Five stages
Commissions
A few a year, taken slowly. Five stages from the first email to the piece in your hands, with a written quote and a third down before any metal is cut.
I take on somewhere between eight and fifteen commissions a year. That is not a scarcity tactic, it is arithmetic: a raised bowl is three days at the bench, a set of six spoons is closer to three weeks, and there is only one of me. Taking on more would mean either rushing the work or missing the dates, and I have done both once each and did not enjoy either.
Most commissions are a variation on something already in the four collections. A band at a width that is not listed, a spoon to match a pattern you already own, a bowl at a size that suits a particular table. Those are straightforward and they are the ones I am best at. Entirely new forms are welcome too, but they take longer and I will say so before quoting.
The process
From first email to the piece in your hands
Nothing here is a surprise. Every stage has a point at which you can stop, and the only one that costs you anything is the third.
First conversation
You write and tell me what you have in mind, in whatever detail you have. Photographs of things you like are more useful than descriptions, including photographs of things you do not like. I will ask what it is for, who it is for, whether there is a date, and what you want to spend. That last question is not rude and it saves everybody a fortnight.
Drawing and quote
I draw the piece at full size, work out the metal, the hours and the hallmarking, and send you the drawing with a fixed price and a delivery window. If the first drawing is not right, we do a second. If the price is wrong for you, I will tell you what changing the size, the metal or the finish would actually save, using the numbers in the note on what it costs to make a thing by hand.
Deposit and metal
A third of the quoted price, paid by bank transfer, and I order the sheet or wire. From this point the price is fixed and so is the specification. Changes after this stage are possible but they cost time, and I will quote for them separately rather than absorb them quietly.
At the bench
The making. I send two or three photographs as it goes, usually at the point where the form is there but the surface is not, because that is the stage that tells you most. You are welcome to ask questions at any point. You are not obliged to have opinions.
Hallmarking and delivery
Anything above the legal weight threshold goes for independent hallmarking, which adds about ten days and is explained in the note on what a hallmark tells you. Then the final finish, the balance paid, and the piece packed and sent tracked and insured, or collected from the workshop by arrangement.
What things cost
Honest ranges, not from-prices
These are the bands most commissions land in. A written quote fixes the price exactly and holds for sixty days.
A plain band, 3 to 6 mm
The starting point. Sterling, your size, any of the surfaces.
From £180
A wide or forged band
Above 6 mm, or forged from rod so the section tapers.
£240 to £420
A signet or a ring with a made head
A head soldered to a tapered shank, left plain for an engraver.
£380 to £650
A single spoon to your pattern
Matched to something you already own, or drawn from scratch.
£220 to £420
A set of six spoons
Made as a batch, which is why six costs less than six times one.
£1,150 to £1,600
A beaker or small raised vessel
Raised from a single disc, no seam.
£650 to £1,200
A bowl over 120 mm
The largest work I take on alone.
£1,100 to £2,400
A pendant from your drawing
Including a hand made bail and a sterling chain.
£180 to £400
Lead times
How long, honestly
Rings and pendants
3 to 4 weeks
A single spoon
4 to 6 weeks
A set of spoons
8 to 12 weeks
Beakers and raised vessels
8 to 14 weeks
Bowls above 120 mm
10 to 16 weeks
Anything needing a hallmark
Add about 10 days
What I do not take on
Stone setting beyond a simple rub-over, because I am not a setter and you would be better served by one. Engraving, for the same reason. Casting from a model. Anything in gold or platinum, which are different metals with different habits and I would be learning at your expense. Exact copies of another maker's current work, which I will not do at any price.
If a commission is not right for me I will say so in the first reply and, where I can, point you toward somebody it would suit. That is not a brush off. It is the most useful thing I can do in ten minutes.
Christmas and other dates
If a piece is for a date, tell me the date in the first email rather than the last. I stop taking work with a December deadline at the end of September, and work for a specific date always gets a buffer built into the quoted window. A piece that arrives late is worse than a piece that was never promised.