I’m looking for great successful projects for beginning high school
jewelry students. Any suggestions?
Kathy
At least, what areas are being covered in the curriculum.
John
I'm looking for great successful projects for beginning high school jewelry students. Any suggestions?
What resources are available? That will determine what anyone on the
list can suggest.
What tools, and what heat source do you have on hand?
Regards Charles A.
Kathy
Lark has a book called “30 minute earrings” by Marthe Le Van, it has
60 projects that would be great for your students. Some have design
that can be simple, or pushed in a different way. I think Lark has
another 30 minute book besides this one. Roxy
what is your level of experience?
will they be desiging the projects?
will they be using precious metals or non-precious?
will they make prototypes in base metals first then working out
construction before making the piece?
is there an art/craft studio or room with appropriate equipment or
is this to be done at the student’s desk? worktable?
were you thinking of all cold-connections or not?
are you thinking of kits or not?
are you going to teach them jewelry making or metalsmithing-
begining with tool identification and use or just looking ofr
something to be done in “x” amount of time over “x” amount of days-
and what is that time frame?
you said “beginning jewelry students” can you provide a brief
outline of your proposed lesson plan? - this hearkens back to " what
is your level of experience" - and is this “jewelry making” class to
be tied into say geology or mineralogy, sciences, art and/or craft,
an eventual “show” at term’s end or can you give a projection for the
number of terms you are planning to carry out this offering at the
High school? And largely,Is this a new programme of which the
administration is fully supportive or something they have only agreed
to try out for a semester ?
Yes these may seem like a lot of questions but I can assure you that
they are quite relevant to the amount of success and being able to
take home a nicely designed and fabricated piece of work or
something with a piece of wire wrapped around a crystal or
pre-tumbled stone, or a string of something…
I am more than willing to help you design a plan, how to execute it
and the potential costs involved, etc. but need some detailed
so they aren’t learning bead stringing and crude wire
projects, but so they can grasp the entire process and experience
the stages of learning appropriate to a well thought out class
potentially 5 days a week for at least an hour and 15 minutes a day (
if it’s less that would be relevant) of which the student’s parents
are willing to invest the money necessary to enroll in the most basic
of classes that are well run, controlled( as far as time constraints
and class-studio rules of safety,liability , and would have other
students on a waiting list to get in…If the entire budget is to come
from the administration’s allowance for the class that too has
bearing on what you can offer…so if you are serious about this
venture please feel free to contact me off list and I will work with
you to develop something that fits your vision, the administration’s
vision and the students experience,the tangibility or ROI the parents
see for their dollars and the overall “non-flakiness” of what this
could be !!! as well as the potential the class can have regarding
granting ( whether a public or private school), guest artisans,
resident artisan placements, etc… I actually love designing
programming so am looking forward to your potential response…
If you choose not to respond I hope you will at least consider the
questions I proposed and outline your class starting with a good
basis in making adornments for the body, ability to produce exemplary
work yourself, access to tools and equipment readily available before
the class begins ( as opposed to the night before the class trying to
find enough pliers for each kid and deciding which type of pliers is
the most useful for a wide range of operations !), the number of
student’s that must be accommodated in the class time allotment ( if
you have only 30 minutes a day I would seriously question the
viability of taking on the project at all), a a basic materials fee
per kid worked out already ( that should have been done before you
even posted this!!)… so still I wish you the knowledge and wisdom
to provide your students a solid constructive programme that will
inspire them towards a lifetime of involvement in metalsmithing
and/or some form of adornment that works when defined as jewelry…
rer
Hello Kathy,
What metal will your students be using? Many high schools are using
copper and pewter because of silver’s high price. Copper has such a
high melting point that soldering with it is misleading - pewter
melts at such a low temperature that it is misleading in the other
direction. I’ve not worked with nickle (German silver), but since it
seems to cause allergy problems, it is not a wise choice.
Of these metals, my choice would be copper even though it solders
differently than sterling. It doesn’t saw nicely either, but if
students learn to saw it, then silver will seem easy. Perhaps you can
shift to silver as the course advances.
If they will be using sterling, I have many ideas for simple,
successful projects that require modest amounts of metal. Please
contact me off line so we don’t ‘clog’ up Orchid,
All the best,
Judy in Kansas, who first learned silversmithing in high school.
Hi Kathy,
I teach high school metalsmithing. I teach a minor, major and
advanced class and I would be happy to send you some lessons. I
tried replying just to you but it said the email address was
incorrect. Where do you teach? I teach in PA. I have tons of lessons
so if you could tell me a little about what you were thinking of
doing it would be easier to choose from them. Are you going to have
the kids soldering? We don’t solder in the minor class but we do in
the major and advanced. Is this class dedicated just to jewelry
making? Do you see the kids everyday?
