The purpose of beginning jewelry class

Let us not forget the book on the next bench over at which you have
just pointed your flaming torch.

And in the same vein:

The student with long hair who scratches their head whilst their
foot is driving the flex shaft in their hand with all possible vigor.

The students who drip pickle condensate from the lid on to the
counter where everybody places their hands while leaning over to look
in the pickle.

The student who graduates with an onglette shaped scar in their
thumb.

And yet. I miss my days as a student.

Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Henderson, NV

The student with long hair who scratches their head whilst their
foot is driving the flex shaft in their hand with all possible
vigor. 

my fondest recollections involve retrieving a seemingly endless
supply of butterfly closures for saw bade injuries- and eyewash for
metal bits in eyes that are maybe 12 inches from the grinder,
flexshaft or otherwise directly over their workpieces whilst metal
is flying unfettered…and also the panic stricken looks of long
haired individuals as it torques up to their heads caught in the
flexshaft or micromotor…I’ve unchucked more heads from the ends of
rotary tools thatn I can count…my own included- ( every now and
then,I still pass out at the bench between 3 and 6 am and awake with
a jolt as my hair becomes a tightly wound dread on the handpiece
end…true confessions from the edge ! ).

Yes, there are a lot of beginners out there. I certainly fall into
that category. I try to learn new techniques and work hard to improve
the quality of my pieces.

As I look at the jewelry made by numerous individuals on this site,
I am in awe. But I also remind my self that everyone started out as a
beginner. I believe that you can have all the technical knowhow in
the world, but you also need imagination to create many of the pieces
I see in the gallery. One individual in particular that does broom
casting fits that category. Beth Rosengard’s pieces are exquisite.
How can you every make a disparaging remark about people who create
with pieces made from ice castings, broom castings, etc. She has
something that goes far beyond the technical - she has imagination,
style and a great sense of design. I can only hope that someday my
work is as professional as hers.

Debbie
A fledgling jeweler

Yes, you can try to get by with unskilled work in non-precious
materials, but you don't get to do that and then complain about
how nobody's buying it or you're not making enough money to live
Jo-Ann read some of the postings about ice-casting, and she said,
"Oh, I might try that with some of my students...." Jo-Ann's
students are adult-ed, they spend $40 per session to get to play
around with jewelry, and they get all proud when they accomplish
something. 

I think John is right on, and it addresses both of these issues. We
each need to be clear on what WE are doing - what our aims and goals
are. Those of us who teach, or who take classes (not separate groups
always!) also need to be clear on why we teach, what our goals are
in relation to our students, and what our students’ goals are. When
taking a class we need to make sure that what we expect to get out
of it is what the teacher is trying to have us get out of it. Not
always the same!

When I started doing craft shows with my jewelry years ago, I was
almost always the only jeweler at the show. Now there are invariably
at least several others - often way too many others! Most of them,
in my area, are doing beaded/strung work on a very basic level.
Limited skill, limited vision. Very cheap. As it should be! A few do
high quality beaded/strung. I rarely run into anyone else actually
working in metals, as opposed to using purchased metal components.

This has definitely changed what I make to bring to shows, and what
price markets I’m trying to reach. I used to include inexpensive
beaded/strung work - it sold well, and drew in a different audience
than my higher end metal pieces. With so much cheap beaded/strung
out there now I no longer do that at all. My whole set of work has
moved up in price (and, I hope, in quality!) to fill a niche that is
empty in my area.

In looking at the cheap beaded/strung at the shows, I see no way
these ladies (invariably ladies) are actually making much in the way
of profit, much less enough to actually live on with the prices they
are charging. I know what those components cost - they just aren’t
doing it.

At the same time every now and then a true artist in beaded/strung
work shows up with WOW work that just blows you away - light years
beyond the rest of what you see. The difference is VERY obvious.

When I teach, I think it is critical that I be clear in advance about
what the students will be learning, and that I understand what their
goals are - or the goals of whoever hired me to come in. There IS a
difference between taking a class to have fun, learn a bit, and make
something you like - and taking a class to learn a specific set of
skills with the idea that it will add to your expertise in a medium
that you do or plan to practice professionally. Very different aims,
should be very different classes. Neither is “right” or “wrong” - but
they ARE different!

