Every year I have the same conversation in the second week of December. Someone wants a custom piece for Christmas. It is a good idea and it is a lovely thought, and it cannot be done.
So here are the real dates, in September, while they are still useful.
Custom commissions - order by 1 October
A commission takes ten to twelve weeks from approved design to finished piece. That is not padding. Sourcing a specific natural stone in a specific size and color can take weeks on its own.
Hand-engraving is measured in days per piece. Setting cannot be rushed without risking the stone.
Working backwards from a 20 December delivery, the design has to be approved and the deposit placed by roughly 1 October. Earlier is better, because the design conversation itself takes time and the clock does not start until the design is signed off.
Rush commissions - 10 November, and not everything qualifies
A rush build compresses to six weeks and carries a twenty-five percent surcharge. That puts the absolute floor at about 10 November for a piece arriving before Christmas.
Some designs cannot be compressed at all. Anything requiring a stone I do not already have, anything with significant hand-engraving, and anything involving the Pforzheim atelier or a reverse intaglio carve is on its own timeline and no surcharge will change that. If you ask in November I will tell you honestly whether it is possible rather than take the deposit and hope.
Pieces already in stock - order by December 17 for domestic delivery
Anything on the site is ready to ship. Orders go out insured from the studio. The domestic cutoff for delivery before 25 December is December 17 for standard shipping, or Monday, December 21 for expedited shipping, and the international cutoff is December 4 for standard shipping, or Monday, December 11 for expedited shipping.
A note on that word insured. Fine jewelry should never travel uninsured and should never be sent to an address where it will sit on a porch. If the recipient is not home during the day, ship it to a workplace or hold it for pickup.
The December salon - December 10–11
The holiday salon runs December 10–11. Location details will be confirmed soon. If you are in Dallas, this is the easiest way to buy, because you can handle the pieces and take them with you. No shipping, no cutoff, no risk of a package sitting somewhere.
If you have missed the window
It happens, and there is a reasonable answer for it. Give the commission itself.
A sketch, a note explaining what is being made, and a date. Then the piece arrives in February or March, which is genuinely better than a rushed version arriving on the 24th. Nobody has ever been disappointed to receive something made properly instead of something made fast.
Or give something in stock now and commission the custom piece in January, when I have more time and better attention to give it. The best pieces I have made were not made in December.
The short version
- Custom commission for Christmas: order by 1 October.
- Rush commission: 10 November at the absolute latest, twenty-five percent surcharge, not all designs qualify.
- In-stock pieces: December 17 domestic standard shipping / December 21 expedited shipping. December 4 international standard shipping / December 11 expedited shipping.
- Dallas, in person: December 10–11 holiday salon (location TBD).
If you are considering a commission and you are not sure whether the timing works, ask now rather than in six weeks. The answer takes me two minutes, and it costs nothing.
