Stories From The Jewelry Box

Yep, this can happen with alternative metal wedding rings. Every week, without fail, Scott and I get at least one couple coming in for custom wedding rings to our stores, Scott's Custom Jewelers, in Akron and Columbus, inquiring about "alternative metal".  They usually have bought a beautiful diamond engagement ring and custom band for the bride in gold, palladium or platinum, and it's been a lovely experience for all of us. Then they start on the groom-to-be's ring, and the conversation turns to titanium. Or tungsten carbide. Or even carbon fiber. WTFlip? Now, we have six kids.  We know about staying within a budget, counting pennies, thriftiness.  We get it.  But these bands aren't jewelry metals.  My dad has a tool and die company and he uses these metals to cut steel for car part molds! Here's some background on why titanium has become a popular choice for men's wedding bands lately.  We can blame the economy and ...

This custom diamond wedding ring has a lot of history - let Scott's Custom Jewelers help you tell your story!   Dave and Sue have been together for a long time.  Like most couples, they've bought jewelry to celebrate milestones, remember vacations and of course, for gifts! (You can't go wrong with jewelry fellas!) And Sue is a very sentimental person.  Each piece of jewelry she's collected has a story.  But wearing 30+ years of rings can be a little awkward, to say the least.  So she came to Scott's Custom Jewelers to see what kind of "jewelry magic" he could do with her collection. There was the diamond band made up of stones from her original, cluster style engagement ring.  Then years later, Dave bought her a "proper" engagement ring with a beautiful cushion cut shaped diamond.  And later, he "juiced up" the solitaire ring with a diamond guard.  All of the gems were gorgeous, but the styles had changed. So, Scott sat dow...

A unique diamond wedding ring using the original rope bands and diamond center stone.     When I go to wedding showers, I come home and want to re-do my entire house.  New towels, cute serving pieces, color coordinated bedding sets.  After 25+ years of marriage, my collection of housewares could use an overhaul!   That happens with jewelry too.  When your adult child gets engaged, suddenly your trusty old wedding set starts to look, well, tired.  It's still shines (when you clean the layers of hand lotion off of it), and of course, you'll always remember when he gave you that rock (set in a simple diamond solitaire mounting, because who had money when you're 21).  It's just that, well, your style has changed a bit.   Enter Scott's Custom Jewelers .  Restyling wedding rings is kind of our specialty.   Theresa was ready for a restyle. When her son invited her to go shopping for an eng...

Custom jewelry should tell a story - like this military bullet casing pendant made by Scott's Custom Jewelers. Recently, Janis came to us with a bullet casing from her father's military funeral.  He was a veteran and had died several months ago.  After the ceremony, the funeral director presented the family with the bullet casings from the 21 gun salute.  Well, Janis loves jewelry, but wasn't too keen on wearing a bullet around her neck like a rapper.  Wrong message.  This had to be symbolic, yet not "in your face". So she came to us with the casing and a great sketch of what she wanted the pendant to look like when done.  She worked with Scott, telling him that she wanted it to be feminine, but bold.  Simple enough to wear with jeans, but still dressy enough for an evening out.  She wanted people to notice it so she could tell them about her dad. Lucky for her, Scott knew a little about bullets (he worked at a gun ra...

  When Chuck and Cyndi first met, Chuck drove a hot rod - a 70s Chevelle, complete with racing stripes.  The car was cool - it even had a name, Old Gold. Well the relationship progressed and Chuck wanted to make this a permanent deal.  But, as often is the case with young love, money was tight.  So he sold Old Gold for a diamond solitaire engagement ring. Over the years, Cyndi had Scott restyled her ring several times, and eventually got a new diamond for her engagement ring - a stunning 1ct round diamond.  She put the original diamond away, not knowing what to do with it. She recently came to our store, Scott's Custom Jewelers , to have her ring re designed again into something a little more modern.  We made an appointment and had her bring in all of the pieces that she no longer wears, so that we could see what else we had to work with.  Cyndi wanted to showcase her center diamond, so we suggested a custom diam...

A gorgeous pear shaped diamond is transformed into an oval. Gail came to us recently with a baggie full of jewelry she found when she cleaned out her jewelry box.  There were several gold chains, a diamond tennis bracelet and a few rings to boot.  These were pieces that she didn't wear anymore.  Jewelry from the 80s, broken items, rings that didn't match her style anymore. And she had her wedding ring - a very pretty pear shaped diamond, set in 14k yellow gold.  The problem was that she now preferred white gold jewelry. It goes with everything, and can be mixed easily with the more fashionable, sterling silver jewelry that she often wore. She loved her pear shaped diamond, especially since her husband had scrimped and saved to purchase it years ago.  But she also loved the look of an oval diamond.  Enter jewelry magic. Scott and Gail worked together using  Scott's Custom Jewelers CAD technology , and designe...

