As an fairly elderly, fairly new “jeweler”, I fully intended to
become a fabricator and smith. Now, having figured out not just the
time and money and physical endurance problems, but the space
problems as well, I doubt I’ll ever get there. I don’t want to sleep
with e.g. a rolling mill in my bedroom and I can’t afford one anyway.
And, since (having little foresight) I never got over being a hippie,
I don’t own a house, so I can’t just add a studio. But I can have a
kiln and a tumbler in my windowless hellhole of a garage.
For someone like me, PMC is a miracle–as is wire, still my primary
medium, and “forged” quite frequently on a tiny horn anvil. And, even
though I used to work in ceramics, I don’t find the PMC learning
curve all that short–not if you want to make something really
beautiful and well finished (I think it was shorter with the original
version, but I find the newer ones somewhat tricky). Actually, I
found the learning curve for texturing successfully with a rolling
mill shorter than for texturing successfully with PMC.
Furthermore…many of the best PMC pieces I see incorporate some
traditional skills. I’m still trying to set up a way to solder bezels
and jump rings with a microtorch (yes, In my bedroom, with the pickle
pot in the bathroom–the only room with an exhaust fan).
I don’t understand why so many jewelers consider carving wax to be
"making real jewelry" and working with PMC to be “making hobbiest
junk.” Sorry, ive, I usually love your posts, but, in this case, I
think you’re comparing apples and oranges. What would you have said
if the customer had asked if the piece was “that lost wax cast
stuff?”
message split
Lisa Orlando
Aphrodite’s Ornaments
Benicia, CA