[Jewelry making - Article 00071] - Re: [Orchid] Self taught Vs Formal training

[R . E . Rourke]

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    First- dentists, and Md's are a different realm than a creative
    application, and one would expect that they would indeed attend
    school. Please ! context seems to be used loosely on Orchid.
    depending on the subjective bent an individual wants to support on
    whatever the issue is..My point- (and that sentiment about validating
    the instructor was a quotation by the way,that certainly made me much
    more aware of judiciously attending classes...after learning almost
    nothing new after spending a fortune trying to broaden my skills- )
    was that the four thousand dollars spent for a week long stay plus
    travel expenses at J.C.Campbell Folk school for instance, learning to
    prepare a bezel and set it, could be FAR better spent investing in : 

    McCreight's book with CD demos ( 40 bucks) and a few oz.'s of fine
    silver ( 40 bucks) and carefully selected high karat gold stock (
    allow 300 here for the volatile market) three different types of flux(
    20 bucks) and 18 kt hard solder ( 28 bucks) an entire torch set up (
    up to 300 bucks) and perhaps 200 ctw of stones and cabs ( up to 100
    bucks- picking cheap but quality materials like amethyst, garnets,
    peridot, turquoise, cz's (for practice purposes on bead setting) and
    whatever else one can find limiting the expenditure to 100 dollars)
    and a few videos or DVDs in specific areas like stone setting,
    granulation, mokume - gane or whatever interests the individual (120
    bucks) assorted hand tools ( 200 bucks)... 

    OK I'm up to about $1248.00 If I were starting cold, with no
    materials,tools, need to make a living at metalsmithing and without
    practical life experience or a background in sciences,arts and
    humanities-etc... which is not my case 

    I believe that the savings of almost three grand would most
    definitely be better invested in figuring "it" out on my own than
    attending even one class at that particular school..but that's from
    the perspective of a person that has absolutely no extra money to
    attend classes in which one may or may not complete even a single
    piece in the short period of time allotted and prescribed. For a
    hobbyist, or person that has no intention of going into jewelry
    making as a sole source of income and uses the folk school, for
    example, as an alternative vacation destination and who has money to
    spend without having to make subsistence choices in stead of
    attendance for an extended period of time at a given school - then
    "classes", per se, may be a perfect distraction from the monotony of
    a life without any financial issues. 

    Every person is different- I did in fact learn more in thirty years
    of experiential self-taught jewelry making than i ever did from any
    class i have received a scholarship, or was invited to take, In
    fact, in some of the classes, after a few days the teacher asked me
    to do some of the metallurgical demos- and my teachers were far more
    accomplished as jewelers than i am and far more adept at making
    money at it than i am- In fact one teacher, whose earrings sell for
    upwards of 1200.00 a pair, that asked me to do refining and
    reclamation and bead setting demos, has resulted in a relationship in
    which I was asked to buy stones for the instructor on an ongoing
    basis due to my "eye"- or so the compliment was stated. I went into
    that class thinking it was time I learned what I was doing wrong- or
    at least alternative methods to the way I have done things... after
    years of doing it on my own..in addition to belonging to many
    organizations, guilds, and trade associations and teaching what i had
    learned ( on my own) to students private and public, that have sought
    my knowledge- mostly teaching for free as long as the individual was
    committed enough to not wasting my time or theirs.. 

    Perhaps things are done differently in Europe- and this should
    concern me why? 

    I have my own methods, that - oddly - are exactly what I have
    observed being taught at the places I have received scholarships to
    attend over the years.. 

    Everyone learns differently... 

    One quite notable and famous teacher of mine told me that "watching
    me work was amazing--as if the metal was paper." It made me think-or
    come to the realization that i indeed have absolutely no regard for
    how much "it" costs when i am in process- I simply melt down and
    refine and reuse metals over and over until I am satisfied that a
    workpiece or mill product is exactly how it should be...I don't
    require anyone else to tell me that their method is more correct
    than what I have arrived at on my own over many many ounces of trial
    and error, or carats of stones that had to be repolished or recut or
    just tossed into a pile of rejects that now fills a jar somewhere on
    the planet ( as it was lost in a flood). 

