An Introduction and "Cautionary Tale" to aspiring Bench Jewellers

Jewelry Discussion
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Hello Fellow Jewellers,

Just to introduce myself, I was a Bench Jeweller, both full and part-time for over (25) years, though in reality, more like (30+) years, with a few breaks here and there to try other things… I started as an Apprentice Goldsmith in my Uncle’s Jewellery Store in East Tennessee when I was (17 - I am now 55, almost 56) and after several years there, I also worked in various Jewellery Stores, Manufacturing Jewellers and Jewellery Repair Specialists in and around East Tennessee and Central Missouri. I even had my own one-man Jewellery Repair/Fabricating Business in East Tennessee for several years, where I did the Repairs and Fabrications for (5-8) different Jewellery Stores and Wholesale Jewellery Salesmen, in the area and Northern Georgia. As an Apprentice, once I was proficient with most techniques working on Gold and Platinum Jewellery, I was then encouraged to learn how to be fast and efficient with Repairs and in Fabricating Jewellery - when I say “Fabricating”, I am referring to taking Ready-Made Mountings, Castings or Findings and joining them together and then Mounting the Gemstones and Finishing them for the Customer/Showcase/Jewellery Store Client. Speed and efficiency was what was expected of me and I became very fast and efficient, so much so, I rarely did anything but Repairs and Fabrications and my Creativity was more or less stifled, for efficiency’s sake. Unfortunately, after a few decades or more of this, I burned-out and honestly couldn’t stand to even look at Jewellery anymore and moved on to do other things - my “Cautionary Tale” to aspiring Bench Jewellers, Please Don’t Let Anyone Ever Pigeon-Hole You Or Stifle Your Creativity… Somehow though, I always seemed to get pulled back into Jewellery Work, I would fill-in part-time for a vacationing or sick Jeweller, often times working in the late-afternoon/evening hours and once they returned, being asked to stay on to “help out” for a while, which typically lasted several months on up to a few years or more, again doing mostly Repairs and Fabrications. Then about (5) or so years ago, the Owner of the Jewellery Store that I had been working part-time at, along with (2-3) other Jewellers, decided to Retire and move on to other things, so I Retired from the Jewellery Business too. Since then, I’ve had a few Jewellery Stores offer me both full and part-time positions to return to doing Repairs and Fabrications, but I have declined them all. I guess that after all of the years of doing Repairs and Fabrications and little else, I have decided that my Creativity needs to be Released and I will finally chase the countless Ideas that have been floating around in my head since I began, no matter where they lead me!!! Interestingly enough, even though I’ve been in and hovering around the Jewellery Business for over (30+) years, I almost feel like I did when I was just starting out as an Apprentice, I’m Excited to see where my “New” Adventure is going to take me!!! Thank you for reading my long-winded and somewhat rambling Introduction, I sometimes have difficulty stopping, once I get going…

Yours,
Jonathan B. Pons

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Hello Jonathan,
It is nice to get to know you, snd i cannot wait to see where your creative spirit takes you. Time is such a previous thing…enjoy!

julie

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Have fun! I’m in a different category of jewelry maker but I have learned that it’s really important for my well-being to take time off from the bread & butter work I do to just play with creative ideas for my own satisfaction. Cheerio, Sue

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Release the Beast! :smiley:

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Julie,
Thank you so much for the kind reply, I really do appreciate it! You are so very right, Time is very precious and I’ve wasted too much of it! Now I’m heading in the right direction! Thanks again!

Sue,
Thank you so much for your advice, I really do appreciate it! I wish that I had learned that much sooner, but it’s never too late to start! Thanks again!

Sonja,
Thank you so much!!! I really laughed at that one! My wife would probably agree with you, as I can be pretty grumpy when I haven’t had any time playing around in my Shop! :wink:

Jonathan

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I am so happy for you and wish you all the best in your new adventure. Enjoy every minute of it. And may all the dreams and visions your creative mind holds find fruition as you walk this new path in your life.

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Pat,
Thank you so much for your very kind words, I sincerely appreciate it!
Jonathan

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Your story certainly resonates with me (we are the same age). I spent a bit of time when I first qualified working as a jewellery designer for a manufacturing business being ask to churn out designs that reflected others work in a sterile office. When they finally did take a gamble on my original ideas they won awards but by that time I couldn’t stomach drawing any longer. I then spent time working at a bench, got into teaching and then had a car accident. Roll on 8 years and a move to beautiful Northumberland during Covid and I dusted off my tools again, messing about with scraps and played. 18 months ago, and friends and family getting fed up of jewellery gifts, I decided to launch my own brand QuayStones and last week I did my first major trade event selling MY work. It was a blinding success. My stuff is simple compared to some of the fabulous makers on this platform but I am loving the challenge. So my advice, close your eyes and jump!

