The renowned School of Jewellery in Birmingham has over 50 exciting courses in its 2007 short course programme. All are designed to offer training opportunities to those involved in the jewellery or other creative industries to develop their existing skills, or to learn highly specialised new techniques in a short time frame of between one to five days.
In keeping with our commitment to excellence several respected international tutors will be contributing to our wide range of courses. A selection of courses include:
PATTERN AND COLOUR
Colouring Jewellery with Cold Enamel, Mokume Gané, Fused Glass Jewellery, Colouring and Forming Anodised Aluminium Jewellery.
STONES
Stonesetting at various levels, Gem*A Diamond Grading Practical with Exam, Gemmology Basics, Gems and the Designer Maker.
JEWELLERY
Jewellery Making Techniques at various levels, Creative Laser Welding, Electroforming, Precious Metal Clay and our design course ‘From Concept to Design’.
SILVERSMITHING
Silversmithing Design and Formation, Anticlastic Raising, Hydraulic Die Forming, Spinning.
CAD/CAM
1-Day, 3-Day or 6-Evening session CAD courses on a variety of software programmes including ArtCAM Jewelsmith, JewelCAD, Rhino and Solidworks. Rapid Prototyping. An introduction to CAD/CAM (3-Day course).
RETAIL
Valuation and Appraisal of Jewellery, Costing and Pricing for Your Jewellery Business, An Introduction to Watch Repair, Maximize the Impact of Your Exhibition.
A SELECTION OF NEW COURSES FOR 2007
Creative and Experimental Surfaces in Enamel with Elizabeth Turrell who is the senior research fellow in Enamel, University West England Bristol. During this exciting and inspirational course you will focus on line and surface enrichment, such as simple drawing, printmaking and collage suitable for the enamelling process and non-traditional approaches to glass on metal. You will also explore a range of the application of vitreous enamel on metals to build rich or subtle surfaces incorporating sgraffito, resists, overglaze enamels, lustres, enamel threads, stamping and graphite pencils.
Course date 24 – 27 July, course fee £385
Diamond Awareness – 1 Day course with Grenville Millington (FGA). This course is ideal for those in the retail jewellery trade or for diamond enthusiasts who require a brief introduction explaining what is involved in grading polished diamonds for colour, cut and clarity.
Course date 25 June, course fee £150
Keum-Boo, Enriching Silver Surfaces with Kye-Yeon Son. Keum-Boo is the traditional Korean surface embellishment technique of fusing 24K gold foil onto silver. You will explore the simple procedure of this fusing technique which makes an easy and inexpensive way to add a rich gold colour to your work.
Course date 27 -29 June, course fee £325.
Hand Made Silver Chains with Jinks McGrath. On this course you will be using some forging techniques to create hammered links, acquire loop-in-loop skills for a very flexible chain and make some simple jigs to produce original but identical links. You will also make all your own catches.
Course date 24 -27 July, course fee £350
Polishing for Jewellers and Silversmiths with Stephen M Goldsmith. During this course you will be shown some of the tips and techniques of the trade to help you improve your skills, enabling you to obtain a more professional finish. The course will include some traditional methods and machinery techniques associated with the polishing of precious metals. You are encouraged to bring along some of your own work for discussion.
Course date 2-4 July, course fee £295
These are just a selection of the courses in the extensive programme for 2007. The programme will be launched in February and course reservations will be taken from Monday February 12. Student places are limited, therefore please book early to avoid disappointment by telephoning to make a £125 credit/debit card deposit.
