My Job

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My name is Norwati Hassan, usually people refer to me as Kak Nor. Kak is short for an older sister. I am a jewellery designer and I specialise in making custom-made rings for my clients. I receive all types of orders such as rings to commemorate the association's silver jubilee, engagement ring or designer's piece.

The rings that they ordered would be designed to their specification such as the type of precious stone that they want. It is not easy to find the design that a customer loves with the stone of their choice. Here in Malaysia, it is easier to find more choices if the stone of their choice is diamond. So this is where my services are in demand, my clients have special preferences such as sapphires, emerald, ruby or zircon.

Process of Jewellery Making

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I will show you a little of what I do as part of my job. I take the order from client and depending on their theme, I will start designing the type of jewellery that they want. This jewellery can be more than just a normal ring. I do get very special request such as this :

The above is the special design and engraving that forms the hilt of a 'keris' a traditional weapon for the Malays society. Today it is more ceremonial in nature.

After the design we will see if the client is happy with the design before the actual process starts.

This is the furnace that I use to melt the gold or silver before it is casted to be moulded into the shape that is desired.

This the wax injector that creates the wax models used in the casting process.

This is where the real work starts. The crafting of the ring. The first phone is myself and my son. He is one of the craftsman here. His job is to shape the gold or the silver that has been casted and moulded into a ring.

The stones that we wish to mount on the ring will be arranged into position before the careful process of individually mounting the stone takes place.

This is how the piece looks prior to the mounting of the stones.

For other bigger stones which is the setting of big gems, the process is more intricate because it is the centre of focus for the entire jewellery, so it has to be mounted right.

This are the different parts of the entire process that results in the final piece of jewellery.

You are able to see how an uncut piece of silver is slowly shaped into the design and the stones are mounted. The entire process is a time consuming one and requires concentration. The materials that we use unfortunately does not give us much room for any mistake. Mistakes would be costly as we are dealing with precious metal and precious stones.

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Satisfying the Client

I guess in all industry, the client is the king. In my case, we get a lot of custom made orders for special occasions. I had been in this industry for some time now and there are quite a number of returning clients and they are satisfied with the workmanship and design that we had given them in the past. So a bulk of my orders are from my existing clientele.

Sometimes, we meet difficult people that is almost impossible to satisfy. But that is few and far in between. In fact many of them understands the difficult and constrains that we face. This is a handmade product which is not flawless. There is bound to be some slightly error and miscalculation depending on the skill and experience of the craftsmen. Sometimes it is this human touch that makes the entire jewellery shine.

I hope that the above do shed some light in the field that I am in. It is quite an experience here in steemit. Ever since I join, I had been browsing through other contents and I find it particularly interesting because it is like a library or learning process in here, apart from reading stories and memes here.

I pen off for the time being, and hope to see you guys soon. This is one last pic that I would love to share with you guys.

I guess when Sauron from Lord of the Rings, created that one ring to rule them all, he must have spent a lot of time making it, hence has become the 'precious' to its keeper.

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