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Vanessa,
Thank you so much for your reply and your advice, I sincerely appreciate it! We do have some similar work experiences, though my employers never did “take a gamble on my original ideas”, but that didn’t stop me from hand-making several pieces in my “free time” over the years - All of which sold within a week of being put in the showcase and yet I still remained their “Repairs Guy” (shaking my head)… Anyway, my goal right now is to experiment, have fun and make things that I’m interested in or that I’ve always wanted to make - my list is very long! :wink:

P.S. I looked up your QuayStones Etsy Store and I have to say that I Love your Cat Range (I Love my Kitties!) and your Bee Range is very nicely done too - very nice, clean lines and I can see the Art Deco influence, Well Done!

Thank you once again!
Jonathan

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Omg that’s just terrible what they did to you!!! Leave it to cooperate America to take an ART and turn it into a monotonous tedious mind numbing task. I just can’t even wrap my head around it. I’m on the opposite end of the spectrum. I’m honest to god physically incapable of doing something I’m not interested in. I blame it on my personality type, I’m just too impulsive. I wish I had at least a balance between the two so I could do things like show up to appointments on time, keep the water jug in the fridge filled, remember what day it is and why I should care, etc etc. Like it’s bad, I’m kind of a flake. I’m an obsessive perfectionist, I make something once, it better be perfect because I’m not stopping until it is, and that’s it, I can’t ever make it again, and by the time I’m done making it just once I’m so sick of looking at it I want it out of the house. Now. I get bored easily, and if I get bored, I just fall asleep. So, truly, I’m physically incapable of doing anything that doesn’t interest me. My brain just automatically shuts down, and I can’t keep my eyes open anymore because I’m bored out of my mind. I’ve always hated that about myself, I wish I could be a little more type A, but yanno there’s a downside to that as well as you illustrated. People just take advantage of you and completely rob you of joy if you’re really type A, they load you up with endless garbage nobody wants to deal with and expect you to just do it and not complain. They don’t care as long as they don’t have to do it so it works out well for them so what’s the problem, right? Ugh. Then you look up and years and decades have gone by, and you never really got to realize your true potential. I wish you many many many more years to come of realizing your potential, and I hope your success is off the charts. And as weird as this sounds, I hope you find your inner flake and have a blast with it! Lol

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“18 months ago, and friends and family getting fed up of jewellery gifts…” ok my jaw just fell open when I read that. How can ANYONE get fed up with jewelry?!?! And FREE jewelry at that!!! I’m speechless, I don’t even know what to say. I’ve got bags and boxes full of jewelry. And I collected all of that before I even decided I’m determined to become a goldsmith, it’s going to be 100 times worse now.

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The Etsy stuff is OK but my first designs and a bit limited appeal. My real work is on the website (https://www.quaystones.co.uk) I am really proud of the Strata designs, they are very simple but so effective.

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Dana,
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful words, they are appreciated! We are a little alike in the sense that “I get bored easly” too and unfortunately it shows on my face and my demeanor :wink: - I need something to keep my interest-level up if I am to do it for any real length of time and doing Jewellery Repairs for (4-8+) hours a day, just barely kept me going… I guess after doing it for so long, I was able to shut down my creative mind and turn on my autopilot and simply “do the work”, very sad but also, very true… As far as “not complaining” goes, no, most of my employers and co-workers knew that I was unhappy with doing just Repairs and little else, but my productivity was at such a high level, they overlooked my complaining and it really became a bit of a “inside joke” for all of us -“What’s Pons going to be irritated about in today’s batch of work?” (shaking my head). The one good thing about my experiences in the Jewellery Business, was that I got to Handle and Repair all kinds of Jewellery: from a few 18th Century and lots of 19th Century Antiques, early Modernist Jewellery, lots of Vintage, some very nice Costume Jewellery and countless Contemporary Designs, most were just your typical everyday Jewellery, but there were some Real Treasures along the way! I even got to Repair some Original Arts & Crafts era Jewellery and Copperwork (my personal Collecting area of interest), as well as a few early Silver Kentucky Mint Julep Cups and some Tiffany, Cartier and several other well-known Jeweller’s work too! So, it wasn’t all bad, just a lot of monotonous work, with a sprinkling of joy and excitement ever once in a while - the guys at the Shops that I worked in, always enjoyed bringing me the “good stuff” directly, that way when they brought me a new box full of the really “brainless” work, I would be less apt to be irritated with them. :wink: Anyway, thank you once again for your kind words, I really do appreciate it!

P.S. I have definitely found my “inner flake”, I tend to drift from project to project to project now, whatever sparks my interest at the time, as I no longer have any deadlines to meet, if something that I’m working on isn’t keeping my focus, I move on to one of my many other projects! I have an almost endless number of them going or in the preliminary Design stage… :wink:

Vanessa,
Thank you for sharing your website, you do have some really nice lines there! I especially like your Beach Line, your Cats and your Quayside Beach Glass Spinner Ring, but one of my favourite pieces is your Lindisfarne St. Cuthbert Closs Pendant, simple but very nicely done! One of my many interests is for early English, Irish & Scottish Religious Art (Lindisfarne Gospels, Book of Kells, etc.) and other Celtic-Inspired Art and Design, I love the early Knotwork! So I am truly appreciative to any nod to that era or any inspiration taken from it! The Strata Line is very interesting too, it almost reminds me a little of Broom/Straw Casting, though I imagine that it’s based on the the lovely Rock Strata along the English Coast, nicely done! Thank you once again!

