How long does it take to make a piece of jewellery: A Studio Tour

At shows I often get the question “How long does it take you to make one of these?”

The answer is not so straightforward.

Mainly, as there are various stages to each piece I create, I am rarely working on just one at a time.

In the course of discussing this topic, I practically give you a studio tour, look:

The way my studio is set up is in stations: there is the station for fire, yes – the most obvious one, the one everyone thinks of when they think what a goldsmith does.

And of course the jeweller’s bench: a special table of a certain height, with a round cut-out to fit one’s body in. I had mine custom-made by a local woodworker from Jatoba wood, because of its tremendous hardness. I love my bench!

I’ve had it for almost the full 20 years since registering my business (still thinking of doing something special to celebrate that …).

This is where all tasks relating to jewellery fabrication take place: piercing, binding, filing, sanding. This is where my pieces get their stamps of quality and maker’s mark.

Mainly I spend a lot of time there, making the tiniest adjustments when fitting a bezel perfectly into one of my rings, for example. This tasks takes a ridiculously long time, because everything is so precise: if I file off too much or at the wrong angle, I get myself in a very big pickle. So I have to take each step very carefully, and keep checking angles and depth again and again.

After soldering though – and soldering set-up again is a time-consuming task –  oxidization needs to be removed after every time fire touched the precious metal. this is done by ‘pickling’ –  a mild acid bath (either citric acid, or the same stuff that’s in your swimming pool, but VERY concentrated).  

Once it comes out of that bath, the acid is neutralized with baking soda rinse, and finally a water rinse.

It’s not good for the piece to be put into any liquid when it’s too hot, though, and it needs to sit in the acid for a bit. So while one piece is cooling, another may be in the acid bath, for example.

Other stations are for tools like my rotary tumbler, which hardens precious metals over a period of several hours, and others like ring stretcher and rolling mill. Don’t forget the almighty polishing wheel, which – truly – turns at mind-numbing speed! I had to get used to it.

After polishing, there is a lot of cleaning to get the polishing compound off the piece, especially in the crevices. This starts with an ultrasonic cleaner and goes from there to manual methods, then steam cleaner.

And my desk. Sadly I spend a lot of my time at the desk, mainly working out quotes. Quoting is very challenging, and often very complex, especially if there are option quotes for different gemstones, for example.

When clients are local, I meet with them in the ‘gallery’ section of my studio. My desk is where I meet with clients virtually. Whether virtual or in-person, this is where the style and gem options come out. For remote clients, I photograph gem options.

Timing will get additionally warped by waiting for suppliers to get back to me with prices, navigating cross-border issues (about to likely get worse), applying for shows, and the vicissitudes of life … those are not calculated into the price, but they do throw wrenches into wheels at times. More about this another time.

You can see: it’s tough to keep track of the time it takes for each and every piece.

Oh goodness, I haven’t even talked about my wax bench – a whole separate area (because waxes have to be kept very clean).

Another time!