Jewellers Academy Diploma in Fine Jewellery

I just embarked on a year-long Diploma in Fine Jewelry with Jewellers Academy. Each week there is a new skill and project to work on. At the end of each term, I submit the pieces and send them in for marking.

I’m not going to lie, as much as I love love love making jewelry, this is going to take a lot of concentration, time, energy and (I’m sure) curse words! I’m looking forward to the challenge and I love learning, so we’ll see how it goes! 

I'm going to attempt to share with you all each of the weeks projects.

Week 1: Reticulation and Keum Boo

We had to make one ring and one other project (could be earrings, pendant etc), I chose to make two rings.

I enjoyed the process, the reticulation didn’t have as much texture to it as I hoped and I had to reapply the keum boo a second time. But it was great to learn new jewelry skills again! Investing in one’s self (I believe) is really important. I have some reticulated silver left over, so I’ll make something else. I also bought a hot plate to do the keum boo with, which is coming in handy as our kitchen is getting renovated! 

Reticulation and Keum Boo  Reticulation and Keum Boo  Reticulation and Keum Boo  Reticulation and Keum Boo  Reticulation and Keum Boo  Reticulation and Keum Boo

Reticulation

Reticulation is a decorative surface finishing technique involving the application of localized heat to the surface of a metal object. Reticulation is typically performed on alloys of silver and copper or of gold and copper.

Reticulation Process  Reticulation Process  Reticulation Process  Reticulation Process

Keum boo

Keum-boo is an ancient Korean gilding technique used to apply thin sheets of gold to silver, to make silver-gilt. Traditionally, this technique is accomplished by first depleting a surface of sterling silver to bring up a thin layer of fine silver.

Term 1, Weeks 2 & 3 - Prong/Claw Setting


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