Get some Silver, the price has dropped.

Thanks to you new folks who just subscribed to my blog and thanks for hanging around to all of you who are still subscribers. I haven't posted anything in quite awhile, I have been away from my bench, pursuing other creative things like music and sewing.

Today I wanted to bring it to your attention in case you haven't noticed -- SILVER spot price is all the way down to $22.75. You can see that in the chart on the right side of your screen. This price is very affordable to us craftspeople, so it is time to buy.

An interesting thing occurred during the past few years -- due to the SILVER price getting so high, many people turned to Copper and other less expensive metals for their production. Since I am a Silversmith, enjoy soldering, know how to bezel set stones, etc, I am not that crazy about a lot of the work I have seen on Etsy, Pinterest and other websites. However, I have seen some really interesting pieces and I hope the artists who developed these techniques will start using SILVER again. I am referring to the Bohemian style jewelry that is proliferating right now -- twisted wire, lots of beads, simple construction, NO soldering, etc. Since the price of SILVER is low and these techniques are fast and furious, I don't see why the quality of work can not come up by switching back to SILVER and still be affordable.

I plan on starting a new production run soon. When the SILVER spot price was $45+ an ounce, I just couldn't justify using up my stock for the ROI I would get for my finished work. The spoiled public will only pay so much for silver jewelry and there is no way I can get my prices down to match what is available as imports, regardless of quality. Now that the price has dropped I can eek out a profit again, while maintaining my quality and design standards. 

So thank you to the World Banker guys (who are constantly ratcheting everything up and down) for focusing  on other commodities like Oil, Bonds, etc and allowing the SILVER price to go down. I appreciate being able to get back to work. So get some SILVER and get busy! =)

Please comment!

Estaban

PS I have a couple of Jewelry related Boards on Pinterest -- check them out if you have time:
http://pinterest.com/stram99/jewelry/
http://pinterest.com/stram99/my-jewelry/

Upcoming Information -- Subscribe today

I have been making silver and gold jewelry for about 20 years now and during that time I have been asked many times, 'How did you learn to make jewelry?'

I started by taking a class at an Art Center. It was typical - crowded, not a lot of instruction, with short availability/access, and not enough tools to go around. But for me it was a great start, especially considering the cost, which was low. I took notice of what I needed and what I didn't -- I inspected what was there and I made a list of the essentials. For example, I wanted to solder so I knew I needed a torch. I then proceeded to buy the tools and materials I needed to make the things I wanted to make. Since that time I have accumulated many tools and gone through lots of materials in pursuit of my quest to learn.

Unlike many more typical careers like doctor. lawyer, fireman, etc., becoming a jeweler has always seemed to be shrouded in mystery. There are specialty schools and some really good metalsmithing programs at a few colleges around the U.S. where you can go and take classes. But the availability of these just didn't compare to other fields (for example, not many colleges have jewelry programs, but almost all have Philosophy), why is this? There are probably a lot of reasons why. One reason, I believe, is somewhere in the realm of 'social design'. In other words our culture just didn't need that many jewelers so it wasn't thought of as a normal money-making career. Our jewelry was made by lower paid people in third world countries and by factory processes. Since I wasn't looking at it as a way to make money I wasn't deterred. When I decided I wanted to learn to make jewelry, and I couldn't locate an easy path, I got some books and I taught myself.

Again I will say put your emphasis on creating and learning basic skills rather than starting out thinking about making money. If you develop your skills you will make money. In my opinion, it takes as much perseverance, training, skill, and enthusiasm to become a jeweler as it does to become a lawyer, doctor, engineer, or any other occupation. With the same dedication to training one can expect to earn a decent living as a jewelry maker -- it is really just a different application of very similar skills. What I am trying to say here is learning basic skills is the first and foremost task that one should try to complete. This means sawing, filing, hammering, and yes, soldering! (I have never understood peoples' fear of fire, I am much more in awe of the power of water).

