Goldsmithing at the bench
Jewel Print
Bespoke commissions, remodelling and restoration, stone setting and hand finishing — precious metal worked slowly, by hand, for one wearer at a time.
Talbot Green · Pontyclun · South Wales
The bench
Within arm’s reach of one bench pin
Most of what leaves this workshop is made within arm’s reach of a single bench pin. A piercing saw whose blade is finer than a pencil line. Needle files kept for gold and a second set kept for silver. A steel triblet, a rawhide mallet, setters’ wax, loupes, and the slowly gathered hoard of burrs and gravers that every jeweller ends up guarding like treasure.
The bench stands in Talbot Green, on the edge of Pontyclun, and work leaves it at the speed of the hand. Metal is rolled and drawn in-house where a design asks for it; mounts are built up from wire and sheet; stones go in under magnification; surfaces are brought to their final character with abrasive, hammer or mop. Every precious-metal piece is sent away for a full UK hallmark before it is delivered. When an extra hour would improve a piece, the piece gets the hour.
Services
The four disciplines of the bench
A commission begins with a conversation and ends with a piece that exists nowhere else. Engagement rings, wedding bands, signets, pendants, earrings, cufflinks — first drawn on paper, priced in writing, then raised from hallmarked precious metal at this bench. You set the pace: some pieces settle in a single exchange of sketches, and others deserve a slower back-and-forth until the drawing feels inevitable.
Inherited jewellery carries more than its metal. A ring that has thinned, a brooch that has stopped being worn, a stone whose claws have quietly opened — each can be rebuilt, resized or gently reimagined, with the original stones lifted and re-set so the next wearer actually reaches for the piece. Worn claws are re-tipped, hinges rebuilt, chains repaired and engraving re-cut in sympathy with the original hand.
Claw, rub-over, grain, channel, flush and pavé, carried out under magnification with gravers kept for nothing else. Setting is where a piece is won or lost: each seat is cut so the stone sits level and tight, claws are shaped to the exact stone on the bench, and the finished mount is checked stone by stone before it goes anywhere near the mop.
The last hours decide how a piece reads in the hand. Surfaces move through successive grades of abrasive towards a mirror polish, a soft satin, a directional brush or a hammered texture — whichever the design asked for at the drawing stage. Older pieces are re-finished with restraint, keeping crisp edges crisp and letting honest wear stay where it has earned its place.
Materials explorer
Five metals, four finishes
Choose a metal, then a finish. The swatch is a tinted study of the combination, and the note beneath it is the same plain advice given across the bench — alloys move with the light around them, so read the tile as tone and the note as the practical part.
Bench notes on the alloys
- Yellow gold
- Solders sweetly and files cleanly — the friendliest metal on the bench.
- White gold
- Springier under the graver; holds a crisp claw and a sharp edge.
- Rose gold
- Copper-rich and a touch harder; work-hardens quickly and asks for regular annealing.
- Sterling silver
- Generous and fast-moving; rewards a light touch at the polish.
- Platinum
- Dense and deliberate, worked at a fierce white heat with tools kept for it alone.
How each finish is laid
- High polish
- Successive grades of abrasive, then rouge on a soft mop until the metal turns to mirror.
- Satin
- Fine pads drawn evenly across the surface until the gleam becomes a glow.
- Hammered
- A polished planishing hammer, one deliberate blow at a time.
- Brushed
- A steady grain laid in a single direction with fine emery.
Ring sizes
UK letters, translated
Select a UK letter to read its inside diameter and the approximate European equivalent. The chart is a guide only: fingers change with heat, cold and the hour of the day, and a wide band wears close to a half size tighter than a slim one. Before any metal is cut, the finger itself is measured with bench gauges.
Inside diameter 17.1 mm · approximate EU size 53.8
| UK size | Inside diameter | Approx. EU size |
|---|---|---|
| F | 14.1 mm | 44.2 |
| G | 14.5 mm | 45.4 |
| H | 14.9 mm | 46.7 |
| I | 15.3 mm | 48.0 |
| J | 15.5 mm | 48.7 |
| K | 15.9 mm | 50.0 |
| L | 16.3 mm | 51.2 |
| M | 16.7 mm | 52.5 |
| N | 17.1 mm | 53.8 |
| O | 17.5 mm | 55.1 |
| P | 17.9 mm | 56.3 |
| Q | 18.3 mm | 57.6 |
| R | 18.8 mm | 58.9 |
| S | 19.2 mm | 60.2 |
| T | 19.6 mm | 61.4 |
| U | 20.0 mm | 62.7 |
| V | 20.4 mm | 64.0 |
| W | 20.8 mm | 65.3 |
| X | 21.2 mm | 66.6 |
| Y | 21.6 mm | 67.8 |
| Z | 21.8 mm | 68.5 |
The path
How a commission proceeds
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One
The first letter
Write to the workshop with whatever exists: photographs, a sketch on the back of an envelope, an inherited stone, a firm budget or a loose one. The reply comes from the person who will actually make the piece.
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Two
Drawing & estimate
The idea is drawn up and returned with a written estimate covering metal, stones and time at the bench. Work proceeds once the drawing and the figure both feel right to you.
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Three
Metal & stones
The alloy is agreed, stones are sourced against your brief or lifted carefully from jewellery you already own, and the mount is planned around the exact stones in hand.
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Four
At the bench
Sawing, forging, building, setting, finishing — the longest and least visible stage. The finished mount travels to the assay office for its full UK hallmark before the stones go in.
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Five
Delivery & aftercare
The piece is checked stone by stone, fitted to the wearer and handed across with plain care guidance. Cleaning, re-polishing and future resizing are arranged through the same correspondence.
Correspondence
Write to the bench
This is a working bench, and letters are answered between jobs, in order, with attention. Email is the dependable way in — describe the piece you have in mind, or the piece already in your hand, and expect a considered reply. Photographs help; so does an honest budget.
[email protected]Registered office
JEWEL PRINT LIMITED3 Heol Y Twyn
Talbot Green
Pontyclun
CF72 9FG
United Kingdom
Registered in England & Wales
Company No. 14134200 · D-U-N-S 228971191