[Jewelry making - Article 01119] - Re: [Orchid] How others got started in jewelry making?

[Judy Hoch]

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    One of the questions that seems to be missing in this thread is:
    what kind of jewelry are you planning to make? If you want to make
    traditional gold jewelry with diamonds and colored stones, GIA or
    Revere are good choices - although GIA is overpriced for what you
    get, IMHO. But if you just want to get your feet wet and look at the
    whole field - I'd suggest finding a good local metals program at a
    community college. You can get the basics, and if the teacher is any
    good, you can look at the range of stuff we call jewelry. 

    I took the GG course from GIA and it has served me well, even though
    it's a lot of money, it is thorough. But when I decided I wanted to
    do more than play with stones, I took a setting class and a repair
    class from GIA, which taught me some of what I needed. But the real
    winner was finding a Penland educated instructor at the local
    community college. He brought in many big names that taught specific
    techniques. We learned fold forming, fusing, enameling, hydraulic
    press techniques, and many other things. I think I was lucky to have
    such an informed teacher, who also hooked us up with the local
    metalsmithing organization. But what I found is not unusual, you
    just have to look a bit harder than throwing money at the problem. 

    The other source for learning is from books - if you have had the
    basic soldering, polishing stuff, get some good books and follow
    their instructions. Alan Revere has a good one called Professional
    Goldsmithing for the traditional stuff. My first one was Oppi
    Untracht Metal Techniques for Craftmen and then his second one
    Jewelry. My library has something like 75 jewelry books and is used
    constantly for reference. Look at the books, and see if what it shows
    is what you want to learn. 

    A young man in our area, Adam Neeley, started in the field making
    silver jewelry with hand cut stones, about 7 years ago. He billed
    himself as the youngest jeweler in Colorado. He has gone on to study
    at a number of places, including a stint in Italy. It was definitely
    a boot strap operation, but go an look at what he's doing - it is
    terrific. www.adamneeley.com - and he is just 21 now!

Judy Hoch

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