I have been asked many times for advice about becoming a professional jeweler.
So here are my musings, thoughts, and opinions on how to become a professional jeweler. This might ramble a bit but I feel this all ties together.
I should start with how I became a jeweler.
Many years ago (1985) when I was a private in the Army while stationed at Fort Hood Texas, A friend approached me about joining a historical reenactment group (www.sca.org). It seemed like fun and the martial art they practiced was something I thought I would enjoy so I joined and was basically a “stick jock” whose main interest was fighting.
Now in this group, it is expected that you would dress like a person who lived pre-1500 CE. One of my friends in this group was a gentleman by the name of Lon Putnam and he and his family had some really great jewelry items for their costumes. (They dressed as Vikings.) I asked Lon where he had purchased his jewelry and he told me that he had made it. So I met him at the Fort Hood Recreation Center located in the 1st Calvery part of the base and he showed me the basics of making jewelry.
And I have to say that I sucked at it!
With no experience (or talent) at all I managed, under Lons’ direction, to make a piece that was very simple. I took up making simple jewelry as a way to learn patience. Not expecting anything to come of it, I was surprised when jewelry-making became a passion and then a career.
At the point when I realized that this was not just a hobby to teach myself patience, but was becoming a passion, I decided to try and become a jeweler. I was unsure what that meant at the time, but I feel that I have achieved 80% of that goal. There is always more to learn.
I want to take a moment to talk about something I hear all of the time.
“Wow. You are so talented. I wish I had been so lucky to have your gift”
No. Not really. No gift at all. I am not a great jeweler, I know that. I just worked hard, failed, tried again, failed again, ad nauseam until I figured it out.
I am self-taught and have habits that I struggle to unlearn even today. Had I been lucky enough to apprentice with a jeweler (something we do not have in the United States) maybe I would be a great and talented jeweler. But I worked hard, failed a lot, and became a competent jeweler. The ONLY thing where you might say I was lucky, and it is a big “if”, is that I had no artistic talent at all when I started. So there were no blinders about my ability to make jewelry. That effectively eliminated any problems with ego.
So that is why I am sharing this because in my opinion, out of this profession, 98% or more of the people in it worked very hard to reach the point they are at. Occasionally you run into someone who is gifted but they are the exception and not the rule. I have in the past and I am jealous of how easy they make it seem. I also consider many of my friends in the gifted category.
“I really hate it when people compare their work to mine.”
Yeah. that sounds bad. That normally happens when someone new to jewelry makes something and they think it is not very good. then they get discouraged and never try again. It makes me want to cringe. Sure you made something. But it shows where you are right now in knowledge and ability. You should be comparing your work to others at the same skill level. Not to the work of a person who, in many instances, has been doing this longer than you have been alive. I always try to be supportive but sometimes, it does not help. I wish people could see the piles of melted copper, brass broken gems, and silver that went into the trash the first several years I was doing this. I know several people who I would consider gifted. But most people are like me. practice is the only way I improved. I hate to see new jewelers quit because they are not starting out making Fabergé quality work right out of the box. I wish there was a way to get people to look at their work in a realistic way. It is ok to compare your work to the great jewelers of the world. But please realize you are on one end of the learning curve and they are at the other.
So now that you are in the right mindset to learn and grow:
Now to my advice to you.
First, you need to know that being a “jeweler” can mean a lot of different things. There are a lot of different career paths you can take and many are related and can be done concurrently as a career.
Below is a short list of the different career paths. I will not go into the details of each carrier path as I leave that up to you as the student to investigate what you feel is your calling.
- Bench Jeweler (repairs)
- Manufacturing Jeweler
- Jewelry Lab Grader
- Engraver
- Polisher
- Appraiser
- Retail sales professional
- Jewelry Store Manager
- Jewelry Designer
At some point, you will decide to follow one or more of these paths to the career that you love.
For some of my advice, I suggest you read my blog posts. Many are about getting your mind in the right place to learn. And how to learn.
So how do you start? Finding a mentor, school, jewelry metals program, or someplace to learn can be hard. While it is much easier today than it was, it is still a challenge and can be very expensive.
You have already considered jewelry as a career, so I will give you some advice on the first steps while you look for a school or mentor. First, Sketch out ideas and keep them. Have a sketchbook where you put ideas and thoughts. Keep a record of your work.
If you are looking to become a sales position, that is a good way to enter the jewelry trade and get your feet wet. Make sure you only work for a company that will assist you with taking GIA coursework as they are the best way to learn about the jewelry trade.
If you want to become a bench jeweler/ manufacturing jeweler, you have fewer options. It will be harder to find a place to learn. Most schools are more concerned about “art” than teaching you how to be successful as a career. You might want to look into training with the “Jewelers of America” as they are the leading non-profit jewelry association in the United States. They can help you locate a local jeweler who might be hiring.
Other than that, the best thing is to just start asking around. Do an internet search. call your local university and technical schools. Finding a school or teacher is gonna be hard. If you can, go to a school that will teach you the skills you need to be successful. This post is a good list of the skills you will need. “DACUM Competency Profile for goldsmiths“. Take this with you and evaluate the school program with this. Most likely the program will be nothing like this, but take what they offer and try to incorporate this into your education.
While you search for a place to learn, you will need to work on learning on your own. But I caution you to always make sure you approach every lesson with caution. When I started in the 80s, there was very little that I could find other than a few books to learn from. Today you will be bombarded with videos, blogs, webpages, and all kinds of instructional materials online.
Unfortunately many are questionable at best.