Sterling silver rings with attitude! OK, usually we talk about one-of-a-kind custom jewelry we've created for an individual.  Today, we're going to talk about customizable pieces that we've created, available in both our Akron and Columbus Ohio stores everyday!  They're called E Motion Rings.  Sterling silver rings that feature a moving, changeable top. These beauties come in four different finishes for the base.  High polish, sandblasted, hammered, or hammered and sandblasted. The tops screw on and are available with a border of white cubic zirconium, or with just a single, colored, cubic zirconium.  We even have a bold, solid color, painted square top in all kinds of colors. And the best part - they start at only $69 for the base, and $69 for the top!  "We wanted to give our customers a cool, funky piece of jewelry that would still reflect their own style, but could also be very affordable," said Scott Cevasco, owner ...

A diamond stick pin finds a new home as custom designed jewelry.  It's in a box on the top shelf of your closet.  Or maybe it's in a sock in your underwear drawer. Doesn't matter - we all have it.  That hidden stash of Grandma's jewelry. It's not that we don't like it.  We just don't know how to wear it again.  I mean, really, who wears stick pins anymore! That's where  Scott's Custom Jewelers  comes in.  An elderly woman brought in a small pouch of old jewelry for us to evaluate.  Some of it was costume.  Others were sterling silver pieces, now black with tarnish.  After a little dipping and polishing, we brought those pieces back to life, no problems. But there was that diamond stick pin.  And Grandma's plain white gold wedding band. The solution was almost too simple.  We used the wedding band as a frame, and attached the top of the diamond stick pin to the piece, creating a very modern, yet vinta...

Wow! A stunning 14k white and rose gold diamond wedding ring restyled from old jewelry.   It must be spring - because it's definitely coming up roses at Scott's Custom Jewelers! Rose gold, that is.  Like most things, jewelry trends start on the coasts.  Slowly, but surely the latest looks creep towards the Midwest.  By the time they get to us, they are tried and true.  And easily adopted. We've been doing quite a few jewelry pieces in colored gold lately, with rose gold being the favorite.  It's soft blush looks great on every skin tone, and is especially beautiful with white gold and diamonds. Cheryl came to us recently with a "bag of opportunity" - old jewelry pieces she no longer wore, and a vision of what she wanted in a new, restyled wedding ring. It had to be wide, but not tight.  Delicate looking, but not light weight or chintzy.  And she really wanted to use her original engagement diamond, a marquise.  Because we w...

We restyled an 80's era necklace into a cool, funky sea life pendant.  We all have those pieces of jewelry in the bottom of our jewelry box that we don't wear.  We call them jewelry ghosts - they randomly appear, we stare at them in disbelief ("Did I really wear that!") and quickly close the lid. But, there is hope.  Take that 1980's style blue sapphire and diamond necklace for example.  Your remember it - the one that came down to a pointed V (and never was straight), made of 14k yellow gold with a herringbone chain (that kinked the first time you wore it) with clusters of sapphires and diamonds. It was The Necklace .  You wore it to every wedding, holiday party and formal event.  And because you did, you can't bring yourself to get rid of it.  And you shouldn't - we have a solution. Restyle it into something current, modern, fun-to-wear! Marcia had one of those necklaces.  Even though she still works outside of the home, she d...

  Jewelry in motion!    Maybe it's our lifestyle - we're always busy, busy, busy!  But the latest craze in jewelry lately for us at Scott's Custom Jewelers has been motion jewelry.   What exactly is that?   These cool pieces - rings mainly - have moving parts.  They flip, spin, twist and turn, exposing smooth, polished metal sides and sparkly, shiny diamonds on the other.  Some do a whole bunch of moves, others may only slide back and forth.  But all of them are like toys for your hands.   The 14k hammered gold ring pictured above has a circle of diamonds that flips and spins.  We made it for a stock piece in our Akron, Ohio store, and in a few weeks, have sold two customized versions of this style.   One woman saw it and immediately wanted it as a wedding ring.  Her future husband has a young son, and her custom ring is going to have one ruby, her stepson's birthstone, mixed into the...

