Learn About Gems & Jewelry
Interested in learning more about a particular gemstone or antique jewelry? Our blog is the place to learn more.
What is Rhodium Plating: White Gold Process
What is Rhodium Plating: If your white gold jewelry is looking any less than bright white, maybe with a yellowish tint to the metal, then it may need to be rhodium plated, or "dipped" as you sometimes hear. Rhodium Plating is an important process to keep your jewelry...
Jewelry Repairs Near Me: Soldering Jewelry, Other Common Jobs
Requests for Jewelry Repairs are a common occurrence in the Jewelry Industry. Common occurrences include broken chains, repairs to cracks that have appeared in rings, and many others. At Federal Way Custom Jewelers located in the Seattle Tacoma Metro area, we have...
Resizing Rings Near Me – How It’s Done
The most common repair service requested at Federal Way Custom Jewelers is the resizing of clients' rings; whether too big or too small, gold or platinum or silver, plain band or 2 carat diamond ring, resizing is a service that is often necessary. While resizing may...
Custom Jewelry: How to Personalize Your Bracelets, Necklaces, and Earrings
Celebrate your uniqueness and individuality with custom jewelry. While rings are often customized, you shouldn’t limit yourself to getting creative with what goes on your fingers. There are plenty of ingenious ways to tailor a bracelet, necklace, or even earrings to...
Customizing Jewelry: How to Determine What Works Best for Them
Customizing jewelry to fit your tastes is hard enough. Tailoring a piece for someone else (especially without their knowledge) is another matter entirely. A loved one’s taste in jewelry is very personal. It will require some clever information gathering on your part...
How to Choose the Right Custom Jeweler
Choosing the right custom jeweler isn’t something you do on a whim. Think of it as the start of a new relationship and, like in most relationships, you should choose wisely. Custom jewelry is a booming industry set to double in 2035. Because it’s becoming so popular,...
Jewelry Fashion: The Five Most Popular Trends of 2021
Like clothes, trends in jewelry fashion come and go. During quarantine, accessorizing with jewelry became an easy and popular way to dress up or stand out even if you were still walking around in your pajamas… again. While a return to “normal” is looking more...
Personalizing Jewelry: How to Determine What Works Best for Me
Whether you want to update your tennis bracelet or buy a striking new necklace, personalizing jewelry allows you to express yourself and tell your story. Whenever you celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, a life transition, or just want to treat yourself, a custom...
Custom Jewelers: Everything You Need to Know
Custom jewelers work with you to design and create perfect jewelry pieces that can be cherished for years - even decades to come. Not only is custom jewelry outshining its mass-market counterpart, but the industry itself is experiencing rapid growth: In 2021, the US...
All About Diamonds
There are a plethora of websites that offer diamond education about the 4C’s: color, clarity, cut, and carat weight (like the Gemological Institute of America). However a 4 C’s education does not tell a person everything they need to know about diamonds, nor does it...
All About Tourmalines
Tourmaline, while little known to the general public, is widely considered by gemologists to be the most colorful and diverse gem family. This is in one part due to the wide variety of colors the gem can come in: from red to blue, from green to black, and all shades...
All About Sapphires
Sapphires are our best-selling colored gemstone family for two key reasons: 1) they come in every color of the rainbow and 2) sapphires are hard and tough enough to be worn on a daily basis- second only to diamonds in their hardness. We take great pride in our...
All About Moissanite
We are proud to be a preferred retailer of created Moissanite from Charles and Colvard. We think it is the best diamond substitute available so read below to learn more! Moissanite History Moissanite was discovered in the late 1890s by Nobel laureate Dr. Henri...
All About Opals
Opals have captured the fascination of gem lovers since antiquity. The oldest known items featuring opals were found in ancient Mayan and Middle Eastern jewelry thousands of years old. In the middle ages opals found in central Europe became one of the most...
All About Garnets
The garnet family of gemstones is one of the most underrated in the gem world. For the last century jewelers stocked red garnets heavily as the January birthstone, and then forgot about them for the rest of the year. This was a crime! Garnets are an ideal colored...