Always make sure you are following the advice of qualified jewelers. How you determine this is by looking at their advice. If they say something is easy to do, Then, in my opinion, you probably do not want to follow their advice. Look at the link above about the DACUM Competency Profile. If you take 2 or 3 years to complete this list, then you should be well-qualified to be a jeweler. But it takes practice and a lot of work. Long hours practicing the boring parts. Learning how to use a jeweler’s saw. Hours polishing. Hours practicing every type of gem setting and I mean 200 to 500 of each type of setting before you can say that you are competent at it. Making hinges, soldering earring posts, and fixing broken chains. Sizing a few hundred rings up, then down. unsetting and resetting gems during repairs. Practice is the key to becoming skilled. Do not be afraid to look at your work critically, but without being overly critical. I know that does not make a lot of sense but you have to learn to see your work and evaluate it for what is done correctly and where it can be improved. Self-doubt and criticism of our own work can be strong as well as the urge to say “good enough”. We must battle both.
Be passionate about what you do, but when you evaluate your labor, do so dispassionately. This is how you improve. Also, know that you may struggle to master some processes. I am a huge fan of teaching that a sketchbook and sketching are important. But if you look at my sketches, you will see that I am not a very good 2D artist. I never have been. I still work hard but it is a skill I will never master.
So keep working on those skills that you might not be very good at. With time you will improve.
An important skill is counter sketching and being able to listen to a client, and design what THEY want. Not what you feel they should want. You need to take your ego and put it behind you. As a designer, you need to work with people, not show them how you are so special. LISTEN to what people say and what they are not saying. The best jewelers can work with many different styles, from many different eras, and are always respectful of the ideas and thoughts of their clients. Look at books and auction catalogs to get a good idea of how things were made in the past. Read some books about graphic design as this is important as this is exactly what you are doing with jewelry. Learn how the human body looks to an artist. The human body is the background that your designs are highlighted against.
Be aware that when, for example, a ring does not look good on the right hand and looks better on the left hand, the lines of the ring may not help the lines of the hand look elegant. When a set of earrings may need to be shortened or redesigned a bit smaller to better frame the jawline of the person wearing them.
Educate yourself and this will help you better your clients. Many times you will spend a lot of time helping them understand the process of making jewelry. Many times people will want a design that is impossible to make, will not wear well, or may even potentially cause injury.
Many times you will have to gently tell clients that the people they spoke with before you may not have been knowledgeable, or honest. It is a tightrope you will have to walk.
You will work with people during the best part of their lives. Marriage and anniversaries are examples. Sometimes you will help them with the worst part of their lives. Mourning jewelry or redesigning a piece that once belonged to a loved one are examples where you will play the part of a counselor as much as a designer.
A good jeweler is always respectful of others and their ideas and thoughts.
Many times a client will ask you a question that you do not have an answer for. Resist the urge to try and give an answer that is not factual. If you do not know the answer, just say that you do not know and that you can find the answer and get back to them. This is the best way to build trust.
So how did I learn without teachers? I learned to make a rough sketch of what I wanted. Then I worked to make that item as best as I could. Then I threw it into an envelope, then made it again. I would repeat this until I was able to be satisfied with what I was making. Many times I would repeat a project 4, 5, 6 times, or more.
See this brooch? The wax this was cast from was my seventh attempt before I was happy with it. I can see the places where I can improve upon it but 25 years ago I was very happy with it. I still work to improve my skills by doing simple tasks meant to hone basic skills.
As to tools, you can start with something as simple as a 2X2-foot piece of plywood to use as a workspace.
This blog post has some good advice on tools you can start with. “A Basic Tool Set for Jewelers“.
Another thing you need to learn as a jeweler is money management and inventory control.
As a jeweler, you will accumulate gems, findings, and metal. You need to know what you have and be able to find it when you need it. Say you get in an order to set a replacement ruby into a ring and you need a 14K White Gold 6 Prong Marquise Peg Illusion Setting. How do you find the setting and the ruby you have in stock quickly? How do you inventory them?
You need to do a head and set and you need a 14K White Gold 6 Prong Marquise Head. How fast can you lay hands on one? Maintaining an easy-to-use system for findings, gems, and metal stock is important.
Accounting is important as well. Keep track of your tools’ values, your gem and material costs, and overhead. This is needed for insurance. And trust me, you want insurance!
If you are just learning and have a few tools, then your homeowners’ policy is enough. But when you start collecting more tools and start working professionally, you might want to consider separate insurance on your gems, tools, and related items. I highly recommend Jewelers Mutual Insurance out of Tomah Wisconsin.
So this blog post has meandered and drifted around a bit. I like to think that it is not a glib, but meaningful and sincere.
I am not the best speaker, but I want to encourage those who want to enter the jewelry trade. In the last almost 40 years of my life, I like to think that the jewelry trade has given me a great life. I want to encourage others to do the same. I hope to meet all of you someday and we can share stories about how wonderful the jewelry trade has been for all of us.
To finish, I am including a few links to some pages on the internet that have good advice. The first one is written by a good friend of mine Charles Lewton-Brain on the Ganoksin website.
Jewellery Career Options
One of the most interesting things about the jewellery/metals field is that there are so many career options, so many contexts that one can choose to work in. There are even ways of becoming wealthy if that is important in one’s goals. There are some broad categories of career choice.
https://www.ganoksin.com/article/on-jewellery-career-options/
The GIA Graduate Jeweler diploma program is a hands-on learning experience that prepares you for a career as a bench jeweler and covers skills valuable for jewelry designers, CAD modelers, and sales professionals. You will work with gemstones and precious metals, taking projects from castings to finished, set, and polished pieces.
Jewelers of America Professional Certification can advance your jewelry career, differentiate your store and enhance your reputation with fine jewelry customers by increasing credibility. The certification exam for jewelry professionals validates jewelry knowledge and proficiency to national standards. You have the skills, demonstrate them with our professional certification! Certification exams are available to take online.
