Jeweler uses CAD software to create perfection

Radford Studio, Stratford, Ontario, has built a good business since 2004 creating custom jewellery, including a number of special items for stores of the renowned Stratford Festival Theatre. Other work includes limited edition collections under the Radford brand, 3D design for industry clients, and corporate jewelry design and manufacture work.

To accomplish all this special work, owner Brenda Radford uses ArtCAM Jewelsmith computer-aided design (CAD) software from Delcam, Windsor, Ontario. ArtCAM JewelSmith is a unique suite of software enabling design and manufacture of jewellery pieces directly from sketches, by sculpting a 3D model, or from customizable component libraries. The ArtCAM JewelSmith Solution allows designers to create 3D multi-piece jewellery on their desktop.

For Brenda, the versatility of the program and the easy transition from design workshop drawings to vectors to 3D model has put her business—and her creativity--on a whole new level.

“ArtCAM and enameling is for me a beautiful marriage of fine art and technology. As a designer I love to take risks, and as a jewellery maker and business owner I enjoy the power of ArtCAM.”

One of Brenda’s finest works with ArtCAM Jewelsmith was an Edwardian wedding set. She reports, “The bride and groom wanted an Edwardian design with bows and swags, an oval centre diamond and lots of accent and smaller diamonds. Once I had the shape and proportion of the ring correct, I created three reliefs on front,back, and top. Then I created a setting that matched the line and movement of the ring shank. They loved its elegant appearance.”

Unique designs – rapidly
Brenda finds that the software’s best technical feature for her business is its ability to help her create components that can be interchanged and used in a variety of settings, and to create a range of unique pieces in a very short time period, for presentation to her clients. Another benefit to the software is that it allows Brenda to create renderings of each design and send them electronically to clients for review and approval before manufacturing. “You get quicker approvals using the web,” Brenda said. “This saves a great deal of time, and my clients are confident they will get from our studio precisely what they expect.”

The ArtCAM suite allows Brenda to create designs that fully reflect her and her customers’ intentions. “The technical capabilities of ArtCAM complement my passion for design,” she said. “When I first heard about ArtCAM, I knew it would be the most valuable tool at my disposal to create whatever I designed and whatever my client wanted to customize.”

The ArtCAM JewelSmith software provides all the tools and functionality to manufacture jewellery. A fully configurable machining wizard allows users to go from design to manufactured part quickly and easily. Users also can produce STL models for rapid prototyping or transferring across systems, including importing jewellery models from other systems to add to, edit and machine.

ArtCAM also automatically calculates and produces the toolpaths for machining any 3D model from multiple directions with automatic support for tool changing and rotary index moves. Brenda uploads the data to the 4-axis CNC Model Master Mill. She also has the knowledge and flexibility within ArtCAM to modify the toolpaths to suit her preferences. ArtCAM has proven essential on production work at Radford Studio. The Venetian Mask Collection is a Radford production line that was created specially for the Stratford Festival theatre store. With ArtCAM the components were very easy to scale to create different brooches, pendants, earrings, cufflinks and lapel pins. The design was inspired by a 17th century Venetian embroidery.

Other custom projects include The Phoenix pendant, a wedding gift for a bridegroom from the bride’s family. It was meant to be symbolic and reflect their faith, her Celtic heritage and their divine union. “The butterfly ring was a gift from a bridegroom to his bride that included her love of butterflies and a Celtic weave, which represented him,” Brenda said. “The ring was inspired with both in mind. Because the bride has tiny (size 4) hands, it gets a lot of attention sitting on her hand. Wearing it took a little getting used to, but she deeply loves it and was thrilled that her groom took so much effort in creating it for her.”

Support and Training
Critical to the successful integration of computer-aided design (CAD) software into Brenda’s business has been the excellent training and support she received from Delcam’s Technical Sales Engineer Scott Ingram, Toronto, Ontario. “Many Jewellers are the owner, designer, accountant and marketer of their business. In today’s market investing into technology is important to them to grow their business but can still be a bit intimidating for them,” explains Scott. “From the very beginning we can instill a high degree of confidence to new users because the software is incredibly capable and easy to use.”

With over 13 years of development, users can be confident that their investment in ArtCAM will be rewarded with high-level, long-term commitment to support, training and future developments from Delcam. Delcam also listens to and acts on customer feedback for new developments and improvements in the software.

ArtCAM is a proven solution for the jewellery industry worldwide. It is continually tested and developed at Delcam's own in-house jewellery bureau service, which has used ArtCAM since 1994 to produce a variety of unique jewellery pieces

Contact: Brenda Radford, Radford Studio
Stratford, ON 519-275-2770
brenda@radfordstudio.com