I looked into the masters cert, but got scared away when they told me the
amount of time they expect the pieces to be made in… I could probably
fabricate the three stone plat ring in the required 8 hours, but the pave’
set dome-top square hinged silver box seemed very difficult to make in 8
hours. I may still go for the senior bench technician cert though, it
sounds much mroe do-able. I was told they grade on over 1000 seperate
points, whew…
How did you get the info on the certifications? It would be a great FAQ to
post on Orchid. It does sound like there isn’t a lot of latitude for
specialists- like levels of setting certification or engraving
certification or wax carving or enameling. A lot of bench people have
narrow ranges of skills- but it doesn’t mean that they don’t excel in what
they do. A bias toward technical over creative skill levels as well. A few
years ago I met a man who was doing 50-100 sizings a day- had a very
organized process- and was making a great living.(His wife wanted him to
do anticlastic raising).
Rick Hamilton
Richard D. Hamilton, Jr
http://www.rick-hamilton.com
@rick_hamilton