Mastering your craft
Jewelry making can be very time-consuming. True masters of their craft have honed their skills with many hours of practice and hopefully the knowledge they gain during the process can make things go more efficiently after they have learned what can save them time and what doesn’t work out well.
I see a lot of new jewelers these days learning new skills via YouTube or from pre-recorded videos. While it’s a very useful resource to learn just about anything these days, sometimes having a teacher in person (or virtually from live classes) that can work with you will help you leap past a lot of the mistakes and misinterpretations we make by going it alone. Not only will it save you time, it can also save you from making costly mistakes. Not everyone is so naturally gifted to just “get it” on the first try.
Many of you know that I don’t just make jewelry, I teach English to non-native speakers and that I’ve learned Italian after many years of living in Italy. Italian is a complicated language when it comes to all the grammar rules and conjugations. However, I’m just as guilty as many of my students when it comes to investing in my education to really improve my Italian. I haven’t taken a paid course with an instructor since I first moved here and I mostly self-study when I find some moments to do so. I will say that my vocabulary knowledge (I think) is quite good and the majority of the time I understand what I hear when others speak if their accent isn’t too strong or they don’t mix in too much dialect.
Although I know that I make some mistakes when speaking, I can generally be understood by most Italians. Too many are too polite to “correct” me when I make mistakes. So what happens? I continue to make the same mistakes over and over again and I often don’t realize that I’m doing it because it’s become a habit. My Italian husband doesn’t help much either because he thinks it’s “cute” the way I speak. Things would be much easier when I need to explain something complicated if I would just get some more professional instruction so that I can express myself better and I’d feel more confident in the workplace when I teach at the university.
The same principles can be applied to jewelry making. Your family and friends will compliment you, but may not know how to make jewelry themselves and so they can’t offer too much in the way of suggestions to improve. They probably don’t want to hurt your feelings either if it isn’t perfect and they want to be supportive of your efforts.
Learning new jewelry skills or even just getting started in jewelry making will greatly help you gain the knowledge and confidence you need by learning in person from a master that has experience and wisdom to share. They can advise you on corrections to make during the learning process or what to avoid. You don’t necessarily need to enroll in a full-time jewelry school if you don’t have the time for such a commitment and don’t have a need for a diploma or degree. Attending intensive workshops can save you time and can be more personal than some larger classes spread out over a long time.
So, if you are looking to get started in jewelry design, need help improving what you’ve learned through self-study, want a refresher, or just want to add to your existing skillset, check out our new workshops scheduled for 2025. Meanwhile, I’m going to continue getting the classroom ready to host our incoming teachers next summer so I can finally get back to my own jewelry practice before I start teaching jewelry classes too…
hand-painting the scallop pattern on the wall of the classroom with my assistant, Jarvis
Upcoming confirmed instructors for 2025: Jim Dailing, Sandra McEwen, and Brienna Hall. Visit the event calendar to select view details on the instructor or class you are interested in. Sign up for our newsletter on our homepage to receive updates to your inbox when we add to the calendar.