The purpose of this Blog is to help people to learn how to make fabricated jewelry. So I will be providing lots of information about specific processes and tasks, tips and information, tools, materials and where to get them. A community will form and we will all be able to meet here to promote and cheer each other on. Since I am a person that was able to learn how to make jewelry and have seen that many people can excel at it with a little help and guidance, I am willing to share what I know. I have started a jewelry making and metal smithing program before and I currently teach classes to any group of people I can round up. Let me give you my opening introduction -- I always start the classes with this -- to what I will try to do.

I always tell my new students on day one, at the very beginning, that making jewelry is not a matter of having a bunch of tools and stuff. I liken it to learning a musical instrument, like the violin. I am willing to tell you everything I know and help you in any way I can, show you demos and direct you to great pieces of jewelry to be inspired by. But nothing happens until you practice. It is never a matter of me telling you something, it is up to you to learn from your doing. Having said that, I will say that it gets easier each time you practice and most of you can become very proficient very rapidly. I have seen students go from frightened to fantastic in a weeks time. You can do it -- you will be able to create beautiful jewelry!

I hope you will subscribe to my Blog so you won't miss anything. Right now my posts are a little sparse, but I am just getting started. I am spending a lot of time preparing great documentation to post that will help you. Videos, printed demos, audio Webinars, and an ongoing discussion of everything Jewelry, including metal prices, Gems, PMC, tools, etc. So look for the link on the right side of this page and subscribe today (your email will remain private).

PS - I teach classes both for groups and private instruction and I am available to travel to do this, just drop me a note if you are interested.

Visualize your Jewelry

When I was a kid, we used to get a Sears catalog every year before Christmas. I would spend a lot of time looking at the pictures of all the toys and stuff and eventually tell my parents what I wanted, and most often I would receive it. I know now that this is where my creative abilities were developed. As a child I was totally into playing, I lived in a fantasy in my mind and spent many, many hours playing with all the various toys that I had over the years. I never lost this and playing has been my modus operandi my whole life. Consequently, I have experienced a lot of good things because I lived this way... but that is another story.

The reason I bring this up is because I want to say how important visualizing is in developing a jewelry style, what a good aid it is in creating jewelry that is your own. Books are good -- there is a multitude of books on the market that will give you ideas. But hopefully the things you see in the books are only launching points for getting the skills you will need to make the pieces that you want to make. I have seen a lot of jewelry that is just a copy of another piece of jewelry. I want to encourage you to shoot higher, to believe that you can make the pieces that you imagine in your mind, instead of just becoming another cookie-cutter copycat artist.

I have been using a certain catalog as a visualizing tool since I started making jewelry, when it was a little skinny thing. Now, it has grown to a 2" thick monster with everything you could ever need and more. What is the catalog? Well of course it is the Rio Grande Company's. Before I say more, here is the phone number, 1-800-545-6566. I have used this catalog like I did the Sears catalog when I was a child. I have spent many hours looking at all the tools and imagining what I could do with them. This visualizing was a key to my success at learning to make jewelry.

I was a obstinate kid, if I wanted to do something I was not going to give up. Well, I ended up with an Art Degree and I have tried many forms of art making. As a Jewelry Maker, I am mostly self taught, but where did I get my inspiration? From books of course (I will talk about some of these in my next post), but I must give a lot of credit to the Rio Grande catalog. Of course they are not the only Company selling jewelry tools and findings, in fact a quick search on the internet will net you a bonanza of information. But the internet didn't exist when I started making jewelry.

So call them and get a Tool catalog (ask for the Findings catalog too) and look it over. Imagine what you can do when you put my mind to it. I am grateful to my friend who gave me the phone number when I started. Enjoy making jewelry and learning to express yourself this way and don't get caught in the money-making aspects too much. Keep it original and you will enjoy every minute that you spend making your jewelry, it will never be like work. If you do this people will be asking you for your jewelry and you will make all the money you want effortlessly. I am amazed at how many people now own my jewelry, even Internationally.

I hope this info helps you in your jewelry making quest. Thanks for dropping by and check back soon.