Craft Articles

This is the generic name of a job that involves making objects including jewellery, watch cases, candlesticks, ornaments etc with precious metals.  When making jewellery precious stones are often incorporated and the process of selecting and preparing these is called gemmology.

• The Work
  This type of work involves a variety of skills such as casting, forging, beating and stamping, polishing and finishing and designing.  The work can usually be divided into 2 different categories:
  
  Manufacturing: Often working in a small factory or workshop most jobs involve specialist training either on site or at college.  The work can include creating a wide variety of items depending on the employer and can range from mass-produced items for the High Street trade through to expensive jewellery for specialist stores.
  
  Craftwork: This is usually on a small-scale, self-employed basis and the craftworker will usually find themselves involved in every stage of the process from initial designing through production and on to marketing and selling the work.

• Opportunities, Qualifications and Pay
  The industry for gold/silversmiths is mainly located in London, Sheffield, Birmingham. Glasgow and Edingborough.  Vacancies may be advertised in local papers and also specialist trade publications.

  Generally no academic qualifications are required for a trainee position.  Many craftworkers study for a HND or degree in gold & silversmithing or jewellery making before setting up their own workshop or joining a workshop with other artists.

  The Jewellery & Allied Industries Training Council (JAITC) have information about courses including both degrees and short courses.

  Salary figures are a general guide as actual pay will depend on the employer and location.
  Trainee £9000
  With experience £14000
  Supervisor/Manager £20000

• Useful Websites
  Jewellery & Allied Industries Training Council (JAITC) www.jaitc.org.uk
  British Jewellers’ Association www.bja.org.uk

A posting on the Craft Forum titled ‘No Craft Jobs’ really got me thinking about whether this is really the case and prompted me into doing a bit of research into this sector.  Obviously the biggest ‘qualification’ needed for this type of work is talent and perhaps unsurprisingly there is a large number of artists and ‘makers’ who are self-employed or portfolio workers.  Many of these supplement their income by other employment, often teaching their craft either in further or adult education classes.

However, if you wish to become employed in the creative sector, increasingly a degree is being deemed as necessary.  But how likely is it that an art and/or design degree will actually get you that dream job?

Initially the statistics don’t look that promising…the latest research conducted for www.prospects.ac.uk shows that only 63% of art students were in full-time employment 6mths after graduating.  Of these only 29% were working in the ‘Art, Design, Culture or Media’ industry with the greatest number of these employed as Commercial Artists closely followed by Graphic Designers.

Many art + design graduates initially work outside their chosen sector, encouragingly however as they gain experience only 20% remain outside art and design in the long term.  So, it appears in the long term the investment appears worth it.

First is first you need to be able to answer thing questions:

Is your Artcle “worthy?” The purpose of our craft article is to inform the crafts people about something great, new, or an experience which will help our users. Do not use your article to try and make a sale or promote a site.

A good Artcle will cover the follow questions:

1. who
2. what
3. where
4. when
5. why

If feel your article will qualify then drop us an email and we will have a look.. good luck..

Alas it is all over.  

We finished off the filing yesterday.

We used a shining machine which had spinning calico circles which helped clean the metal after adding products called Tripoli and rouge to the calico edges.

We then had to anneal and pickle it about 4 times although I can’t remember why, I’m a bad pupil that wasn’t paying attention. After the annealing it went into a barrel shaped cleaning machine which spun round like a tombola.

Inside it was cleaning solution and small metal pieces which looked like nails which helped with the cleaning process. We also learnt how to make an imprint on metal. Anneal a piece of metal, cut a design from special thick paper or even use something as delicate as a skeleton leaves, sandwich it between 2 pieces of metal then feed it through a press and voila!! the imprint is left on the metal!! After about half an hour (preferably leave it in the barrel for an hour but we were pushed for time)out came our lovely rings, I am wearing mine as I type.

Before I left I checked to see if I needed anything to start my next project. The teacher says they have enough of what I need to make a start then order more if necessary. Hopefully after the end of the next course I will be the proud owner of a tiara, which I shall wear whilst doing the hovering.

I signed up for more lessons today! 

I have an idea for a tiara so hopefully I can make that. Almost finished the ring last night.

We soldered it as soon as we got in, comparing notes with my friend to make sure we didn’t get it disastrously wrong.

The teacher was happy with our efforts , we then filed them with a fine metal file to start to make it smooth then we used a type of finer sand paper for metals. Time consuming but therapeutic. So next week we should finish and I will be the proud owner of a shiny smooth sterling silver ring.