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How would you go about learning Jewellery making as well as working full time?

I don’t ask for myself, mind you :) but I have a friend who would like to learn how to make Jewellery professionally, but she does work full time. She lives in Liverpool and we can’t find any evening courses, only full time degrees.

Can anyone offer any advice??

The beaded stuff is pretty easy to pick up on your own, but to learn serious techniques (i.e. soldering, actual metal forming) you really need to be able to devote some serious time to it. It’s not something you can learn part time. Of course, she may consider asking around at some local jeweler’s shops and seeing if she can get an apprenticeship, but she’s probably going to have to suck it up and go to school.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 3:17 pm and is filed under jewellery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Responses to “How would you go about learning Jewellery making as well as working full time?”

  1. she could simple practice as a cottage industry in her spare time .
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  2. Try local adult education centres, check your local councils website for courses offered. Good luck
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  3. She just has to plunge in and do it. It does take several years to go from beginner to being good enough to sell, but still the only way is to just do it.

    She could start with books and supplies from the craft store. But to sell, you have to have unique designs, and use materials that can’t be found in craft stores.

    She will also want to be looking for wholesalers or learning to make her own parts, if she wants to make a profit.

    I was working full time when I started my sewing business. It’s the only way to support yourself while building your customer base. It can be hectic if she is trying to meet deadlines and prepare for craft shows, but it’s worth it.
    .
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  4. Mommiedearest on July 27th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    The first site is for beginners tutorial and would give her some idea how to get started and the second I did not look fully into but it should show how to make a two strand earring. All this information is free.

    http://www.craftown.com/jewelry/jewel1.htm

    http://www.craftown.com/jewelry/jewel2.htm
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  5. I went to the locla junior college. I ended up going 2 nights a week for 7 semesters
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  6. Ruth the Magnificent on July 27th, 2009 at 11:34 pm

    I don’t have a full time job, but I learned chanmaille while going to school full time. It’s a really great form of jewellry making, and pretty much you can start selling jewellry right after you start — it’s a craft where everything depends on your rings, and if those look professional, then the finished product generally will too. I learned mostly off of the internet — check out mailleartisans.org for tutorials and galleries, and go to theringlord.com for a good selection of fairly decent rings at okay prices. It’s a lot easier than it looks, so don’t let your friend get discouraged or intimidated by the pictures! Some really great starting weaves that look absolutely amazing and sell like hotcakes are spiral weave and byzantine weave (which is also called birdcage). European 4-1 is the basic chanmaille weave and is also very easy and very popular. Good luck to your friend!
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  7. Well if she can’t find any courses locally, which I find strange as there are plenty in Lancashire and Cheshire, she could always visit stores that sell the beads, etc for making jewellery and enquiring if they run any courses to get her started. Did she try the FE colleges and Sixth form colleges?
    There is a bead fair at Nantwich in Cheshire on Sunday 25th May, there will be people there that could advise her and help her.
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  8. purplemoon0101 on July 28th, 2009 at 12:31 am

    There are loads of tutorials online. All you need to tell your friend is to get a few basic tools, ie round nose pliers, tweezers, pair of flat nose pliers.

    There are a few links here on how to get started, and making a some beautiful jewellery. There are many tutorials on seperate pieces, on You Tube.

    http://www.makebeautifuljewellery.com/basics.php

    http://www.littlebeader.com/make_it_yourself

    http://www.epbeads.co.uk/

    Look down the right hand side of the page.Good Tips.

    http://www.jewelrybylinda.com/

    Just a few but put into search engine " Jewellery making tutorial", loads more will come up, and ideas too.

    When she has mastered the making of the jewellery, she could still continue with her job that she has, and make the jewellery in the evenings in her spare time.

    There is a site called http://www.etsy.com/ where you can sell all handmade items. Its a very good site and things that are on there are of good quality.
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  9. The beaded stuff is pretty easy to pick up on your own, but to learn serious techniques (i.e. soldering, actual metal forming) you really need to be able to devote some serious time to it. It’s not something you can learn part time. Of course, she may consider asking around at some local jeweler’s shops and seeing if she can get an apprenticeship, but she’s probably going to have to suck it up and go to school.
    References :
    jeweler/metalsmith

  10. magicalmemoriesphotography on July 28th, 2009 at 1:13 am

    http://www.crafttvweekly.com
    they have a channel there called plum and verdigre and its all videos of jewelry making, really cool and great projects to watch them show you how to make
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