A Special Gift for a Veteran
November 11th, 2010 by James L. Sweaney, CGA, FGA. GGJust in time for Veteran's Day, we completed this great looking setting for a dog-tag. Our client's husband rarely wears jewelry, but she heard him remark about a dog-tag he saw David Hasselhoff wearing on TV. She brought us his original dog-tag from his military service days and asked us to make a nice piece of jewelry that he would wear.
She loves jewelry herself, so it was easy to suggest things that would make the piece special and unique. She wanted diamonds on the piece, and we thought what better way to space the gems than with military style stars! A nice thin bezel, complimented with milgrain style beading along the edge completed the treatment.
Then we decided to add decoration to the back. Repeating our theme, we made reverse stars and beading– it worked beautifully. He had a heavy 4 mm rope chain, so a simple oval loop of 10 guage gold wire completed the piece.
His smile as he put on the restyled dog-tag was great to see– so many men will just never buy anything for themselves. We put the spotlight on something truly meaningful to him– we'll bet he shows it to all his friends and family. The piece allowed her the pleasure of giving her beloved husband something he'll treasure always! And it was an honor for us to do something nice for one of our veterans!
We specialize in creative solutions in jewelry making. Our hi-tech approach with our JewelSmith CAD program and our ModelMaster CNC machine allows us to render great designs like this with precision and relative ease. Essentially, we are making a prototype every time we make a custom piece like this, so very soon, we'll be using an even newer technology, a digital stereolithography system that will allow us to build rapid prototypes in new ways– for example, we'll be able to add designs to the inside of a ring!
Our custom design department is ready and able to create memorable gifts for your loved one– and isn't that what it's all about. Give us a call– there is still time for you to make that special Christmas gift.
Tags: CAD, CAD jewelry design, cnc, CNC machine, dog-tag, JewelSmith, ModelMaster, veterans, Veterans Day