Hi Larry,
Is everyone who joins Orchid a thoroughly educated professional
trained at a certified jewelry school?
No. You’re right in thinking that there are many people here on
Orchid who are from different fields. There are many “qualified,
certified, knowledgeable jewelers”, and there are people who do
beading, wire-wrapping, metal clay, polymer clay, those who take the
odd class now and then to add to their skills, and those like myself
who are self taught from reading books and participating in Orchid.
There should be plenty of people on here who are more than qualified
to answer your question but I think it’s one of those things where
people assume that you’ll get lots of answers and so they’ll let
others do the talking. I don’t have enough “big” torch experience to
be able to comment but hopefully you’ll get some better answers than
the negative one you received.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions on Orchid. Orchid is a very
friendly bunch of people even though sadly your negative feelings are
not the first I’ve heard. It’s very easy to be put off by one
off-hand (or seemingly off-hand) response and go away disillusioned.
The poster who responded may well not have had the intention of being
so dismissive and negative. Normally, you’ll find that people on
Orchid respond in a very friendly and helpful manner. Please keep
posting.
BTW, your sculptures are amazing! If your jewellery skills become
anywhere near as good as your sculpting skills, we’re in for a
treat.
Helen
UK
http://www.hillsgems.co.uk