Little disappointed to hear this jewelers apprenticeship moves quite a bit slower than I thought. The other apprentice I work with has been there for 1 year and has only had one training shift on the bench. I was told during the interview I was brought on to free up more time for training so hopefully that is is the case. On the plus side working around jewelry has kept my mind on it and had me focused on my goals more. I've been spending about an hour a night working through YouTube tutorials for Rhino 6 to learn CAD design. I also ordered some books to help expand my knowledge and skills. They are; Modeling in Wax for Jewelry and Sculpture (covers carving and casting), Jewelry Design and Development: From Concept to Object (Follows 20 artists from start to finish on a piece), Jewelry Illustration, Jewelry Concepts and Technology (seen it on a few lists as the benchworkers bible) , Jewelry Design: The Artisans Reference (covers the fundamental components of rings, cuff links, bracelets, watches,ect.) I have some more books on my shopping list about more specialized for certain techniques or the history of jewelry but I think this is a good start to establish a solid understanding of the fundamentals. I'd like to find a good beginners project book for benchwork but I haven't done the research yet to find one. If they will not be able to give me bench time at work I will teach myself in my free time. I hope with developing my own skills and the work experience/resume bullet point of the job I will be able to get my foot in the door somewhere better paying and more interesting in a few years. kleinbl00 I know you are studying Jewelry as well. I mainly posted the book list above for you. Do you have any recommendations to round out my self education?
I also have Jewelry Illustration. I intend to bang through it this summer. I may have to challenge you to a draw-off! ;-) First drawings due Pubski after next!!! I'm saving your list. Totally gonna grab some of those, from the library if nowhere else. The standard that everyone points to is Tim McCreight's Complete Metalsmith and I grabbed Charles Lewton-Brain's hinges & Hinge-based Catches for Jewelers & Goldsmiths. They're blatantly practical books.
I'm game! I can't promise I'll be much competition though haha. I will pick up Complete Metalsmith. It's been encouraging to know that there are in depth books available on so many techniques used in the field, like a book specifically for hinges and catches.
I regret to inform you that there's an entire class of jewelers who make a lot of money writing books for other jewelers, teaching other jewelers, holding seminars for other jewelers... There's more (basic) knowledge out there than customers so there's a lot of "how to make an ashtray out of PMC, $400" shit out there. The Lewton-Brain book is useful because it's basically "here's how to make a joint that moves" which comes in handier than you might think.