What do Hand Built and Hand Assembled Mean?

What do hand built and hand assembled mean?

I have been a custom gold and silversmith for over 25 years. The vast majority of jewelry I have built has been one of a kind or limited production pieces for particular clients. I designed and built each piece in its entirety using many of the same tools used in centuries past.  As a goldsmith, I was taught to make my own wire and sheet using ingots and a rolling mill.  If a part could not be fabricated efficiently, it was cast: first by carving an expendable wax model, and then cast in an expendable one-time mold, using karat gold or sterling silver.  All of the finishing, polishing, and setting was done by my hands.  I was and am proud to be a gold and silversmith.  Over the years, many jewelry manufacturers have advertised their jewelry as being hand crafted, even though many elements were mass-produced and finished or set by machines with little human intervention.  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), has determined that hand fabricated jewelry must be formed using sheet and wire.  Assembled and joined components are finished entirely by hand or with hand tools.  It is interesting to me that cast pieces are not determined to be hand fabricated by the FTC.  I would beg to differ.  If I carve, invest, and cast a wax model in order to create a custom piece of jewelry, and do not mold that model in order to make identical copies, then, I have created a custom item, hand fabricated and finished, even though I used casting as the vehicle.   Because jewelry manufacturers use casting and subsequent molding in order to produce multiples of the same design, the finished pieces cannot be considered hand fabricated.  Similarly, if I purchase beads, head pins, and findings to assemble a pair of earrings, I am not hand fabricating anything.  I am manipulating finished components in order to assemble a finished item, earrings.  If my product consists of assembled components, it is not hand built or fabricated.  Unfortunately, there is little or no enforcement of this ruling in the real world.  The sterling silver lever backs holding my handcrafted earrings to your ears are not hand fabricated.  They are die struck and much more durable than those made be hand.  So, now you know. 

Here are some links you might find helpful.

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6571149&page=16

Have a great day.