Jonathan

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Handling high end priceless pieces would definitely be interesting, getting such a good look at how the piece was created and the level of detail that went into creating it would be invaluable for making your own pieces I would imagine. That part does sound interesting. I hadn’t even taken learning how to repair seriously because I’m such a one and done kind of a person, but I’ve recently decided I should at least understand it, I can see how knowing how to repair jewelry can assist in creating your own strong pieces that are less likely to break or need repairing in the first place. I think if someone brought me a mindless repair job, I would be more apt to tell them, nah screw it, let’s just take the stones out and make something different! Lol! Probably wouldn’t go over well with the clients.

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Jonathan,

I so know what you mean, after 25 years in music, i started hating music. Finally working w my creativity after retiring has me the same way, and im finally becoming a fan of music again too. Glad you are enjoying it again.

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I’ve heard my entire life that you should never make your hobby your career because people will teach you to hate what you love. It’s not really doing the thing itself that makes you hate it, it’s the demands and restrictions other people put upon you that make you hate it and make it a chore. Which is really depressing. It makes me wonder how much brilliance and genius has been killed and suppressed over the last however many thousands of years because of that very same problem.

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I was the top of my field as a label iwner. We were developing a new type of label owned by artists and fans. Now all are doing ut, but i was the first. The dirty side of the industry ruined it for me. Its hard to see people cry and adore people that you know the truth about and not say a word. It made me feel gross inside. There are times i miss what i was accomplishing, but then my roommate, a musician, will start telling me about the weeks drama, and i jist walk away into my shop and make things. Lol.

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Kimberly,
Thank you! Yeah, it’s almost like night and day with me, for the last (5-7+) years that I was still doing Bench Work and even for a few years after I stopped, I wouldn’t really even look at Jewellery, not even at the Juried Craft Shows that I would go to with my wife - I was compleatly done with it! But now, I can’t seem to get enough and will usually spend time talking with the Jeweller about their Work and Technique and really look at their pieces and even more so when I’m at Antique shops, if there’s an interesting piece to look at! Like I said before, it’s almost, though not quite, like it was when I was Apprentice and everything was new and exciting! :slight_smile: I think that I’ve purchased probably another (30-40+) Jewellery-related books to add to my Reference Library, just in the last (3-4) months - now I’m running out of bookshelf space! Anyway, thank you once again and I’ve been really enjoying your Journey as a Jeweller and your questions as well! :slight_smile:

Dana,
I agree wholeheartedly, though I would add: don’t make your hobby your career, unless you can be your own boss, that way “people” won’t be in control of what you do and how you do it… You are definitely correct, I didn’t really hate the Work itself, I still enjoyed some of the Technical and more Artistic aspects of it, but I didn’t have any real freedom to grow and after so many years of being stifled, I more or less gave up and just “did the job” and when I got home, I wasn’t interested in pursuing it any further… Very sad, but true, most especially in 19th Century when the Industrial Revolution took place, just imagine how many truly gifted Artists & Craftsmen were pushed aside and forced to stand in front of a machine, just so they could survive and eat, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone… Thank you for understanding what I was going through and how I was feeling…

Jonathan

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If you feel like it, I would love to see some of the titles you’ve got in your jewelry book collection and which ones are your favorites. I’m currently buying and reading everything I can get my hands on. I’m specifically having a serious problem locating good books or even videos or websites that go into great detail about how to carve and cast whole pieces with settings for stones. I may actually post a question about that, I’m absolutely shocked at the total lack of instruction I’m finding on this particular topic.

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I was a musician a long time ago. I know exactly what you mean. Some musicians are decent people, but I think anyone with wisdom knows that a lot aren’t. I was a violinist, it was a little better amongst the classical musicians. You couldn’t pay me any amount of money to work in the pop music industry on any level because of the drama. Too many personalities with too many personality disorders. I honestly didn’t even want to perform, I did violin because I loved violin music. I didn’t want any attention, I don’t like performing, I just wanted to play music. But everything you do in music and music training is pretty much geared towards performing because that’s where the money is at, most people serious about it don’t do it just because. I haven’t played in 11 years. I don’t even like listening to music anymore. It’s weird, and there’s more to it, but I don’t listen to music, watch movies, or read fiction anymore. It’s all lost its appeal to me. I only watch instructional and educational videos now and read basically how-to manuals and textbooks for fun. If I get to choose what I’m listening to, I choose silence lol