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Experienced jewelry makers show you all the tricks of the tradeWant to have more creative time to build up your jewelry design? Think you can work faster but don’t know how? Improve your smithing efficiency. Spend your crafting time wisely and yield greater profits.
Take time to make eloquent drawings but spend less in polishing them too much.Jewelry makers know from their own experience that in design, like in art, one of the keys is knowing when to stop designing. Generally speaking, it seems that the nearer you get to finish a design the more accurately you are able to estimate how much work remains to be done.
Now that your design is ready lets plunge into action.Here you’ll find answers to frequent questions about workshop efficiency and manufacturing processes.No matter how simple the design is, it cannot be created without first being manufactured. This may sound obvious but many times you’ll find brilliant designs that cannot be crafted; unfortunately they unconsciously (?) challenge all known laws of physics. While you’re designing keep in mind the construction of what you are envisioning. There must be a bond between the design concept and the dimensional object, this structural coherence is an evident sign of good design. Only the best jewelry makers bring together beautiful design with manufacturing. To achieve this have in mind these options:
Technical drawings – the rendering of your ideasThere are various ways to approach drawings. You can make “design drawings” as part of the thinking process itself or you can make “technical drawings” to instruct others how to manufacture your designs.In both ways, think of the drawings as a dialogue sustained with whoever is looking at them. They should clearly give the following information: materials, measurements, finishes, colors and any other detail. Jewelry illustrations are meant to be accurate, systematic and above all, eloquent. If necessary add step-by-step guidelines and different illustrations explaining processes.
The whole idea behind them is to allow the designer to make a drawing which is proportionally the same as the jewelry it represents.
That means that you ideally use a one to one scale; the drawing is the exact same size as the dimensional object. In a further section we’ll go through drawing plans, sections and elevations of your designs for best results. For a jeweler, knowing how to make any basic geometric construction is a must when designing. To learn how to make simple step by step geometric constructions using only a compass and a straightedge go to this informative site.
Click to sart practicing, no need to rely on geometric patterns any more.
Design instructions and procedures – your jewelry’s tell taleFabrication costs can easily escalate if you don’t have a clear view of the manufacturing procedures. It’s a good idea to be able to mentally “craft” your jewelry in order to foresee and avoid any fabrication pitfalls.Save money and time, go through the process beforehand. Depending on the level of complexity of a design, you may need help with the making of parts of your jewelry. Some jewelry may need special instructions because of intricate mechanisms or joints. If you need to outsource some components have in mind the time this will take, its cost and the precise moment you should have it ready in your workshop to proceed with your jewelry. Good communication is vital for the success of your jewelry making. Be crystal clear with people about the specifications of your pieces and your satisfaction requirements. Give plenty of examples or detail so that the information is fully understood. Manufacturing time line or critical path – your process signposts
Being unaware of possible critical moments in the manufacturing of jewelry can cost hours of work and give you several headaches. Save time by planning ahead of time the smithing process. You can learn from project management and critical path analysis.
You can benefit from scheduling and managing your complex jewelry projects. Use them to track down all the process, from the finished design up to the handling of the jewelry. Map out the minimum length of time to complete a jewelry project, and then identify the activities needed to be concluded between each stage. You can also spot when one activity cannot start before another has been completed, in other words detect dependent activities and flag them. You don’t have to take these suggestions literally. Use them to mentally structure your activities. You don’t have to necessarily write them down or draw them. With time, you’ll do this process spontaneously. You can then take in more commissions any single time, work efficiently and stress-free and enjoy your hard earned cash. Workshop layout – ergonomic considerations for your safety
Design your workshop in order to maximize working speed, minimize odd movements and avoid safety hazards. You’ll save time and work by following these simple tips. Think of your working space as a space where movement flows and actions take place. Say for example you’ll start making a ring. Mentally (or you can even draw it) move around your workshop starting from the entrance following all the manufacturing process until the ring is ready.
Walk around the areas destined for different tasks to see if they are laid-out in a convenient order. Do you move smoothly or do you keep coming and going? Locate the equipment you use for every procedure and check if it’s in the best position with respect to the whole space and flow of actions. Examine how hazardous materials and chemicals are stored and the kind of surfaces and containers that are used for those purposes. Are there any two procedures or actions that coincide? Check the flow of air inside your space. Is there enough ventilation? Is your pickle bath in a well ventilated spot? Do you continually reach out or stand-up from your bench to get tools? Observe if your most frequently used tools are at hand. Check if they are suitably stored away. Are they in easy reach or do you have to twist or bend to seize them? Make sure that while you’re working your head or hands don’t cast shadows onto the jewelry piece your working with. Do you have enough light, is it properly placed? You should also think about the administrative sort of activities that take place in your workspace, not only the smithing ones. Study and adjust the location of your telephone, fax machine, coffee machine, etc. Production index cards – your technical memoryYou can combine the information in your technical diary with production index cards. The primary difference between the two is that in the production index cards the information about your jewelry project is systematized in one format.It’s like a recipe file. Your technical diary may contain anecdotic information, while your production index cards contain the precise method. A production index card may have the following information: materials (weight, karat, and quantities), manufacturing method (process, tools and equipment) and metal handling (percentage of metal lost). As you can see, jewelry makers take into account lots of details to make their work more efficient, comfortable and pleasurable. It all adds up to having a profitable business. If you’re really into the jewelry biz, you can benefit from knowing how to calculate the cost of your jewelry work, operating the packaging and handling of your jewelry and even improving your time management in this busy industry.
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You may use all the techniques you wish to make your technical drawings as accurate as possible. 
