My sister asked me to make her a new ring – very simple silver ring band. One solder join, no complications. Sounds like a nice easy way to get back into making jewellery, after my last disheartening disaster into mokume gane! I guess I should have learned to walk before trying to run! And it …
I’ve been meaning to learn how to make jump rings for quite a while. The turquoise pendant I made sometime ago, is in need of a chain. Do you remember this one? What I’ve learnt this week is that there is much skill, patience and practice needed in the art of hand-making jump rings. Getting …
I finally started to make my husband’s Christmas present. He’s my biggest fan (aah!), but he’s also a big Tottenham Hotspurs fan! So it seems only fitting that I make some Spurs-inspired cufflinks! Come On You Spurs! I’ve planned to use the Spurs logo, setting copper onto a sterling silver backing. Luckily, I have an …
I recently bought a Groupon voucher for a jewellery class at Claire Aristides Jewellery School – it was for a half-day beginners class, based in Covent Garden. I arrived bright and early as the class starts at 10.30am. There were around 30 other girls (and one dad!) in the room. The class was led by 4 …
My mum’s birthday is coming up and even though she doesn’t wear jewellery, I don’t want her to feel left out. So I’ve decided to make her a special silver brooch. I’ve opted for a fairly simple design, featuring a small round turquoise cabochon (ordered from Bellore) in a shamrock. I would have made a …
Ah, Christmas… the most wonderful time of the year, and definitely one of my favourite times of year! I love the colours, the food and spending time with my family. Oh and presents! Both giving and receiving! Every year, my family has a tradition of asking each other what they’d like as a gift, and …
After a short hiatus from jewellery making, I finished the twins’ birthday pendants over the weekend (only a month late!). Filing the edges smooth in all the little gaps took a long time, but completely worth it! Check them out, pre-finished:
I added the bails (pre-bought from Cookson Gold) – sounds silly, but it didn’t occur to me that there were different sized pins on pinch bails. These bails were originally too long for my 1mm thick silver pendants. I found it was easily fixed, simply by cutting with flush cutters to get a perfect fit! All-in-all, I’m fairly pleased with the outcome – the two pendants look reasonably similar given that a) they are handmade and b) I am a complete beginner!
I took quite a long time finishing these off as I wanted a high-polish shine. For now, I have temporarily abandoned my Dremel, after making a bit of a mess with my sister’s ring. I will need to do some more reading on how to finish jewellery. In any case, I hand-finished with three grades of sand paper (150, 180 and 1200) – I have to admit, I think the 150 is a bit too coarse for what I’m doing.
I then took a burnisher to each of the pendants to get a really high shine. I’m not 100% with the finish, because I can still see marks and the shine doesn’t seem to be even – but it’s as good as I’m going to get for now, I think. I might invest in a barrelling machine to see if that helps with the finish.
So here they are, the final necklaces:
And here is what they look like on:
I’ve sent pictures to the in-laws, and they seem pretty pleased. I’ll have to wait and see what the twins think!
Feels like I haven’t made any jewellery for a really long time (when in reality it has only been 1 weekend)! But I’m really excited to be making a ring for my sister’s birthday present. I still have the lapis lazuli cabochons I bought a few weeks ago. So my plan is to make a …
Since I started on my jewellery making quest, I have been asking myself the question “just who would buy my jewellery?”. And it’s a really hard question for me to answer. I’ve read that I should be making jewellery that I like. Sounds simple. The problem is that I like (and sometimes love!) a lot …
From the moment I started learning about jewellery, I started thinking about how I could approach starting a jewellery business. Do I go back to school? Do I look for a jewellery apprenticeship? What do I do about my current career?
I wonder if everyone ask themselves these sorts of questions at some point or another during their lives? Especially when they find a hobby they love? For me, I suppose I have always had it in the back of my mind that I’d like to start my own business. I like the idea of working for myself, and I know I have the discipline to do it, too. But, I’ve never had the first clue about what sort of business or where to start!
This post isn’t about how I (or you) go about starting a jewellery business (although, it’s a theme that I will probably revisit often) – I haven’t even decided if I will start a jewellery business. I’m just not ready!
Being realistic, I went to my first jewellery class in July and it’s September as I write. I’ve spent most weekends since then, practising making jewellery. But professional jewellers have probably practised and trained for years!
Right now, none of my pieces are of a good enough quality or finish that I would have the confidence to sell them. I mean, I just couldn’t face all the returns! I need a LOT more practice before I even think about a business! But I suppose it doesn’t hurt to *think* about how I would turn my hobby into a business. The raw materials for silversmithing cost a lot! I wonder if I start laying the foundations now, then I might have the beginnings of a business. Maybe I need to spend more time thinking about what types of jewellery and styles I like to make.
I’m in the (probably not uncommon) position that I’ve never trained in jewellery design or silversmithing. I also have a full-time job so jewellery making is a complete hobby. And while the idea of doing a jewellery-based degree or taking a diploma is appealing, I just don’t have the luxury of quitting my job and doing a degree. So, it seems that (for the moment at least) I’m going to have to be self-taught. I wonder how many people start the same way?
So that’s where I’m starting from.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been wondering whether I can do some volunteering work at the weekend or a part-time (weekend) apprenticeship. I’ve seen a number of apprenticeships advertised on Benchpeg newsletter – the idea of writing a letter to some of these companies to see if I can get a bit of experience is starting to appeal to me. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? The company will tell me “no” and that they want someone who can work full-time. That’s ok and I’ve already set my expectations.
But maybe, just maybe, someone will say “yes” and let me work/volunteer on weekends. It would be nice to see what a real jewellery designer does – how do they create and finish a piece? What is the real end-to-end process of running a business? Whichever company could be getting free resource, someone enthusiastic and keen to learn, dependable… And I could see myself changing careers at some point in the future – so maybe, that company would get a trained/mouldable employee. Yeah… maybe I’m stretching that one a bit!
So I *am* left with the question “what’s in it for them?”. And it’s this question that i will need to answer before I do approach any jewellers, but I don’t suppose it can hurt to try, when I feel a bit more ready for a “next step”.
