Thank you. I completely agree with you there.
Fascinating conversation. The jewelry Iām most drawn to was made before electricity (Roman, medieval, pre-Columbian, etc). During the coronation I watched a couple of videos featuring some of the ancient crowns, and I like the imperfections - things that were almost, but not quite, symmetrical - you can sort of get a feel for the real person creating the item. There are some very good local goldsmiths here who do beautiful work with a somewhat organic style, sort of āperfect but also handmade-lookingā. I aspire to that, someday. I have not explored the world of CAD much, but at least some of what Iāve seen seems to be āso perfect it looks like it was made by a machineā, which isnāt my thing (sorry if that offends, as I say I donāt know a lot about it!).
Per a couple of comments here about what to call people - I donāt know what one calls the beaders, I guess thatās as good a word as anything (in my head I call them āassemblersā). And wire-wrappers. I have the word āsilversmithā on my business card because itās easier, but when people ask me what I do I just say I make jewelry. For some repairs (of other peopleās work) which Iām unable to do Iāll suggest they go to a āreal jewelerā 
. Sometimes someone asks me if I am a silversmith and my response is usually along the lines of āI suppose soā; maybe this is because Iām self-taught and very conscious of how much Iāve yet to learn.
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I struggled with what to call myself years ago. Silversmith always seemed a bit presumptive in that I donāt do many of the things that a traditional silversmith does. I always hated the term crafter and I especially hate being referred to as a vendor. So I have so far settled on being a metal and lapidary artist. I like including the term artist in describing what I do because I think that, most days, what I do is more art than anything else. Other days I am a mechanic, accountant, tool maker, researcher and today I was a shop cleaner. My $.02ā¦Rob
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When I was young I wanted to be an artist, and specifically a sculptor. My parents talked me out of it, mostly citing my lack of discipline, as opposed to talent (probably accurate, at the time). I wish I could afford to only work on pieces which might qualify as āartā; occasionally I make something which for me kind of falls into that category & thatās the most satisfying. Some people have referred to me as an artist, which I like but I donāt think of myself as one. And I get people saying my work is ādifferentā (in a positive sense), which I also like. But I donāt really think about what to call myself, itās not important to me.
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Sue, i cringe when I hear that you say, āTake it to a real jeweler.ā That is really selling you short compared to āreal jewelers.ā Certainly there are āreal jewelersā who cast gold and platinum or work in hand wrought gold and platinum pieces with high dollar rubies and emeralds and exotic pink garnets, but I would bet that more than half of the āreal jewelersā in your area are store owners who stock their cases with mostly memo goods and drive a bench jockey hard with repairs for which they may overcharge compared to an independent bench craftsperson. They may only buy calibrated stones from Stuller and the like and dump them into calibrated settings, which may even be semi-mounts so that nobody has to bother setting melee. Low price point goods in their cases might be mid grade amethyst, citrine and blue topaz, and they may today be pushing lab diamonds for engagement rings at half the cost of natural without telling customers that the value of these stones is maybe 10% of purchase price if they should try to resell later.
Now admittedly I may be overstating the case, but thereās a difference between your run of the mill commercial jeweler in a jewelry store, who may or may not have any bench experience and you, who are a jewelry craftsperson making custom pieces. If you consider yourself a silversmith, you can say that, but your skills can be just as good as someone who works in gold. If you get hung up about calling yourself a goldsmith, you can always work on a few gold pieces and add that title, or you can call yourself a jewelry metalworker. I just think you should dignify your work and your craftsmanship. If you donāt do repairs, you can say that you focus on your own original work and that people should take some repairs to a commercial jeweler who has a bench jeweler who specializes in ring sizing or prong tipping or whatever it is that you donāt do because you donāt do that kind of mind-numbing work all dayā¦just my take on itā¦to some extent itās marketing, but thereās nothing wrong with honest marketing that presents your skills positively. -royjohn
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Thank you for that. On reflection I realized I have recently started calling myself a silversmith sometimes, I feel a little self-conscious about it but itās accurate. I like craftsperson as well.
Thereās a hole-in-the-wall shop I visit whenever I have an excuse, two Englishmen whoāve been goldsmiths for 40 years. They do beautiful work and make everything themselves . They are the sort of people I mean when I say ārealā (before I joined this forum I didnāt know about bench jewelers and some of the more tedious-sounding jobs in the jewelry world, I thought everyone made everything by hand). I first went in there when I need some peridots removed from an ugly setting, to make something more modern for a client; Iām comfortable doing that now but at the time I was afraid of wrecking them. Going in there is such a delight, itās tiny and dark and old and full of wonders. I long to be taken under their wing, but sadly they are retiring at the end of the year. They very kindly put up with my questions, and Iāve bought small amounts of their gold wire. There is an art show in Sidney (BC) which I enter every year, and there are judges in each art category; this year one of these men was the jewelry judge and I got an honourable mention - he didnāt realize it was me, and I was beside myself with delight 
. Thereās a well-known yearly fine art show not far away & people have asked if Iāve ever entered (itās juried), and I went this year to see if I should bother or if it was all high-end goldsmithing. I was looking at some of the jewelry, which was by people I knew from the other art show, and some women asked me whose work I was wearing!! Lol. So I will enter next year.
