Wednesday, 23.07.2008
Jewellery Making
If you’re tired of coming across an amazing pair of earrings and wearing them proudly for a dinner date only to find that your waitress is adorned with the same pair then maybe you should look into doing a jewellery making course. By the time you see products in the shop they are weighed down by costs like advertising and marketing making them much more expensive then their actual worth; this is a great way to escape these.
Jewellery has evolved along with time and taste to decorate the human body; everything from hair pins to toe rings have become norms in popular culture. While in historical times these were made from natural materials the new trend is shifting towards that of costume jewellery which is less expensive and therefore more accessible. This is another great deviation from times gone by when jewellery used to symbolise wealth and power; in Ancient Egypt for example jewellery was used to denote status and was worn both in life and in death. However they weren’t as snobby about their materials as your average Grafton Street jeweller is today; they favoured coloured glass over precious stones as they preferred the colours they could create over the natural colour of the stones.
In Ancient Greece jewellery served an even greater purpose than showing off; here it was worn only for special occasions and appearances and while it certainly implied riches it was also seen to give the wearer protection from the Evil Eye; this was the same in Roman culture. In Celtic history the torque was the piece that is most widely known today. It was worn by Celtic gods and goddesses in the form of rings, necklaces and bracelets. Although their popularity seemed to wane over time they saw a revival in the 1960s and are now very popular jewellery pieces.
A typical jewellery making course will concentrate on teaching students how to make, engrave, enamel, wire wrap and stone set. Some programmes might specialise in the setting of precious stones (although diamonds may not be used for obvious reasons…) or another may concentrate on Celtic jewellery making for example. Whatever the focus there’s no doubt that a nightcourse in this art form will signal many benefits to you; you can finally satisfy your overwhelming urge to throw away the briefcase and make daisy chains in the park; or you can astound your friends by designing a piece for each of them…however high your aspirations may be you are sure to find the outlet for you (and just think about the levels of admiration you’ll receive when you return a compliment by modestly admitting that you made it the item in question!)
- All about Pottery
- Art Attack
- Artistic Endeavours
- Calligraphy
- Creative Writing
- Drawing and Painting
- Getting Creative
- Learn to Paint
- Mosaics & Stained Glass
- Rogers rates Puppetry
- Sculpture
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