Beth Wicker
Three Cats and a Dog Design Studio

http://www.bethwicker.etsy.com
http://bethwicker.ganoksin.com/blogs/

I'll agree with Michael wholeheartedly for those who have
ambitions - don't waste your time, the clock never stops. 

That’s just it, I guess: I don’t see play in the studio or
spontaneity as a waste of time. I have sold many, many pieces which
began in this way and incorporated accidentally generated bits.

As the clock ticks my biggest regret is not playing enough.

Andy

By the way: I had a brain lapse while writing: sorry for calling you
David, Michael.

It is an excellent way to help students overcome fear of the torch
and those that will not be back for classes are often happier to have
nugget type shapes to keep rather than the bits and pieces from
fabrication. I don’t do it with every bunch of students but when I
do, I see happy faces. I teach adults and occasionally, a college
student who needs a grade…ugh!

marilyn

That's just it, I guess: I don't see play in the studio or
spontaneity as a waste of time. I have sold many, many pieces
which began in this way and incorporated accidentally generated
bits.

Mr. Cooperman

Having been a fan of your work over the years, I see little
resemblance between what I have seen made by others using broom
castings and ice castings and the pieces you create.

Your use of “accidentally generated bits” in my opinion results in
beautiful well crafted pieces that are brilliantly designed.

Your choice of the word “incorporate” is the key point as the use of
“accidentally generated bits” can result in pieces where these bits
are just stuck together and in my not so humble opinion just look
like stuck together bits, and are not incorporated. Raw pasta glued
together always looks like pasta glued together.

I have seen pieces that when first observed scream BROOM CASTING. I
have never seen a piece of your work where I have noticed a part that
stood out that called attention to how it was created.

I have melted down many pieces I have received as scrap with randomly
generated poured silver elements. I can assure you that if I was ever
offered one of your pieces to buy as scrap for melt value, I would
not consider melting it down.

Richard Hart G.G.
Jewelers Gallery
Denver, Co.

How can you every make a disparaging remark about people who
create with pieces made from ice castings, broom castings 

I do not think it is disparaging to say that it takes little
creativity to pour metal and make random shapes. Yes it does take
some ability to use those pieces and make something attractive.

However, sawing, drilling, soldering and filing requires a completely
different skill set that requires much different attention,
perspective, and commitment of the persons vision and focus, much
more personal both in design and attention to details of how form is
created.

With ice or broom castings you are limited by the form you start
with. That limits where you can go.

If ice and broom casting gets you off, roll with it. I agree with
Michael, there is greater depth in having a vision and learning the
skills to achieve your vision in metal by creating pieces with tools.
For me there would be no satisfaction in using the pieces made by
broom or ice casting. I could not get where I want to go. My
imagination is greater than the limitation of that technique.

Richard Hart G.G.
Jewelers Gallery
Denver, Co.

I believe that you can have all the technical know how in the
world, but you also need imagination to create many of the pieces I
see in the gallery. 

The notion that technical know how is separate from imagination in
jewelry design and making is what needs to be tossed out. It is the
melding of the two that makes a jeweler a jeweler.

I want for readers to understand where I come from, on Orchid… I
made my first ring (still have it) in my father’s garage with garage
tools and apropane torch, just because I wanted to. I was 18 at the
time. Two years later I got my first jewelry job, making turquoise
jewelry in Albuquerque in the boom years. Two years after that I was
shop foreman with 35 people under me. I hired my brother into the
lapidary/inlay shop becausehe had a lot of potential:

My brother says I’m inspiring…

Years later, one very influential person said to another very
influential person, about me, "That’s the finest jeweler in San
Francisco, right there…

…A client said that at my best, I am as good as Faberge…
Stuff like that…

So, I view my role on Orchid as largely helping others to get from
point A to Point B, as I have. If you expect me to hold your hand
and tell you everything’s OK you’re going to get a rude awakening -
that’s just not going to happen. I’ve (along with many, many others
here) made thousands of pieces, I’ve filed thousands of castings,
I’ve set thousands of stones - In other words, I’ve paid my dues.
And one of the biggest problems I see is people who don’t know what
jewelry IS. Someone said about one of the video authors here that,
“Wow, he’s truly a master goldsmith!!!” Well, no, he’s a goldsmith -
that’s what goldsmiths do in goldsmith shops.

James Miller is a Master Goldsmith and deserving of the title in
every way.