I would like to work with gold more but thatās a couple of years away, assuming my little business continues to do reasonably well. I do add gold accents to things, I really like the mix. And since I sell my work mostly in markets and craft fairs, and a couple of mid-range retail outlets, at this point that price point is much too high (Iāve been very surprised to sell a fair number of things in the $300-$400 range at the market, but thatās still a long way from gold prices). I have used faceted emeralds, sapphires, spinel and rubies, but of course they are not top quality & Iām clear with people about that. I use a lot of natural zircon now, Iām a huge fan of affordable sparkle.
When I started I was very broke so I took on any little job and any repairs within my skillset, but thankfully I donāt need to do that anymore. I do a fair bit of custom work, but Iāve also had to come up with a graceful way of turning down people who want something which doesnāt interest me or isnāt my style. I have some regular clients who will bring me a stone or get one from me and basically say ādo your thingā, which Iām happy to do.
Well, I really am rabbiting on, in part because Iāve had a couple of failures today at the bench so Iām distracting myself. I do appreciate your kind words.
Hi,
my thoughtsā¦on CAD technology versus hand fabricatedā¦
to me, CAD is similar in result to making a wax carved modelā¦and, once the model is made, 3D printed or hand carved wax, the lost wax casting process is similarā¦
then you have the stone setting, in a cast or hand fabricated pieceā¦where stones can be hand, or mechanically placed, and then cast in place (which can be done with either a 3D printed model or hand wax carved model), or set by handā¦
then you have the finishing and polishingā¦which, for either casting (3D printed or hand carved wax), or hand fabricatedā¦can be done by hand or by various mass finishing processes.
ā¦many of the above finishing processes outdate CAD technologyā¦
in my humble opinion, one of the greatest benefits of CAD, is the ability to create models, render them, and create virtual inventories for much less cost than holding the real physical objects in inventoryā¦i think that is an industry game changerā¦i believe ābridalā is a large part of the market and many companies benefit from thisā¦
another benefit is one of saving timeā¦being able to duplicate models in various sizes, modify stone shapes and sizes in an existing modelā¦modify the model itself to suit customer requestsā¦the ability to model minute details as small as .30mm that are hard to do in waxā¦
also if 3D printed models are used for casting, versus injection wax and rubber mold models, āundercuttingā is not an issue or limitation to designā¦i have seen heavy cuban link chains printed and cast, already assembledā¦
to a degree, i think āthe lookā of a piece created in CAD has more to do with the desired design created, and desired mass production parameters than by any limitations of CAD itself
I aspire toward mastering hand fabrication and detailed finishingā¦my favorite jewelry is Buccellatiā¦and i love to fabricate piecesā¦but i can also see the many benefits of CAD technologyā¦
I primarily invested in Gemvision Matrix/ MatrixGold because i struggled with drawing in perspectiveā¦and to scaleā¦I wanted to be able to create designs (primarily with stones) to scaleā¦with accuracyā¦
it all started when i tried to recreate an elaborate piece, in wax, with existing stones on handā¦and while the result was impressive given my lack of skills, i learned that being able to design to scale was importantā¦to meā¦for me, CAD allows for the precision that i desireā¦
the humanistic touchā¦ the hand wrought natureā¦can sometimes be implied in the setting and finishing workā¦the bead and bright stone settingā¦fishtail and castle setting, florentine engraving, the finish engravingā¦
just my two cents
julie
Hi,
a few more personal commentsā¦
i forgot to addā¦i look at the various processes as a means to an endā¦each one offering benefits and drawbacksā¦
for items of volume, i would consider wax carving or CAD
for primary stone settings, i would consider hand fabricated or die struck settingsā¦which can be added to a cast shankā¦
for price, hand fabricating a simple item may be more cost effective thank 3D designing/ printing an item
some things may only be achievable in CAD
some things may only be achievable in wax carving
some things may only be achievable by hand fabricating
sometimes the desire is for hand wrought
sometimes the desire is for 3D printed
so many options! so little time!
i love making jewelry!
julie
si
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Remember the old Star Trek Replicators? Now there is direct metal sintering. A laser is programmed to zap into a box of super fine metal powder. My husband brought home from work a silver Asian style dragon that was fully flexible. No assembly needed.
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