stone that would be impossibly tiny in real life, invent settings that couldn't actually hold a stone in place, and generate colors that don't correspond to any metal alloy. Treat AI images as loose inspiration at most, not a blueprint. Our flat designs and 3D mockups exist precisely to translate an idea into something that reflects the real constraints of scale, material, and craftsmanship.

If your project involves stones, metal, or heirloom pieces you're providing, we treat them with the same care we'd want for our own. While your materials are in our studio, we keep them secured, and we also carry our own insurance on items in our care as an added layer of protection. We still recommend insuring your finished piece once it's back in your hands, but we want you to feel confident that we take the responsibility of caring for what you've entrusted to us seriously throughout the process.

We love to work with clients to create something new and unique using a diversity of inspiration and ideas. Bringing inspirational photographs for us to consider as part of our creative process can be very helpful, as long as they are truly intended to be used for inspiration. Please note that if you bring another artist's design that you want reproduced exactly, we will recommend you buy directly from that artist. Think of the design project as a collaboration. We are artists and creatives and want to work with you to create a truly unique piece. Part of that process is sharing our expertise and aesthetics with you. We do our best work as collaborators, not as technicians executing a finished design with no room for input. If that's what you're looking for, we're probably not the right fit, and that's alright. Plenty of talented jewelers work that way.

Our selective approach to custom work allows us to focus on projects that truly inspire us and align with our artistic vision. This collaborative process ensures that every piece we create receives the dedicated attention needed to craft exceptional, one-of-a-kind jewelry.

We love educating our clients about jewelry making, metal, and stones. We don't expect you to know it all and we believe that element can be one of the best parts of the process. If you are curious about why or how we do something, just ask us, as being able to shed light onto our process can create a more fulfilling collaboration for all involved.

We ask that everyone treat our team with the same care and respect we bring to your project. It's rarely an issue, and we hope it never comes up with you, but if a client is abusive or disrespectful toward our staff, we reserve the right to end the project. In that case, the design deposit is forfeited and you'll need to find another jeweler to continue your work.

All jewelry requires care and maintenance. Jewelry should be taken off before bathing, swimming, gardening, working out, doing dishes, etc. Some jewelry, especially rings with prongs, should also be checked by a jeweler regularly to ensure everything is in good shape. Ask us anytime to learn more about caring for your jewelry.

We work with clients all over the world! If you're outside the Denver area, book a consultation and we'll meet over video, or contact us to get started.

Yes, we do this often. Reusing your own or family jewelry is a responsible way to source materials, and it carries extra meaning.

Many people are surprised that reusing metal and smaller stones doesn't save much, because some metal needs refining first and most of the cost of custom work is the making, not the materials. We're happy to estimate the value your pieces can put toward something new.

Custom pieces are hand fabricated in our studio or made by one of our partner jewelers. We source metal and parts from U.S. companies and use recycled metals whenever possible. Read about our stone partners on our responsible sourcing page.

We insure every shipment. Some higher-priced pieces need a signature on delivery, so someone will need to be there to receive them.

Take jewelry off before bathing, swimming, gardening, working out or doing dishes. Rings with prongs should be checked by a jeweler now and then to make sure everything is secure. Stop by or ask us anytime and we'll take a look.

We don't accept returns or exchanges on custom work. Deposits are non-refundable but apply to the final payment.