So, I started at Point A, too. It’s the nature of forums that it’s
tiresome and cumbersome to have to say, “For those who are happy
where you are, this doesn’t matter…” There’s a place for everybody

  • we couldn’t live without people who are happy stringing up $10
    earrings for flea markets, it’s an integral part of the business,
    just as diamonds are.

On the other hand, it’s not useful to tell people that they can grow
and thrive in this industry by toying around and not learning the
mountain of knowlege and skills that the pros here on Orchid possess.
No, there’s nothing wrong with casting corn flakes and stringing them
on dental floss - there IS something wrong with the mentors here
telling you that it’s a path to success in the industry. You’ll never
get to point B by thinking that soldering two pieces of silver
together is the end of it - it’s only the beginning. It’s tough, and
I’m not going to hold your hand…

When I teach, I think it is critical that I be clear in advance
about what the students will be learning, and that I understand
what their goals are - or the goals of whoever hired me to come in.
There IS a difference between taking a class to have fun, learn a
bit, and make something you like - and taking a class to learn a
specific set of skills with the idea that it will add to your
expertise in a medium that you do or plan to practice
professionally. Very different aims, should be very different
classes. Neither is "right" or "wrong" - but they ARE different! 

You know Beth, I have to agree with you. I think it’s important that
both the student and the teacher have a realistic understanding of
their goals. I took a community school class in lost wax casting at a
local high school. I wanted to learn the process of lost wax, not
necessarily create perfect end pieces. Unfortunately, while I had
fun, I didn’t learn more than how to create the wax piece, attach the
sprues and put it into the mold form. I learned a bit about finishing
pieces, but not what I really wanted to know. The whole process of
lost wax.

So now I’m lucky enough to be taking a beginning class with Don
Dietz this September. I will make sure he knows that I want to learn
the technicalities of fabricating, and not just to have fun. I’m a
bit of a perfectionist and love detail work. So the more I know HOW
to do something, more I’ll pay attention to those details.

My work has come a long way from when I started just a scant year
ago. I still make basic, beginner things to sell at fairs and online.
But I want to learn to make art. For that, a firm grounding in the
basics is going to help me create in reality, what’s already in my
head. At least I should be so lucky.

Michele
MikiCat Designs
www.mikicatdesigns.com

However, sawing, drilling, soldering and filing requires a
completely different skill set that requires much different
attention, perspective, and commitment of the persons vision and
focus, much more personal both in design and attention to details
of how form is created. 

To me, the dynamic part is where you apply these precise
technologies to the randomly expressed broom casting…

A

Thanks Mr. Hart :slight_smile:

Those are kind words and much appreciated. But I stand by what I
wrote. It really is how you use the item, I think.

I think that many makers don’t think in a “layering model” when
acquiring and then using techniques. One technique or process= one
piece. I try to teach a layering of approaches in my surface class.
Building surfaces or forms by establishing “histories” or layers of
process.

In my mind, this goes for PGE’s-- Playfully Generated Elements-- as
well. If you have a macaroni casting and simply use that element
that’s one thing. (A single medium sized shell might be nice as a
cufflink…) But when you begin to alter the casting, cutting and
recombining, tooling the surface, perhaps partially fusing it or
melting it, the initial process is obscured by those that followed
and the macaroni casting becomes something else.

Casting a piece of pasta or pouring metal into broom straws or over
ice is just the first step. I see this as similar to die forming. To
me, forming something in a die establishes volume: the first step.
But without further work it remains the cliched die-formed “pillow”.

Years ago I made a pact with myself to really clean up my
craftsmanship. This was a good thing to do-- I needed it-- but also
led to problems. Right now, I’m looking for ways to loosen back up
again. Play, maybe even broom castings, is the key for me.

Richard, I keep meaning to come by when I’m in Denver. My
father-in-law passed away there last month and any time in Denver has
been devoted to family. I would love to come by sometime.

Take care, Andy

disparaging remark about people who create with pieces made from
ice castings, broom castings 

I do not think it is disparaging to say that it takes little
creativity to pour metal and make random shapes.