Karen Tagg
SFHS Art Teacher
1 Like
Kathy
The way I first became interested in jewelry was through a high
schooljewelry course. My high school teacher started with a simple
band ring and a piercing project. I am sure you can expand on these
techniques.
Jessica
Hi Karen, Would you mind sending me some lessons too? I assist in an
adult beginner class once a week and I’m always looking for ways to
keep it exciting. My email is @Sheri_Clark. Thanks Sheri
Lark has a book called "30 minute earrings" by Marthe Le Van, it has 60 projects that would be great for your students. Some have design that can be simple, or pushed in a different way...
Yes, it is a good book (I own it, have read it and enjoyed it), but
the title is really misleading, especially for beginners. It should
be, “30 Minute Earrings (After You Have Spent Some Hours Gathering
the Materials, Preparing Your Workplace, Annealing and Cleaning the
Metal, Finding Proper Tools, Meditating on Design Variations Because
There Are Certain Things You Don’t Have, [and on and on]).”
Judy Bjorkman
1 Like
I've not worked with nickle (German silver), but since it seems to cause allergy problems, it is not a wise choice.
I work with nickel-silver regularly. In 30+ years, none of the buyers
of my jewelry have ever come back to me with allergy complaints
(although, that may in part be because a few already knew they were
allergic to nickel). IMO, the main disadvantage to nickel-silver is
that it is intrinsically stiffer than brass and copper and may need
to be annealed a little more often. Otherwise, it’s quite lovely, and
solders nicely with silver solders. And of course, I also love brass
and copper.
Judy Bjorkman
galleryfortyone.com
(Owego, NY)
I've not worked with nickle (German silver), but since it seems to cause allergy problems, it is not a wise choice.
I work with nickel-silver regularly. In 30+ years, none of the buyers
of my jewelry have ever come back to me with allergy complaints
(although, that may in part be because a few already knew they were
allergic to nickel) I also work with nickel silver once in a while, I
always tell people what it is, if they can’t wear it they just say
so. Nickle silver will get a really cool patina if you torch it, dunk
it in water, torch, dunk, and then put handy flux on it, torch, dunk.
and do again until you like the patina. The only problem is after
that it is cold connections. sometimes I spray with a clear sealer,
but I also use the burnisher over every square ml, to seal the
patina. Sometimes I just let it go, and see what it does on its own.
Usually it turns out better after several months, especially if near
the sea.
I never try to make nickle silver look like sterling. It has its own
great look if you give it a chance.
Roxy
Hello Karen
I just joined and saw this thread. My name is Nancy and I have been teaching Jewelry/Metals for a couple years. I teach 10-12th grade and would love some lessons if you are still willing to share. There is not much help out there so I have no one to work with. I am writing the curriculum on my own. I teach levels I, II & will be adding level III next year. I have nice equipment and the students work in copper, brass, nickel and sterling. I don’t have a casting machine but would like to eventually get one. I also do not work with metal clay yet but would like to add that next school year. My email is n_eisenberg@chuh.org. I hope to hear back from you. 
Kathy, I teach high school art jewelry. I teach them basic skills and they design their own projects. I have collected tons of magazines and print sources for them to use. They all do a first ring project that I demo bit by bit. It involves the basic skills and they move into other basic projects from there. If they combine basic skills they get greater credit for doing a ‘level 2’ project. You can go to our class website and see my course outlines, safety sheets and power points, project planning sheets… and tons of other things. http://lmerawartjewelry.weebly.com/. I have tons of resources I can email you… shop cleanup sheets, etc. Linda.meraw@sd23.bc.ca.
I responded to Kathy, Karen. Check out my teaching website. I have tons of stuff for you. Lmerawartjewelry.weebly.com
Thank you Linda! I emailed you
Nancy
I had a great high school experience (Adult High School, tho). The teacher did not assign projects. He showed us techniques of sawing, filing, soldering with emphasis on not killing oneself, and then told us to figure out what we wanted to do. For those lost about a project but who had materials, he helped them figure out what they could do with those materials.
I don’t know if we were successful because we were more mature (altho we lost 1/2 the class by the 3rd night) or because of his teaching. All he did individually was visit us regularly and gently suggest design changes or techniques to complete projects. He never said something could not be done. In the first semester I made earrings that were essentially a box…all he told me about was to put a hole in one side to prevent blowing up and how to sand down edges so they fit together; a ring of several loops of copper with a silver bezel on top soldered with a brazing torch…he never told me that was impossible and so after many burned bezels, the ring was a success! I made about 6 or 7 pieces that semester of only 10 weeks and I was hooked.
So I would say: do not do really specific projects to allow individual creativity to bubble out.
Hi Kathy: I teach high school jewelry. It will probably be easiest if you contact me at my school email: mrogers1@houstonisd.org. I am more than willing to share assignments and photos of student work.
Smiles, Mary