Quality Custom Jewelry & Laser Welded Repairs
Pick Up & Delivery Service for Local Clients
Insured through Jeweler's Mutual
Located in Manchester, CT
This is me, Heide, the one-woman force behind the Jewel Forge.
Though I have been completely captivated by jewelry and gem stones since I was about 4 years old, my career as a repair and restoration goldsmith started 10 years ago. Since then, I've worked in several high-volume wholesale and retail settings, and have had the opportunity to become knowledgeable in many areas. Aside from a huge variety of miscellaneous repairs and a large assortment of custom work, I estimate that I've resized or reshanked many thousands of rings, mended countless chains, rehinged hundreds of tennis bracelets, fixed dozens of pairs of glasses and remounted, repronged and set thousands of stones.
When I repair or create jewelry, it is important to me that I take my time to do the best possible job I can. I work with a microscope at my bench as well as at my laser welder to achieve my top priority: high quality repairs and custom jewelry.
This is where I spend many hours each week repairing and creating jewelry. It's taken many years to put together this space and equip it with the necessary tools.
Rosie is my laser welder, and she is the closest I have to an employee. She is high-tech, precise to .2mm, and allows me to seamlessly weld materials such as gold, platinum, silver, steel and titanium while keeping items cool enough to hold in my hands. The ability to keep jewelry cool allows me to work right next heat sensitive materials such as opals and emeralds without removing them from their mountings.
Sometimes, traditional torch techniques are the way to go. The rest of the time, Rosie saves the day!
Check out my "Stones" page to see some of the interesting stones I have in stock. They are just waiting for you to fall in love with them. I'd be happy to mount your favorite in a unique setting!
The only photo-editing tool that I use in my photos of jewelry repairs, custom jewelry pieces and available stones is cropping. I never change color tints or lighting to make up for a bad photo. It is my preference to photograph stones outdoors in natural light so that the colors are as true as possible.
One of the questions I'm asked the most is how I learned to be a goldsmith. Over the last 10 years I've always sought employment with high end businesses, both wholesale and retail, where I've been able to work with the best and learn from them. My continuous drive to improve my education has also led me through many trade books and courses with masters in fields such as machining, forging, stone setting and enameling.
The beautiful thing about my trade is the vast scope of techniques and applications that are available. The imagination is the limit! I'm confident that I'll be learning new things about jewelry, art and technology for all of my days.