Hi all,
I am looking for a source of plans, draw in orthogonal projections
(view from three or four sides) of jewellery pieces. Alan Revere
gives us in Professional goldsmith some of these but I am looking for
more.
I ask you this after I have been yesterday to the 35th world skills
competition in Montreal. There was 14 young jewellers, under 22 years
old, from different countries mostly from Asia and Europe. They are
trained especially for these competitions and they supposed to be
faster than any professionals. They impress by their accurate work
and speed. I saw the plan of the jewel they had to make in 22 hours
it was very precise and at the real scale. This one for the
competition was a classical pendant made of 18 carat white and yellow
gold with about 20 rectangular in decreasing gradation stones set on
a Y joining form. Also, 5 wire prong system in a row, again
decreasing gradation of stones on a pear shape pendant with gallery
and levels rounded metal shapes holding by a bale. They do not have
to set the stones but to prepare settings and make the mise a jour.
No settings and polishing. Very impressive young jewellers.
Maybe those of you who are going through JA certification and other
professionals knows a source of plans I am looking for.
Thanks
Vincent Guy Audette
Bonjour Guy, I was delighted to read your recent post about being in
Montreal and visiting the International Workskills for the
apprentices. These young jewellers are indeed very talented. I hope
you saw our Australian gold medallist Louisa Dunning. She was one of
my best students and most deserving of the opportunity to match her
skills against her international peers.
You ask about the plans for the jewellery. That type of plan drawing
was the first step in the way I taught all my students to draw. Once
they understood this technical-type drawing, they were then introduced
to more artistic rendering techniques where they were encouraged to
develop their own style. Not all my student apprentices were
interested in this, of course, but those that were and took it
seriously, were the ones who always did well.
Unfortunately, these skills are no longer recognised as worthy of
support in the current climate of jewellery trade training. This is
largely due to the economic cutbacks and institutional politics which
are destroying the strong foundation of our traditional Australian
system of jewellery apprenticeship training. It has become so bad that
I have resigned from TAFE in despair. Louisa’s generation were
fortunate to have experienced the standard of training they did. We
may never see Australian apprentices trained like Louisa again.
There are excellent books available which describe these drawing
techniques, and I’ve posted the titles of some of these books on
Orchid in the past. Guy, I would be pleased to do so again if you
were interested, but there is nothing that quite matches the
face-to-face, hands-on example of an experienced and dedicated
teacher. Do you think there would be a job for me in Montreal? Kind
regards, Rex
Dear Rex, please forgive my intrusion, but I would be very interested
to know the titles of books related to drawing plans or rendering
jewelry. I have Tim McCreight’s and another by a man with an italian
sounding name ( can’t remember off hand ) but am on the look out for
more. If you would not mind terribly, I would be deeply grateful.
Sincerely, Debi
Rex & Gabrielle, please provide us with some contact for
Louisa Dunning, although our small company is mostly into high quality
costume jewellery we often are commissioned to create very special
pieces for corporate customers and usually a detailed plan of piece is
required. Hopefully we can engage Louisa for such projects. That
Australian Tafe organisation needs a good kick in the butt, I look
forward to your reply, best regards from Heather Casey of Lyncre Pty Ltd.
Hi Rex, Yes, I saw Louisa Dunning, but it is impossible to talk to the
competitors. A fellow teacher of mine in Montreal who is the manager
of the jewellery competition told me that competitors have to go to
the toilets with a watchman to prevent cheating. And for the same
reason, they pull of the plan showed on the wall. About the plans, at
school we also teach (not me but a specialist) this kind of drawing
but students draw their own designs which are different from these
beautiful classical ones. Only one or two of our students per group
have enough skills to make such accurate drawing. They learn the
basis and draw simple ones. Unfortunately our drawing course is only
90 hours on two years. We have about the same training and politic
problem than you have. We must trained our students only in the optic
of working in shops immediately after their course. It is good, but
not in competition optic. About the competition, it is almost
impossible for us to bring up a student to this level in two years.
First of all I would have to practice more about this kind of
construction. Has I heard from my fellow these young jewellers are
trained for many years before by one teacher alone. Tell me what was
Louisa’s training. We could bring up students to the national
competition but not further (other trades at school did it to the
national but have to stop there). I think we can’t afford it, has I
heard it is very expensive. These plans still interest me, so I can
showed them to students but also use them for my own development. Can
I get them in the orchid archives?. All the infos will be really
appreciate. About working in Montreal, are ready to quit your
wonderful and smooth Australian weather to come into the paradise of
cold windy and snowy weather?
Vincent Guy Audette
In minor 5 degree in Quebec city