[Jewelry making - Article 00953] - Re: [Orchid] Definition of Master Jeweller

[Nanz Aalund]

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>     The Goldsmith means someone who shapes the gold by hammering. How
>     many jewelers are out there who really knows how to forge? My guess
>     would be not to many. 

    I know how to forge and I learned it at a University! 

    Only 30 years ago in the USA there where trade unions/guilds for
    Jewelers/Goldsmiths and the trade union had very strict rules about
    how you got promoted from apprentice to journeyman to master
    craftsman. 

    In the early 1980s I applied to one of the last jeweler's guild in
    San Francisco for my journeyman's papers and I was given strict
    guidelines to follow. 

    I had to make from scratch a complex project in gold or platinum, the
    project had to be approved for technical difficulty by two other
    master goldsmiths who were in good standing with the union. The
    project had to include faceted stone setting in a flush or bezel
    mount and it had to include a fabricated box closure with hinges. 

    Under the oversight of the two master goldsmiths I forged out
    platinum wire and sheet stock from an ingot. Thankfully platinum was
    only $500 an ounce. I used every pennyweight and reclaimed my sweeps
    using aqua regia. 

    A few years after I completed my project cheap immigrant labor broke
    the jeweler union. Does that mean the title of journeyman is
    meaningless? I think not. 

Nanz Aalund
Associate Editor / Art Jewelry magazine
21027 Crossroads Circle / Waukesha WI 53187-1612
262.796.8776 ext.228
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