Jewellery Teachers vs Pro Jewellers

There's a few differences and not just about skill level.
Professional jewellers are always having to work under pressure. Time constraints, working to tight budgets of customers, small amounts of available metal to use, handling terrifyingly expensive gemstomes not to mention fussy customers!
A big contrast to the jewellery school teacher who has an abundance of cheap metal to use up with no worries about wastage, time or the quality of pieces being finished by students. There are no concerns of expensive rare gemstones being broken, there are no awkward customers to deal with, there's no finishing pieces of jewellery to the best of ones ability only to be told its not good enough or needs to be done differently one way or another, the list goes on...
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[@tonysnelson5139]

I initially trained at college, one of my tutors was Hatton Garden trained and taught trade style, the first collet I made was exactly like your one, this is how I make them. The head of department had various design awards but it was always the professionals turned tutors who taught the essentials. Stood me in good stead when I started apprentice/work life. That was over 40 yrs ago!

[@TheRealDToTsO]

Diggin' the videos you make, helping me with my at home silversmith and jewelry making. Much appreciated that you do these videos. I hope to get better in time with knowledge from watching your videos and finding more helpful people like yourself. I like the making tools part, I'm gonna make a big pair of half rounders now.

[@eightkindsofblue]

Soooo interesting! I 100 percent know the type of teachers you’re referring to. Clearly being a professional jeweler requires ingenuity so far above and beyond those who make art jewelry. Amazing. Thanks for sharing!

[@gilliancowan3517]

Ha couldn't agree more. I'm a diamond setter and jeweller of 30 plus years.... actually learnt very little at college. Learned through apprenticeship but mostly experience and a will to improve. Being inventive too that's why I enjoy so much your channel playing as I work. Live the company of another bench jeweller helping and keeping my standards high.

[@DiamondMounter]

Honour to accompany you! Yes all the learning is in the doing. Making mistakes, feeling frustration, problem solving, working under pressure etc. Thats where the skill improvements are hidden

[@CONEHEADDK]

with the internet you don't need schools - except for access to some tools.

[@stephencoster9532]

Hiya Chris, have you come across 'At The Bench'? A Welsh jeweller from a small town outside Cardiff. He has a KZbin channel and teaches from his vast experience, from between the lines, sizing rings/repairs a lot. He teaches the flat plate, cut an arc method... I did a few lessons at college here in Bolton, the teacher was a sculpture, not a jeweller, knew a few things, not a lot though, this was intermediate class. Both of these wouldn't last a week in any of the workshops you describe I think. But they set themselves up as the lord high, I'm the only one who is a professional, only I know how to do it, my way or do it wrong and fail. Dad died back in March leaving me some money that I've used to buy tools. One thing I got was a drill press for a type 30 handpiece and a vice with vertical V cut-outs to hold tubes to cut seats with a burr. They thought soldering in a smaller tube??? You are a breath of fresh air, I love your teaching, I just wish you would show all steps, yes including starter as well as intermediate level. The video would be longer but if you don't need it, skip it. Apart from 2 ladies teaching a lot of people for a very large amount of money each, you are the only teacher who I think really has got the Tee shirt! Stay safe, Steve...

[@DiamondMounter]

Thank you I want to show what possible at a jewellers bench with only basic tools. Yes I know that At the Bench channel. He wouldnt pass a job interview to work for me to keep it polite. He has a 10x bigger channel than me though and lots of people like him so what do I know.

[@stephencoster9532]

@@DiamondMounterWhat do you know? Compared to him, the lot! He put his foot in it for a lot of people when he slated Pepe Tools because he's friends with Durston, does work for him and gets a lot of new stuff to try, that he co-designed??? It's easy to get a lot of followers when you're about the only game in town. I keep pushing your channel, you are worth following, he is not. A bigoted misogynist, from what he says. Steve...

[@joolsdunn1800]

Interesting video. I am probably intermediate level now and am currently learning more with an online school, which I am enjoying. My latest project though is a tube set ring using commercially available silver tube. However I don't have any but I do have a lot of scrap (yeah, lots of botches!). So I used some to turn up my own tube to fit a 5mm stone. Your videos have given me the confidence to try that, so thank you! Also made the tube with my best solder joint ever!