    I am from a culture that is based on a "spend it all "mentality - one
    either has or does not, life will go on regardless of what one's
    financial situation may be minute to minute or week to week..the
    point is to enjoy life. I do, and I enjoy making things of
    metals..and Fine silver is far less problematic than sterling due to
    the lack of copper included in it..I have learned that over many
    years of trial and a teacher told me she used.999 solely if using
    silver,ten years or so ago and since then i have adopted that
    approach to using silver as well. For you to have an opinion is
    valid, as is my stating that fine silver is superior to sterling- and
    there are many reasons that I find that to be true and will defend
    that principal, as have MY teachers, in that it fuses to itself
    readily, doesn't produce allergenic reactions in wearers as readily
    as sterling, and It is more malleable than sterling to cite a few of
    the multitudinous reasons it is not only responsible of me to assert,
    but my opinion- which, Richard, is as valuable as yours, and any
    European model you could possibly present me that teaches anything
    differently than I, on my own, have learned to execute
    successfully..and You state no one teaches silversmithing using pure
    silver, is simply incorrect. Of the five teachers that i have
    encountered ( all famous jewelers, that I'm certain you have heard of
    or aspired to be as successful as they are) three of them use fine
    silver over sterling considering it to be less flexible a material (
    in applications not literally) than sterling..So we simply have
    different experiences with silver. 

    Further, It is not called for to assert that " there is not one good
    reason for anyone to start making jewelery with pure silver"- au
    contraire...I believe there is, MY teachers believe there is, and
    that is what I teach regarding silver. I suppose you think it
    invalid that i recommend students avoid paying for 14 karat gold as
    well...and i do just that- I believe its a better, wiser investment
    to put one's money into 24 karat casting grain almost exclusively and
    invest in a rolling mill in effect saving lots of money in the long
    run - and to fabricate ones own mill products than to pay a
    fabrication charge, and premium prices for a material that is almost
    half gold, and that one can never grasp the properties of if not
    involved in its manufacture- call me old fashioned, or archaic, but
    that is what I believe- and I also hold true that everyone is
    entitled to their own beliefs and no one has more power than another
    regardless of how the knowledge of whatever it is they study is
    arrived at. 

    If you choose to make statements like "no one teaches silversmithing
    using pure silver"..and "opportunities are opened up to me that i
    would not have had if not for my teachers" and " a person cannot get
    the right tools on their own" are simply not true in any way or on
    any plane of experience I have had or learned on, and further, I'm
    fairly certain that we are all looking at the same tool catalogues so
    your assumptions about assembling the "right tools" as you put it,
    are simply pointed at making yourself feel validated, or somehow
    superior ...I simply don't buy into your belittlement's, or
    philosophy, or incorrect information, or misinformation, or any of
    your post at all..in fact, i find it most offensive and aimed at
    somehow saying to me - somewhat covertly, but not- that I don't know
    of which I speak..you do not know me, have never seen my work or
    attended a single class workshop, seminar, or intensive that i have
    taught.. you Richard, are limiting yourself, I do not choose to...and
    any opportunities i have or that come my way are certainly not due to
    my paying someone money to hear them speak or demonstrate their way
    of fabricating x...And i find it nearly impossible to think that
    Cellini for an example of a self taught master-found anyone more
    skilled than he, or when perusing De Re Metallica questioned its
    validity. your vanity and narcissism astounds me..as does your
    invalidation of the writers of books..or the assertion that they are
    somehow less than " right".I don't recall seeing your name in any
    bibliographies..or perhaps I'm making assumptions..the point of it
    all is, next time do not single me out if you have never met me and
    do not question an individuals abilities to be more advanced than
    your own at an art that is left entirely to interpretation..You are
    no more an expert than am I... I have the "right" to post what i
    would have a novice metalsmith learn, but I do not have the right to
    attack someone Else's experiences... 

 
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