Hello Doug,
Wow! After all those years as a jeweler, I have to ask what WILL you
do with yourself.
My goal is to retire from my day job - or at least go to part time -
and then use that time and energy to make more jewelry!
Hasta la Vista indeed! All the best and I hope you’re not retiring
from Orchid too.
Judy in Kansas, about to return to the office after a nice break for
the holidays. And yes, I got to play with fire in my dungeon!
Thank you, Judy. I’m going to enjoy making jewelry just for the
sheer artistic joy of creating it, instead of doing it for a living.
I may only make 6-10 pieces each year. David Huffman will assume the
duties of manufacturing my production work, so I’ll still be able to
supply my galleries. David has been doing a fantastic job. I feel
very fortunate that Orchid connected the two of us.
I’m going to be living on a fairly remote beach on an island in the
Caribbean…a wonderful dream-place, but one without easy access to
electricity or the Internet. I’ll check in on Orchid from time to
time, from the Internet cafe in Bocas del Toro.
I have always given my email address out to any metalsmith who
asked, and I’ve always encouraged my former students to contact me
with any questions they might have. Please feel free to write. There
is also the possibility that I’ll be helping to organize workshops at
an arts community that is forming heRe: anyone interested in taking
workshops on a sunny tropical beach…?
I’ll be visiting my friends at the ACC Baltimore show in February.
Perhaps we’ll meet.
Hasta la Vista, to all! May the beauty you love be what you do!
Doug
Douglas Zaruba
16639 Raven Rock Rd.
Sabillasville, MD 21780
301 241-3494
@Douglas_Zaruba
It was a movie about Navajos that I saw in 8th grade that got me
interested. The tufa carving and casting looked like the coolest
thing to do. I already had a welding torch and was pretty
arty/crafty/technical and jewelry seemed like a fun direction. A
lucky find of an outcropping of tufa stone right in the city started
things off well, and my stepfather adding on a workshop helped a
lot, plus he knew people in jewelry , so I got a summer job at 14
working for a silversmith. I was a real primadonna in high school
,making one-of-kind pieces (with a flair for complicated overlay,
which by the way, didn’t seem to help much when it later came time to
become the world’s most prolific pancake die sawyer ) but got a dose
of reality after that in the real world, at a real job as a
production bench silversmith. I had a lot to learn and was almost let
go, until I got the hang of doing things fast.
Dar
Doug,
Best of luck with your new life. When you do get to an internet cafe
keep us posted on how you are doing and what making jewelry without
electricity is like. Maybe you could post a picture to The Bench
Exchange once you are set up there. Again, all the best in your
“semi” retirement.
Joel
Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb
www.schwalbstudio.com
Hi Altana,
I just joined Orchid, so please forgive my delayed post to your
question about getting into the jewelry industry. I spent most of my
working years as a graphic designer before embarking on this new
venture in jewelry design and goldsmithing. So I know your art and
design background will help you greatly and would encourage you to
complete your degree at some point. Because I wanted to jump start
my new jewelry career and wanted to be my own boss, I chose the
educational route to learn my skills rather than seeking out an
apprenticeship. At times, I wish I was working side by side with a
master jeweler, to answer my questions and give me that level of
comfort that I am lacking by being on my own. However, I’ve also
heard that working as an apprentice can be very tedious and
unrewarding, doing all the gruntwork and not getting enough quality
instructional time to learn the more challenging aspects of working
at the bench. So, if you can afford to go to a quality jewelry
school, I would recommend doing that.
You have already gotten some excellent advice from fellow Orchid
members about schools, but perhaps I can add to that knowledge base
as I have studied at GIA, New Approach and Revere. I did the Applied
Jewelry Arts program at GIA in Carlsbad, which is a 6 month program
and includes jewelry design, CAD/CAM, wax carving, casting and mold
making. I also did their Accredited Jewelry Professional program
through their Distance Education department. My personal feelings
about GIA is that it was a wonderful experience, but frustrating as
well. GIA is a huge entity that is slow to make changes in its
curriculum to take advantage of new techniques and tools, and I
found some of my classes to be too pedantic. I think 6 months of
instruction is much longer than necessary and this only adds to the
cost involved, especially considering the high cost of living in
California. Also, they should recommend that students take the AJP
courses prior to doing the AJA program, as it is assumed you already
have a basic knowledge of jewelry manufacturing. After realizing
that I wanted to learn my bench skills, and not wanting to do
another 6 months at GIA, I looked at other options and decided to
choose between Revere and New Approach because they are so highly
regarded within the industry.
I ended up doing the Graduate Bench Jeweler program at New Approach
because I had been purchasing a lot of stones and knew they would be
the focus of my jewelry. I don’t think you can find a better stone
setting instructor than Blaine Lewis. Also, Blaine is so open to new
ideas, technology and tools that he keeps his instruction evolving
to take advantage of them. The program at New Approach is 3 months
long (half the length of GIA’s bench program) and the cost of living
in Virginia Beach is much more reasonable than California. Also,
Blaine has some other gifted instructors that come in to teach at
his school like Kate Wolf for wax carving and Jason Marchiafava for
hand engraving.
That said, I would have liked to receive more instruction in
producing hand fabricated jewelry. So to compensate, I’ve started
doing workshops at the Revere Academy, which really seems to cater
to that aspect of jewelry making. The benefit of doing Revere’s
Master Classes is not just limited to learning new skills, but
exposes you to the industry’s finest. I learned so much from Doug
Zaruba last spring on the last half day of instruction, just by
picking his brain. He has such a wealth of about every
aspect of the business and was so willing to share. I really look
forward to doing more of the Revere workshops in the future.
In choosing the right school for yourself, I think you would benefit
by knowing what type of jewelry you want to make. But many times we
won’t know that till we’ve had more training and experience. I know
my own jewelry education will be never ending and that there are so
many teachers out there that I can learn from. Thanks to all of you
who give back to the industry.
Bonnie Cooper
@Bonnie_Cooper