How it got started
Nearly 20 years ago, my wife wanted to learn about stringing beads. She enrolled in a local community college beading and stringing class. It made sense for her to understand and learn how simple fashion jewelry is made. I mean women love all kinds of jewelry and some men do too, so it is natural to take the next step. One thing led to another and she signed up for the GIA Pearls Stringing courses and completed with distinction. Armed with the newly minted skills, she turned her attention to turning this into a business. As with most of her projects, yours truly is tasked with the execution phases. Just like her putting a dot on the paper and I have to draw a circle around it. That means coming up to speed with all the that are required for successful implementation.
My wife is blessed with good taste and an eye for quality. She can walk into any store and pick the most expensive item without looking at the price. She may not even be familiar with that product. There is a fish story about this that I will leave for another article. So like any lady, she took it upon herself to “source” (aka shopping) for the raw material. She would attend all gem and jewelry trade shows and come home with bags of gemstones and pearls. They came in strands, so she had bags containing strands of these pearls and gemstones. The problem was she bought what she liked personally and not because she thought it would fit her designs. She is the get it first and worry about how to make it fit
It was an eye-opening experience for both of us. I knew nothing about gemstones or pearls, while she is familiar with the expensive gemstones every woman dreams of having. Beyond these, we were clueless, but that did not stop her from pursuing this hobby. In my case, I had to learn web design, photography, photo editing, understanding e-commerce, and spotting scammers. I am a hands-on type of guy, I like to roll up my sleeves and dive right into it and learn as I go. I just do not have the patience to read through a how-to book. I signed up for a photography class at a local community college.
Jewelry photography is a different animal from those lessons taught in the photography class. I learned a lot about the term “White Balance”, yet I was at a loss trying to put it into practice. I had only a small camera to work with, the kind you take on a trip where you set it to auto. I did not want to invest in a better camera as my skill and knowledge were not at a level where a better camera would make a difference. It was all trial and error and a lot of googling.
I have always wanted to get into Web design back then. Again, I have never done it before and have a general idea of what is required. It was learned as I went. My software development background did help me overcome some terminologies and concepts and cut down on the learning curve. Twenty years ago, WordPress was still in its infancy and wasn’t too user-friendly. I decided to use HTML scripts for my website as it was easier to manage. The website was by no means fancy, just plain and simple, but it did what it was needed for.
There were growing pains along the way for me, but having a reason to purchase accessories and software made it worthwhile. It was news to my ear when my wife told me to take a metalsmithing class because she needed me to help incorporate silver and gold into her designs. I have seen jewelers at work before and was fascinated by the tools and equipment used. I was intrigued by the torch. The metalsmithing class I took at the community college gave me the confidence and knowledge to start working on some simple designs.
The necklace on the right is made using tourmaline semi-precious stones with textured 14K gold rings forming a chain. All I had going back then was what my wife requested. I did not have the feel for fashion and design. My wife called me a stiff with no fashion sense or taste!
This lasted about a year. During this period, she sold several necklaces with no return, which was amazing. Online shopping was still in its infancy, shoppers shopped with the intent of truly purchasing an item to keep, unlike today.
Our careers and personal lives’ demands prevented us from moving forward with this interest. So all the equipment was packed and stored in the garage and never touched again.
Fast forward 20 years. During this time, we have moved, and my wife has gotten into real estate, restaurant, and reselling on Amazon. Her bread and butter source of income is still day trading, focusing on Future indices. About 2 years ago, she was appointed as the 44th President of the Taiwanese Benevolent Association of America. The term is for one year. At the end of the one-year term, she wanted to gift the ladies on her team handmade pearl necklaces. This requires jump rings to be soldered to the clasp. It renewed both our “boxed” up passions for jewelry making again in different ways. She is still into the beauty of jewelry, while I am excited to get into the silversmithing type of work.
The problem now is, where are all my tools and equipment? Since we moved into our current house, I have not seen or come across these tools. After about a week of searching around the house. garage, and attic. I was able to gather most of it. Unfortunately, the most important tool, the Little Jeweler Torch hose was damaged due to long period of storage. The rubber hose has hardened and is leaking gas. I decided to spend the $500 to buy a whole new set instead of $150 for the replacement hose. I did not have the confidence to replace the hose, given the time i had to complete the jump rings for her.
Again, she suggested that I should see if there are any jewelry-making classes available to refresh my knowledge. Search online and found Tri-Community Adult Education does have a Jewelry and Lost Wax Casting class! Exactly what I am looking for.