A custom diamond halo can make your diamond appear larger. Maybe you've already upgraded your original engagement ring with a bigger diamond.  Or perhaps you've recently inherited grandma's vintage wedding ring, complete with an itty bitty, but oh-so-meaningful diamond. So, what to do with that smaller, yet dear to your heart symbol of love? Surround it with a custom diamond halo! Whether you keep it in a ring, or even restyle it into a custom diamond pendant, adding a halo of small diamonds will make it not only appear bigger, but make it sparkle even more.  The secret is in the custom design. With our CAD (computer aided design) technology, we trace the diamond exactly so that there are no spaces between the original diamond and the halo.  The result is a seamless sea of diamonds, which fool the eye into making it look much bigger.  We jokingly say it's like a push-up bra for your diamond ;) Dana had her original center diamond laying loose in...

Custom Diamond Pendant Chances are, you have a hodge podge mix of old jewelry gathering dust in your underwear drawer (I know I do!) So did Barb.  She had her mother-in-law's wedding ring, a pair of small diamond stud earrings given to her early in her marriage, a couple of rings from her own mother and other odds and ends.  They weren't her style anymore, but she didn't want to just sell them.  And she also had a big anniversary coming up and wanted something extra special. Enter Scott's Custom Jewelers ! Barb made an appointment with Scott and brought in her bag o'gold.  After sorting and evaluating the old jewelry, Scott talked to her about what kind of custom designed jewelry she wanted to create.  Like many of us, Barb didn't want or need any more super dressy pieces.  Her lifestyle is much more casual.  But she wanted a custom pendant that could serve double duty. While talking with Scott, he discovered that Barb and Paul have thr...

      The eighties were great for some things. Legwarmers. Hairspray. Diamond tennis bracelets   But all good things eventually come to an end, and while the legwarmers may enjoy a secret second life on cold winter days, that diamond tennis bracelet is kind of expensive to just leave in your jewelry box.   That's where we come in.  A customer came to us with this bracelet and wanted to just turn it in for scrap.  She didn't think that the diamonds were even reusable.  But, she mentioned that what she really , needed was a diamond wedding band to wear everyday.  Her engagement ring was kind of fancy, and although she loved it, sometimes she wasn't comfortable wearing it while working.   Boy did we have a solution for her!    We used with our CAD (computer aided design) system and showed her 3D pictures of several custom diamond ring options, using her own gemstones. ...

Admit it, sometimes your jewelry box can look like the kitchen "junk drawer". Twisted chains, old, snarled herringbone bracelets, missing earring mates. Some of the pieces may have gemstones and diamonds, others are so old-fashion looking - you would never wear them again, but they do have special meanings. These are the perfect pieces to recycle into something fabulous! Something that takes those memories, and displays them into your story. Take this custom ring, for instance. It began as her mother-in-law's wedding ring, a cocktail ring from her own mom and small diamond stud earrings given to the customer on one of their early wedding anniversaries.  The bigger diamond was even her original engagement ring.  All beautiful stones, but lost in the jumble of the jewelry box. Scott worked with the couple to discover her style and how she wanted to wear this new custom design.  It turns out, Diane is a nurse and she didn't want to keep ripping her...

We had a young man come to us with his grandmother’s antique brooch.   It was old, slightly tarnished and filled with swirls and engraving, but it also had a fabulous, hand-cut European diamond in the center that he wanted to use in a custom engagement ring.   The young man had been to other jewelers in town who told him the stone was ‘junk,’ because of the cut and wasn't worth much.  They obviously wanted to sell him one of their many, instock diamonds instead, and weren't interested in the brooch.   But the diamond was important.  It was a gift from his beloved grandma.  And he wanted to use it somehow for his new bride-to-be.    The trouble with older, hand-cut diamonds is that they aren’t a standard size and can’t be plopped into a mass-produced mounting purchased from a mall store. And that's why some jewelers don’t want to use them. These antique diamonds deserve a one-of-a-kind ring to show them off. ...

A beautiful oval diamond ring with a custom halo and matching custom wedding band.    Every girl dreams of the day when their true love will pop the big question—and the beautiful custom engagement rings they’ll be showing off once they say YES!   And that's where I come in. Or should I say "we".    My name is Beth Cevasco, and my husband, Scott and I own Scott’s Custom Jewelers, in Akron, OH and Columbus, OH.  We specialize in helping guys get it just right when it's time to pop the question.    First, a little background.  In 2000, after working for "the family" for about 5 years, we founded Scott’s Custom Jewelers in downtown Akron, OH as a typical “mom and pop” jewelry store. We sold diamond engagement rings and pre-made jewelry, but Scott has always been a creative soul, and he specialized in restyling customer's jewelry into new, more updated designs.  Besides, the jewelry we were buying was...