The liquefication of metal is a fascinating thing. I can spend hours on Instagram watching jewelers make their pieces, and seeing that little ball of solder slip into the metal is mesmerizing. Here’s the truth of it—I watch with admiration because I’m so incapable of doing it.
This year-end essay is my guilty admission. I’m terrible at soldering. My introduction to jewelry class was like a Stephen King novel come to life. Really, really horrific. In the battle between me and solder, the solder won. To be honest, it’s worrisome enough that someone let me hold a blowtorch—but then they walked away from me while I had fire in my hands. I’m good with words, not with patience. And, as you well know, making jewelry takes an amazing amount of patience.
Why am I telling you all of this? To honor the jewelers and the jewelry industry that I have had the pleasure to write about with JCK for more than a year now. My holiday wish for you via this personal post on what I learned in my jewelry class is that you get a laugh, a reminder of why you do what you do, and that you are blessed with many gifts—including knowing how to solder without embarrassing yourself in front of a bunch of strangers.
Lesson No. 1: Jewelry requires you to follow a series of steps. If you think you can deviate from any one of those steps, you’re wrong. My intro class occurred at the Smith Shop in Highland Park, Mich., just outside of Detroit. The class had about eight people in it, and I was practically shaking in my seat to get started. Rookie mistake. First, you listen to the instructor and then you slow your roll so you can make a competent piece of jewelry. The other people in the class got it—I did not. My instructor was smart, professional, and well trained. She put up with me but rightly reminded me frequently to work through each step in a careful, precise way.
Lesson No. 2: It doesn’t pay to be clumsy and break your equipment. I apologized profusely then and I’ll say it again: I’m so sorry for the number of blades I broke in the six-week class I took. It took me a full class session to learn how to use the jeweler’s saw in terms of installing yet another new blade and working it properly. Let’s just say no one really wanted to sit by me at the bench as I cursed myself for my fumbling and frustration.
Lesson No. 3: The materials have to be respected, and there’s a lot to learn from those materials. I struggled with the manipulation of the materials themselves. If it isn’t clear by now, this class truly got the best of me. I’m glad we worked with simple wire and inexpensive stuff so that I didn’t have to write a check each time I broke, manhandled, or messed up something like gold or silver. The fact that people work with precious materials to create such art was yet another important lesson.
Lesson No. 4: That transformation from a raw, unfinished piece to a fully realized ring or bracelet is what made me respect jewelry-making in the extreme. Just the manipulation of those materials and the technique needed to accomplish it were beyond me, and I loved it. I’m not a glutton for punishment, but it was so clear to me that I’m not good at this. What was cool to see was the people in the class who found their passion and a new possible profession based on their skills, patience, and creativity.
Lesson No. 5: I still have years, if not decades, of work ahead of me to learn about jewelry, its designers, and the craft. You wouldn’t think my lack of mastery in this introduction to jewelry class would be pleasing—but it made me happy to suffer through what all of you undoubtedly had to go through to become what you are now. I’m studying this industry with a fervor I never imagined, and the rewards feel endless. It’s amazing to feel this way at half- century old—I’m a kid just getting my feet wet—and I appreciate these humbling moments.
It’s one thing to look at a beautiful finished piece and admire it. But to understand it, to see the hours and hours that go into it, to honor the people who made it and how their craft means so much? That’s truly priceless.
Happy holidays!
Top: Here are the (almost) finished rings I created in my introduction to jewelry class, where I learned that I am better off writing about jewelry than making it (photos courtesy of Karen Dybis).
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