Anybody here from the uk?

Hi  '>

My girlfriend is looking for A jewlry making course in the north of england. Does anyone know of any?

She is already a competent Glass-maker and potter, But want to make jewels too!!!
She can use solder irons and most tools... And has a few bits and bobs to work with.

I told her she doesnt need a class... And she does want to learn some herself... But I feel she was also wanting to go for fun and socializing too.... as well as learning new stuff.

I told her to just find a forum & join in..And she can learn and share in a place like this....

But she doesnt really have much experience with forums or know much about them.....

Does anyone have any ideas?
Should I get her to join this forum?
Will she be able to learn a lot of practical and usefull stuff here?

thanks
Richard

[Metalman]

Richard,
I agree with you that a lot can be learned from forums, etc. but I will weigh in with your girlfriend in that some of these things are easiest or best learned hands on. If she wishes to learn jewelry smithing and metalsmithing, I would highly recommend a book The Complete Metalsmith by Tim McCreight [R&T# 62-010]  There is also a professional version that is more comprehensive which we could special order if you wish. Either of these will be a big help whether she 'goes it alone' or finds a class.
Part of the decision here will center around whether she is thinking of metalsmithing, possibly heading into gold and precious metals, soldering and stonesetting ; or if she is thinking of the ornamenting, beading, embellishment sort of thing.  As one works with the more metalsmithing end, the materials handling skill set becomes harder.  Frequently the source of classes for this sort of thing is colleges and universities, although there are many 'summer' workshop classes to be found as well. Hope this helps, ask more??

Thanks for that Metalman.
I relayed what you posted in reply....

She seems to be more interested in the metalsmithing side of things. Making rings and earings. Not so much the crafts beads side of it.

She seems to think she will need to leave her solder behind and adopt a blowtorch?

I did find a few courses on the net. One in particular in Nottingham, England. That is one or two days and various levels.

She works full time though... And was hoping that she could find a night-school mabe one night a week.

I wonder if any colleges in our area do night classes in their workshops?

She has been looking for ages and never found any such courses though.

We will check the book out.
I'll do a search for it and take a look.

Thankyou.

[Metalman]

Richard,
If you do a search for soldering on the forum, there is an assortment of answers and info regarding these methods and techniques. These couple of links following will give you a start on this:
http://www.rings-things.com/cgi-bin....ldering

http://www.rings-things.com/cgi-bin....ldering

I will guess that by this sentence "She seems to think she will need to leave her solder behind and adopt a blowtorch?"
you meant that she would need to get a torch rather then use a soldring iron?  For silver soldering [also called hard soldering], she wold need a torch.  To me, a 'blow torch' is a large flamed, hot blasting sort of torch.  You can do quite a bit of metalsmithing level soldering with the small, butane filled torches that are available.  These are frequently used in the kitchen for creme broulee and are generally quite reasonably priced - this would be a great place for her to start with the soldering equipment.

http://www.rings-things.com/cgi-bin....ldering