[@peterscherff1357]

My experience of learning jewelry making in school in the USA is similar. Efficiency was never something that my teachers graded upon. If a student could produce similar quality work in less time they would receive the same grade as students that took longer. We were also taught that limiting the wear on tools was more important than speed or accuracy. For example it is often faster and more accurate to drag a file backwards instead of lifting the file for the back stroke. We had to lift the file. Apparently files are delicate Gods that must be pampered. I have since learned that they are tools that wear out and that is OK. If I can make higher quality pieces faster while also wearing out my file faster, fine it is a great trade off.

[@DiamondMounter]

Couldnt agree more!

[@SamuelPerryBasildon]

Its relatable about the age thing, my boss is in his 60s and always likes to tell his employees how to do things when he walks past them in the workshop, even though he's not been behind a bench in 10+ years, by no means I'm not saying he's a bad jeweller as he wouldn't be in the position he's in today if he was, but he's very stuck in old ways and doesn't keep up to date with new tools and techniques and I always learn so much more from one of the jewellers in the workshop with only 22 years in the trade rather than the 35!

[@sirio-eg8oz]

Quello che dici é vero,la vecchia scuola è la migliore maniera di imparare,a patto che questo lavoro ti appassioni veramente,i vecchi maestri erano duri,quando mi tagliavo con un seghetto il detto era" é tutto mestiere che entra",molto corretto politicamente e molto efficace .io sono orafo da 45 anni trovo i tuoi video molto istruttivi e continuo ad avere voglia di imparare cose nuove o un modo diverso di fare la stessa cosa, complimenti Chris

[@DiamondMounter]

Grazie, sono felice di sapere che stai guardando i video. Tutti possiamo imparare gli uni dagli altri, indipendentemente dal momento dell'esperienza, poiché le persone fanno le cose in modi diversi

[@fionamclean]

Yes, totally agree. I am a student in Canada. A lot of teachers don't actually have the professional practice behind them. There is an old saying that those who cannot do, teach. To be fair there are some good teachers out there but I think your perspective is spot on. In school, they don't teach you things about how to function outside of the college environment. Things about maintaining your tools, making your own tools, setting up your own studio, functioning in the professional realm, accessing materials along with a lot of the other issues you address. here. The entire perspective is limited to the college environment and they feel no obligation to prepare you for what lies beyond. And worse, the outcome of that is a world full of mass produced, CAD oriented, poorly made, poorly considered jewellery on the cheap. America is a particularly good example but all of the first world nations are becoming like this.

[@malcolmthompson9848]

There is a bit of apples to oranges here. A bench jeweler working for a fashion jewelry outlet is an entirely different animal than an artisanal goldsmith. The first is more about precession, but with less artistic style and license. The second caters to clients looking for a wider array of personal style, techniques and most likely lower price points. Most people who are interested in learning jewelry making are hobbyist who frankly would find a career as a bench jeweler somewhere in the middle level of Hell. Those of us teaching jewelry making have to tailor our classes to the interests of students, 95 % of whom just want to learn how to make a simple band to show their friends. Virtually none of them are interested in learning to make jewelry while watching the clock. I have tremendous respect for your skills and even after doing this craft for 45 years, I come to your channel where I learn something every time. Nevertheless, I'm never going to be a bench jeweler. There's room for both types of training. Something you did not bring up is the problem with workshop courses at expensive craft schools that offer courses "for all levels." Most often they involve a specific technique or theme relating to artisanal jewelry (the last two i took at one of the most prestigious school in the USA involved enameling and hydraulic press forming). The problem with such schools however is their need to fill seats and the people who take them have more $$$ than skill or experience. "All levels" is code for "introductory." A significant part of my time there involved me helping the teacher bring the rest of the class up to speed with fundamentals. These craft schools charge up to $5000 for a 12 day course. Opportunities to undertake really advanced techniques are rare and here is where apprenticeships come into there own. Unfortunately, here in the USA, apprenticeship is not nearly established as in the UK.

