A good jewelry piece is not only about the design or the materials, it is primarily about good finishing. A well-designed jewelry piece may look half-finished and unpolished if not properly finished and refined. Finishing is the secret that helps transform a handmade piece into something truly beautiful.
Many jewelry beginners overlook the importance of finishing while experienced jewelers know that a fine piece of jewelry depends mostly on its quality of finishing.
- Surface Matters
The surface of a jewelry piece is what the viewer notices first of all. If there are scratches, uneven surface or any other marks that do not look good, then it lowers the quality of the finished piece of jewelry.
A good surface means that it is smooth, even, and clean. Rough surfaces need to be smoothed, and all corners and edges should be neat, sharp and even. A well-prepared surface serves as a great base for polishing.
- Polishing
Polishing is a vital stage of the finishing phase. The goal of this process is to create a smooth surface and to reveal the natural beauty of the material in use.
The polishing tool and the polishing compound depend on the metal type and the effect you want. You should not be in a rush to polish the material because doing that might damage the surface. You should gradually polish by using different abrasive material.
- Small Things That Matter
In jewelry making, the small details are what count. In order to ensure that you have made a high quality piece, you should be thorough when looking for imperfections on the jewelry.
Is the jewelry symmetric? Did you clean up small details? Have the parts of the jewelry joined together properly? These questions are important for you to ask.
Any flaw on the piece that you missed may be easily spotted, thus, it affects the overall appearance. A thorough inspection is what you need to check your piece for the final quality control.
- Final Cleaning of a Jewelry Piece
The last step of finishing is polishing the piece to remove any remaining polish from the manufacturing process. A jewelry piece should be cleaned to prevent any irritation and to make it easy to handle and safe. This cleaning process also serves to ready the piece for its presentation.
Finishing is the process that determines the quality of your work. With the proper finishing techniques, you can bring any of your jewelry pieces to a whole new standard of quality. And with JewelMastery, you get the knowledge and skills that will help you master your finishing technique to perfection!
