What do you want to do?
The internet is full of great resources for information. I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface of what’s available for jewelry design. Scroll down to see sections with resource links to jewelry magazines, schools for jewelry design, tips & tricks, and some great social media accounts that regularly share useful jewelry learning information.
Technical Resources
A collection of websites I’ve saved where you can find tech publications, competitions, and exhibition opportunities available for metalsmiths.
Ganoskin
Online Courses
There are several online platforms or YouTube videos that teach you how to make jewelry. Many of these teach you how to assemble components without any serious metalworking.
If you want to up your game and learn things like soldering, repoussé, and enameling, then you need more advanced training that many jewelers learn by attending schools or apprenticeships lasting a year or longer. Not everyone has that kind of time or liberty to travel to a school located in a city far away from where they live.
Here are some online schools or teachers I've researched that show how to learn with various blends of live online sessions, recorded lessons, and actual feedback of your progress all while still being able to continue your regular “day job” - whatever that may be. Some offer a full course like a traditional school and others may have specific intensive lessons focused on a particular technique that you want to add to your skillset.
Lucy Walker Jewellery Metalsmith Academy
Little Metal Foxes
Jim Dailing (on Teachable)
Tips & Tricks of the Trade
Social media sites like Instagram and Facebook have several jewelers and metalsmiths sharing information for free on their profiles or in groups for jewelry making. Here are some of my favorites that I’ve come across.
Little Metal Foxes
Lucy Walker Jewellery
Schools in Italy
Some creative people (like me) dream of living or studying in person in Italy. I took a leap of faith and made it work out after A LOT of effort. Uncertain if I would stay and looking to do it quickly, I signed up as a student to qualify for a student visa which would allow me to be here for 1 year before deciding if it would become a permanent move. My focus was to stay in Rome. I’ve since learned of other schools that I might have learned more than I did, but I won’t complain as I made some great contacts from the experience and they helped me navigate some of the immigration issues I faced in the beginning of my life in Italy journey.
TADS - Tarì Design School (Caserta near Napoli)