Jim Dailing Designs — Local services in Bend

Everyone approaches getting a piece of jewelry made from a different place. I am not a designer, but have strong opinions, so I might be someone who could be difficult to work with. Jim was thoughtful and helpful throughout the design and creation of my wife’s engagement ring and my wedding band.

My wife’s engagement ring we designed together from the ground up. Jim started with concepts and designs that I knew my wife would like. Then, though many discussions, and many changes on my part, we landed on a design that was perfect. Throughout this process, Jim also worked with me to find the right gem stone to place in the ring. Jim visited gem shows and various dealers to find the right stone, and the refine my own sense of what would work. Eventually, I was able to use that knowledge to find a fantastic rough-cut diamond in octahedron shape - which could have been a challenge to set and incorporate into a petit engagement ring design. This wasn’t a problem at all for Jim, and the end result was gorgeous.

The process for the engagement ring went so well I also asked Jim to make my wedding band (my wife had already selected another ring she wanted for her band). Jim worked within my budget and very quickly landed on a perfect band.

I’ll flag that the process took some time, and working remotely (I’m in Portland and he is in central Oregon) necessarily slows things down a bit, but it is an easily surmountable issue. I understood that designing a custom ring would take some time - especially because I didn’t have a perfectly clear vision of what I wanted. Jim did what I would have hoped for - he helped me refine the vision that I had, and translate that into something that I am deeply proud of. I feel lucky to have been able to play an influential part of this process, even though Jim’s the only one who brought design expertise and artistic ability to the...

tl;dr - dont get a custom ring made within a couple months of a holiday, and be very very very clear with pictures diagrams etc about what you want

I have to be honest overall not impressed, possibly due to my own lack of knowlegde on how things work but idk. Went to him to design a custom ring, didnt really have a big bugdet but I had most of the material except the center stone. Talking and intial stuff was great he explained why our budget was low and we were able up it to get the stone i wanted, he found me an awesome diamond. He made a wax model and I had (imo) a minor change for being in the wax stage, well heres where things went downhill. To be fair he was dealing with family issues at the time. But basically I sent the wax model back to him with a change request complete with a picture of how I wanted it too look and expecting him to change the model and resend it for approval. Waited and waited not hearing anything finally emailed and he said i should be getting the ring soon. Yea he just made my ring with a similar but very very not like the picture change, never sent the wax model back for approval. After i got it and told him he did the change wrong he attempted to correct it, and i was so hurt and scared that hed do something else to it I just stopped there to get my materials back safely. Honestly though (and i feel the same) my fiance says that it doesn't look like a professional messed it up it looks like an amateur tried really really hard, the ring doesnt sit flat on a table, it is not the same width all the way around (slight but noticable thinner section), and the diamonds are not equidistant or set how i wanted at all. I am just now getting up the courage to write this because I feel like others need to...

I've long been a fan of Jim's wedding ring designs, but having been married since before I discovered his exceptional talent, I've only admired his work from afar. That is, until I saw online a pair of earrings that he created for another client. I contacted Jim and asked if he could make a similar pair of earrings for me using a photograph of the view the my husband and I have of Mt. Rainier from our property. Jim happily obliged, and was not put off at all by my request that the earrings be as lightweight as possible, or my mention of a particular metal sensitivity. As a matter of fact, he asked me preference questions I hadn't even considered, to make sure that I would be highly satisfied with the final product. I was very pleasantly surprised with how quickly he created and shipped the earrings and when they arrived, I have to say, I was over the moon! He had done a superb job duplicating our view of Mt. Rainier! So now I have a very beautiful, one-of-a-kind set of earrings representing a very special aspect of my life. Talk about instant sentimental value! Working remotely with Jim proved to be no barrier at all. He was extremely responsive, cooperative, prompt and polite at all times. I felt his price for my cherished, custom-made earrings was quite reasonable - and it included shipping. I am incredibly pleased with my earrings and my experience working with...