Even though all threads seem a bit strange since Orchid’s vacation,
this one means something, I think. I guess Michael D.S. kicked it
off by saying what many felt like saying. Truth… Speaking for
myself and I think for all those who are successful jewelers -
nobody is saying there’s anything wrong with doing anything.
Analogies can be quite useful…

Imagine if a person threw a half dozen pots and pans in the air and
called the sound when they landed music. Imagine if a cook threw the
contents of the fridge in a pot and called it soup. Sure, why not?
Is the first a Capital “M” Musician? Is the second a Capital “C”
Chef? Not on this planet, they’re not.

You start a cake with Duncan Hines - a baker starts with flour and
salt. You start dinner with packaged soup mix - a chef starts with
stock made the day before. You snap your fingers quite musically - a
musician learned his scales first…

I make everything except I use findings when appropriate - it is the
removal of chance that makes me a pro… You gonna get in a
sailboat, pointit west and go below thinking it’s going to hit
Tahiti by itself?

Someone said about one of the video authors here that, "Wow, he's
truly a master goldsmith!!!" Well, no, he's a goldsmith that's what
goldsmiths do in goldsmith shops. James Miller is a Master
Goldsmith and deserving of the title in every way. 

I’ve thought about this since first seeing the work of Mr. Miller.

My take is that James is in part, a master goldsmith, but also
something more than that. He has mastered other skills that are not
part of the normal goldsmith’s repertoire - notably enameling,
possibly more - and synthesized the whole skill-set together to
produce what he does.

I do indeed aspire to becoming a master goldsmith, but I don’t see
that including the types of pieces James has shown.

I choose to believe there are indeed many, many master goldsmiths
around that could not replicate the work of Mr. Miller: his body of
work is somewhat unique and outside the normal scope of goldsmith’s
craft.

Pete

It is an excellent way to help students overcome fear of the torch 

One of the best ways to have students overcome fear of the torch is
to melt and pour ingots, then fabricate the ingots into mill
products.

Rolling and drawing the ingots into sheet and wire will require many
courses of annealing which will develop skill with the mechanics of
the torch as well as acquisition of the requisite knowledge of the
working properties of the metal being fabricated. Annealing will
require more delicate use of the flame and more finesse in
manipulating the metal as the stock becomes thinner sheet and finer
diameter wire.

This is the quickest and most reliable and efficient way for a
beginner to become fluent in use of the torch and the material while
promoting the understanding of the implications of both at a depth
suitable for smithing. It makes the subsequent fabrication of jewelry
from the mill products a natural progression from crude process to
refined work.

Michael David Sturlin

http://michaelsturlinstudio.ganoksin.com/blogs/

Hmmm. I believe we all agree with the saying “Beauty is in the eye of
the beholder”. In that same vein, is not education, of any type, in
the hands of the educated? The uses to which one puts one’s beginning
jewelry education, and all after the beginning, is purely one’s own
decision. Perhaps one student might follow his dream to become a
master craftsman to rank with the finest, while yet another becomes a
repair jeweler, while yet another uses their education to buttress
their sales skills only, and yet another to make things for family
and friends only.

There is a place for everyone at the table, and a place for everyone
to start from.

Mike DeBurgh, GJG
Henderson, NV

Michael,

One of the best ways to have students overcome fear of the torch
is to melt and pour ingots, then fabricate the ingots into mill
products.

You are SO right!! In my classes, during the very first class I have
my students melting silver and pouring their own wire ingots, using
an acetylene torch and rolling mills. As you said, they learn to get
over their fear of fire through many repetitions of annealing, and
learn how silver forms, work hardens, and is softened by heating.

How could you learn more about how metals move, form, and soften
than the first-hand experience of making your own wire and sheet
stock?

From this experience alone, most my students become hooked on
metalsmithing.

And the fact that many of them can walk out of that first 2 1/2 hr.
class having made their own ring band or bracelet, all from just
melted down bits of silver.

Just how cool is that??

We are on the very same wavelength, my friend! Let’s talk on
Blogtalk Radio sometime soon, what you say??

Jay Whaley

Having just taken Jay’s rolling mill class (with ingot pouring) I
have to agree. Not that I was afraid of the torch… (I spent 2
summers
doing welding) but pouring was very fun.

The class was on a saturday and on sunday I spent an hour with my
husband melting down the rest of my scrap (7 ozt total) just because
he was having fun too!

laurie kern
Adventures of An Aspiring Silversmith -
http://lauriejanekern.ganoksin.com