How do I begin a commission?

A great question and I would love to help! Let’s break it down a little bit, there are several steps to a good project that ensure you are as happy as can be with the end result.

Ideation, consultation, estimation, execution, and completion

Ideation:

You have an idea for a project and you have decided you would like to work with me. Now you should collect as many details about the project as you can, this will help streamline the next few steps.

What article would you like to have engraved? Will you be procuring it or will I? Is this an item you already own and will need to ship to me for engraving? What is the article made of? Are their previous works, designs, or images that inspired you? Are you on a particular timeline? Do you have a firm budget in mind?

Answering these questions for yourself will help solidify your idea, and better help me make it real for you.

Consultation:

Now that your idea has a shape in your mind, I will ask you to help me to imagine it as well as you.

We can start the conversation with a “Custom Commission” request from my Contact page. Give me as many of the details you collected as possible. From there we can continue to consult via email or set up a time for a phone call or Zoom meeting to discuss your project.

I may have additional questions to clarify your ideas, and should be able to put together a quick mock up drawing of your project by the time we have completed the conversation. If the conversation goes well I will even be able to ballpark estimate the project for you at this point.

If you like the sketches and we are in the neighborhood of your budget/timelines we can move onto estimation.

Estimation:

This step is usually very quick, but may take a couple of days depending on the complexity of your project.
I will take my notes from our consultation discussion and build out a quote for you. This will include a price and a timeline.

I stick by my quotes, so long as we don’t make any changes to the design that require us to revisit the estimate. This means that if I end up needing to go over budget to complete the project that is my own fault and those costs are my own. However, If I come in under budget, you will see that price break at the completion of the project. If you have concerns at this stage, we can also revisit the design to make sure the project stays within your budget.

Finally, once we agree on a design and price, I ask for half upfront and half at completion. This helps me to purchase any materials and tooling that may be required for your project.

Unfortunately, any quote is only good for 30 days. This is to help protect me against my own rising materials costs.

Execution:

This is my part. If I am engraving an article that you already own, we will make arrangements for it to be delivered to me and I will begin work on it just as soon as possible to meet our agreed upon timelines. I will send you regular updates on my progress so you can follow along with the project.

Completion:

As the project nears completion, I will send the final invoice for the remaining balance of the project and start making arrangements for delivery.

If you are particularly happy with the completed piece, It would mean the world to me if you left a review.