Core Worlds Couture: Spiffing Jewelry Review

Core Worlds Couture With Jay Krebs

My custom necklace from Spiffing Jewelry

Welcome back!

This week in Core Worlds Couture, I’ll be reviewing a unique Star Wars inspired jewelry piece. Let’s jump right to it!

Spiffing Jewelry “The Force Is Strong In My Family” necklace

Image: Spiffingjewelry.com

This item was my “Happy Mother’s Day To Me” purchase. I found the company through a link on social media, and decided to purchase this necklace, because I’m always looking for something unique – and even personalized – to add to my jewelry entourage. As a mom, this necklace also appealed to me, because it’s a stylized Star Wars version of the run-of-the-mill “mommy charm necklaces” available through many other venues.

Quick background on the company: Spiffing Jewelry is a privately-owned and operated online custom jewelry and overall geekery boutique, based in San Diego, California. It began in 2008 by a gal who wanted custom geek jewelry, but couldn’t necessarily afford what was out there. There are now four women who operate the business and make all the items to order. There is more than just women’s jewelry: you can find men’s items, home décor and even custom guitar picks! You will find everything from Star Wars to Princess Bride; Transformers, to Harry Potter. They also take commissions for specialized items.

This necklace and website especially intrigued me, because I’m always on the lookout for people who take personal pride in their products.

Price: base price is $60.00, depending on length of chain, number of names, etc., plus S/H (see below).

Description (from website):

Technical Specs:

Made from .925 sterling silver.
Approx. 1.5″ x .70″ center pendant, hand stamped with “the force is strong in my family”.
Smaller pendants vary in size, 1/4″ wide by 1/2″-1″ long depending on length of names.
Sterling silver cable chain in your choice of length (lengths come in 16”, 18” ($2.00 extra), or 20” ($4.00 extra)
Finished with a lobster clasp

“Our process is very different from traditional engraving, which carves a light groove into the metal. Stamping is a more forceful technique, where each individual letter, number and symbol is stamped by hand, one at a time with a hammer and steel stamp. Because our products are not machine-made, reasonable variations are to be expected and contribute to the uniqueness and hand finished quality of each piece.”

The website was very easy to navigate, and checkout/payment could be done through various methods. My preferred method is PayPal, and I actually ordered the necklace directly from my phone! For the name options, I ordered my name, my husband’s, and my two boys’ names. The first three names are free; each additional name is $6.00, up to five names. If you ask, I’m sure you could probably add more than that; they seem to be very accommodating to their customers’ needs.

Shipping time: I received my necklace in about 13 business days. The website will tell you what their current production time is for their items, so it’s important to check that.

Satisfaction of packing/shipping: It’s very obvious that the ladies at Spiffing Jewelry take pride in making sure their packages get a very special, personalized touch. My necklace arrived in a little black box (inside a shipping box), stamped in gold with the company name. The box was wrapped in black-and-white striped tissue paper, sealed with a gold sticker, and had a little note inside from the company. I was very pleased to see such care in the packaging. There is also an option to send items as a gift. For this one, you had to add $3.00 at checkout. I’m not sure what other items would be, so you would have to check.

Nice, little touches like these are appreciated

There are three different shipping options available. I chose the cheapest route, and to my zip code in Ohio, it only cost $3.33 to ship, which I thought was very reasonable.

Durability: So far, this piece has held up pretty well to my (almost) everyday wear of it. You do need to take care of the silver, because it does oxidize easily with body chemistry, lotions, perfumes, etc.

Care instructions (from website):

“Sterling silver: .925 sterling silver contains a small percentage of copper and will oxidize over time. It can be cleaned with a silver polish pad or sunshine polishing cloth. Some people are allergic to some of the metals used to make sterling silver, and this will cause their skin (as well as the metal) to turn black after prolonged wear and exposure to moisture. This is similar to brass turning your skin green, and can be washed right off. If you suspect you might be allergic to a metal, I highly suggest you test it by wearing another piece of jewelry made from that metal before ordering a customized piece. All of our sterling silver pieces are made from .925 sterling silver, most from raw sheet.”

So far, I have used a very mild soap (Dove) to clean it (I was away from home and was desperate), and have also used this product (called Connoisseurs, see photo) which can be found at your local department or drug store for around $6.00 for an 8 oz. jar. It comes clean nicely each time. I’ve had it now for almost 2 months, I wear it almost daily, and it seems to be holding its luster and quality just fine.

My overall rating/reaction:

I am absolutely in love with this piece! It has become a “signature piece” of mine. Like I said, I wear it almost every day. It goes with everything from jeans to dresses. I got the 16” length chain, which is perfect to wear with most necklines – it’s short enough to compliment a v-neck or scoop-neck, and is not too long to wear overtop a t-shirt. It seems to be just the right size for complimenting most outfits. I have gotten a lot of compliments on it, too! It is definitely a bit more price-wise than many pieces of “every day” jewelry, but it is custom, it is unique, and I appreciate the overall look and quality.

The necklace goes great with a dress…

As for my numbers: This necklace gets 4.5 out of 5 Galactic Credits! The only reason I didn’t give it a 5 is because I do recommend you clean it every time you wear it, or it’ll get tarnished for sure. I will definitely be returning to Spiffing Jewelry in the future. I already have my eye on a few items!!