[@flyingcheff]

Chris, you are SOOOO correct. Its the same with flight training/flight school. You can go to an expensive school, solo, and then keep going to get all your ratings (instructor: snore! unless you like someone trying to kill you every day! ) OR, you can clean company toilets, do maintenance with the mechanics, load freight, and drive a stinky fork lift (loving every minute of that - woo-hoo fun driving cans (of freight) and fork lifts and anything else they throw at you- old trucks leaking with crates of ice cream , etc). And then, when you finally get to sit in the right seat of the plane as FO, you know your stuff and real training begins!

[@DiamondMounter]

A close friend of mine decided to not go to uni and just get a job doing anything on offer at a large firm specialising in the subject she wanted to work in aged 19. A few years later she had worked her way up in the company and previous classmates that went the university route were coming for job interviews and she was the one interviewing them lol. All uni' had done was delay their career advancements

[@paulkiley4667]

I consider myself to be a hobby jeweller, I have never bought a ready made ring or setting. I make everything myself (mainly due to watching channels such as yours) I have found an excellent website that has not only moved my work along massively, but the guy is actually an excellent teacher, he ran his own jewellery manufacturing business then moved to australia, that mentions everything you have said. Last year I was invited for a bench test at a local jewellers in Leeds UK, I went along, made a ring, only to be ridiculed for the finished article....even though I wasn't even shown where any tools etc were. I just did it, from scratch using scrap. I don't think the jeweller in the shop thought I was capable however I proved him very wrong! Even if they had offered me a job I would have turned it down as I found it a very toxic environment. I'll continue as I am, earning a lot of cash as a truck driver to pay for a hobby where I can serve a small number of customers that actually appreciate what I do. Keep the videos comng, they really do help, a lot!

[@caissafrass6631]

What was the website?

[@Daveyboyz1978]

I did a day release to John Cass too in 1997. I almost passed out using those blow torches where you have to blow.

[@DiamondMounter]

Oh yeah haha those stupid things

[@alisonmilligan5717]

Love your honesty

[@jimbettridge3123]

Thanks Chris!

[@kxjewelry7809]

I made some Pliers with a grinder because of your suggestion in another video. You are right! My store bought ones are @#$%! Your videos and techniques are awesome! School is for suckers.. I am completely self taught by watching your videos. Much better value! Thank you Chris.

[@Daveyboyz1978]

We used to take the ones like he showed and saw a groove in them so you can hold the material sideways without it flipping.

[@kxjewelry7809]

@@Daveyboyz1978 yes.. I made a little groove in mine too. However, it's not exactly straight :-)

[@elizabethtailor111]

Isn't there a balancing of efficiency vs time? I'm as penny pinching as anybody regarding making a metal supply last (I'll raid my scraps first when I'm starting something), but also figuring time is money, and using first goods when appropriate. Rather than anneal and mill, repeat, repeat, repeat, I'd count it a plus to cut out that pattern, rubber cement it to the sheet, and get the damn thing cut out and going. I frequently need tiny elements, and with judicious pattern placement, the small scrap created always finds use. Then again, I work with silver mostly, and it may be different with gold, although like I said, I always raid the scraps first. Just seems like there would be a calculation there.

[@damiancoldwell7224]

Hehe totally agree with you.i worked with very good jewellers when doing my training oh ya the presure to do the work right was essential

[@johnnyyaz]

Tell it like it is !

[@joejeweller7614]

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach!

[@wolfagotten]

I look your window and i think: that looks like Japan.

[@vikkysoni2407]

❤️

[@eivindkofod1774]

Sorry, I do not want to insult you because you have a pleasant lot of good technical tricks and advice, but it is at times annoying to listen to. A bit of humility would improve your presentations.

[@shelterskelter]

So wait.....the 45 year old stay at home mum with expensive tools and disposable income but no actual skills may not be the best tutor..... Could have never imagined....