All About Emerald, Aquamarine, Morganite
The above photo, courtesy of the Gemological Institute of America, shows the range that natural Beryls occur in. Emerald, aquamarine, and Morganite are the three most famous Beryls, but they come in rarer varieties too. Every member of this family is linked by...
All About Alexandrite & Chrysoberyl
The chrysoberyl (pronounced kris-o-bear-al) gemstone family is one of the most underrated in the jewelry world. Many people have heard of the “phenomenal” members of the Chrysoberyl family, like Alexandrite or Cat’s Eye, but these are just two members of a very...
What’s In a Name? The Paraiba Tourmaline Debate
Today’s blog post is a little technical, but the topics mentioned herein come up often enough in the jewelry industry and among our ‘collector clients’ that we thought it was time to add our two cents to the debate on Paraiba nomenclature. The Back Story:...
Bicolor Imperial Topaz Ring
This month's featured vintage item is centered with a Bicolor Imperial Topaz- a gemstone so rare that a Google image search returns less than 10 examples, most of which aren't this nice, and it isn't even mentioned in our gemstone encyclopedias! This...
Creepy Crawly… Jewelry!
Ever since I was a little boy I have been fascinated with things that crawl through the dirt. While I liked to catch snakes and lizards- and I have the scars to prove it- nothing captured my fascination like a rare moth or beetle I had never seen before. I certainly...
The History of Statement Rings
Statement rings, aka cocktail rings, are terms commonly applied to large right-hand rings that are fun to wear and get lots of attention. While large and impressive rings have been worn by the wealthy for centuries, it wasn’t until the middle of the last century that...
Spotlight on the Victorian Era
Attributing antique jewelry to the particular era in which it was made can be quite difficult. One must use a combination of clues like the design of the piece, manufacturing techniques used, materials and gems present, as well as intended use of the item to establish...
Fine Alexandrite Ring
It sure seems like we find ourselves showing clients and talking about alexandrite more than any other gem. Among jewelry connoisseurs, one of the measures of a jewelry store is whether or not they carry natural alexandrite. On the other end of the spectrum there are...
Spotlight on the Art Deco Period
Most of us have heard the word “deco” thrown around by countless designers, jewelers, etc- but more often than not we hear it used incorrectly. If you are interested in learning about the Art Deco period, or just want to drool over some amazing pieces of jewelry,...
Morganite
So what’s the deal with Morganite anyway, you know, that peach colored gem everyone wants? In the past couple of years Morganite has gone from a rarely encountered collectors-only gemstone to one of the most requested gemstones we carry. Before I analyze why that has...
Early Edwardian Cross Pendant
The Edwardian era welcomed changes in fashion and technology that forever changed the jewelry world. The passing of Queen Victoria in 1901, still in mourning over Prince Albert, finally allowed society to cast off its years or mourning clothes. Out went the depressing...
Downton Era Brooch
In honor of the final season of Downton Abbey, we present- An Edwardian Tourmaline Bar Pin- Circa 1915 In honor of the Downton premier, we decided to highlight this original Edwardian brooch, or bar pin. All brooches are fashionable now- worn on the lapel of jackets...
Recycled, Redesigned Pearl Ring
The below ring is a perfect example of the custom “recycled jewelry” work we are known for. The client who designed this had always wanted a pearl ring. She had inherited several antique diamond rings that she was hoping to re-design in some way. Unfortunately the...
Introducing Aragog- a Mid-Century Spider Brooch
Every once in a while a piece of jewelry actually stuns me. I stop breathing, my heart races, my vision blurs- and I form a permanent bond with the item. And it happened to me this morning, with this awesome mid-century figural brooch that depicts a spider in its web....
Imperial Topaz
Recently I had a client contact me looking for Imperial Topaz earrings. At first I was shocked- because very few people have even heard of imperial topaz even though it is the November birthstone. Once I had overcome the shock of the question my knee-jerk thought was...
