Career Jewelry Making Advice: DON'T DO IT! Jewelry Design, Jewelry Repair, Creating a Jewelry Line.

Hey everyone, Doug here just hanging out at the studio and if you have ever thought about becoming a professional jeweler or taking your hobby to the next level, turning it into a business or a career, I've got a bit of advice for you. I would suggest that you change your mind, that you go do something different, that you run, that you find something else to do with your time. And if you're still here, I'll tell you why in just a minute. Now the reason I said that was because if I can deter you just by suggesting that you not do it, then you're not cut out for it. Because it takes a lot of work, it takes a lot of stick-to-itiveness just to get over all of the things that are fighting against you. But if I can tell you not to do it, to go do something differently, but you still say, you know what, I don't care what you say, I'm going to do it anyway, then you're the right kind of person. Then you have what it takes to go forward and be a creator as a business. So stick around and I'll give you some tips and a little bit of history as well on some of the things that have gotten me to the point where I am today. So like I said, if you're still here, you're the one. So again, if you're still here, if I haven't chased you off yet, then you are my people. I want to speak with you. So creating jewelry and looking at jewelry as a way of life, really, there's a number of ways you can do it. You can get into the repair business. You can get into custom designs. You can get into creating. That's how most people get into it. They enjoy creating with their hands and creating something that hasn't been created before. They think of something and it's like, I want to learn how to make this, to make something into existence that's never been there before. And then it just takes you down a rabbit hole. I started in the jewelry industry close to 40 years ago. I just read out of high school. I needed a job and there was a factory that was hiring. So I thought, you know what, I'll give this a try. And I found out that I was good at it and I liked it. So that became somewhere along the line, it became my career. So I went from a jewelry maker to a master model maker, to a consultant, to troubleshooter. I stayed in the industry and even though I was working for companies all over the world, I still had a workbench at home. So I would put in 8, 9, 10, 12 hours a day at my job and I would go home to my bench and create things that I enjoyed doing. And that's just because, like I said, it worked out to where I really enjoyed what I do. And I still to this day do, but it is hard. Especially if you're looking at jewelry as a business. First you got to figure out what type of business. Do I want to create my own line of jewelry? Do I want to create just one-of-a-kind pieces for other people, for myself? First you got to figure out what you enjoy doing and then pursue that. But I warn you, once you start pursuing that, it is a rabbit hole that there really is no end. You start out with a few tools and then pretty soon a few more and a few more and then pretty soon you got to get a bigger shop. You can't keep it at your house anymore and it's never ending. There's always new things, new tools, old tools, new technology that will keep you hungry and keep you trying new things. I always tell people the best thing that you can do when you're learning is always ask what if. If somebody tells you you can't do something, don't take it for face value. Just say, you know what, I'm going to try it anyway. What if this happens? Or what if I could do this? Or what if I could do that? So experiment. Try things. If you're just getting into jewelry making, you're starting to dabble with it and you're starting to enjoy it, but you don't know the correct procedure, don't let that scare you off. There's a number of YouTube things out there that can get you started. You know, even my YouTube channel, I've got over a hundred free videos of just tips and tools and techniques and things like that. So the information is out there. I would suggest if you're just starting out, find something you want to learn how to do, something that's in your skill set and pick a project and say, okay, in order to get this project done, I'm going to need a certain amount of tools. I might have a few of them. I might have to buy one or two and then go after that project and do it again and do it again until you get good at it. And then it's like, okay, I'm going to up my skills. I'm going to try a different project. Now I'm going to need a new tool. I'm going to need a new way of doing things because I don't have the tools to do it. So slowly follow that path down there and eventually you will have a number of tools that you can do a bunch of projects because just because one tool is for one project doesn't mean you can't use it for others. So that's a way that you can continue to feed the animal that's in you of creativity. Again, start small, start with projects and start working your way. Even if you have to go to some of the inexpensive places that sell cheap tools and pick some up just so that you can get your hands dirty. You don't have to buy super expensive tools. You can get by with limited tools. And I tell people what I like to do is look at a project and evaluate, okay, this is what I want to do. And I have a certain amount of tools in front of me to do it with. How can I accomplish that with that? My dream is to be able to do most things with fire, a stick and a rock, you know, type of thing so I can adapt. And it's like, okay, I can use this to do this if I do it, if I sharpen it this way or do that. So always use your mind into thinking, how can I become adaptable to the projects that I want to keep? So that's one way to do it. Again, you can get into jewelry repair. And I don't wish that on anybody, but I get a lot of joy out of that as well. Not because of the process, because repair in most places is a cutthroat business. You're always trying to get as much work done as possible to make the most money in a certain day. And if that's what it's about, I'm out. I'll go find something. I'll go fishing. But for me, repair is looking at it as a challenge, one. And two, bringing something back to life for a customer who can't utilize that piece. Because usually when somebody brings in a piece of jewelry, it's got sentimental value to them and it's got intrinsic value to them. And if you're the person that can take that and bring it back to what it once was or to a place where they can utilize it again, then you are a vessel of help. And that is what I love about repair. Not necessarily the, you know, when I get into repair, I always lose money because I don't charge as much as all these other big box stores because they're looking at it as like, how many pieces can I get done in a day? I need to make this amount of money. And it's like, no, I lose money every time I do a repair, but it's good for my heart because I see the value of bringing something back that was unusable and the look on a customer's face when they get that back. So repair jewelry and custom jewelry is fun in that because you're working one-on-one with customers and you get to see the value that you bring to other people. So if you want to get into custom designs and repair, that is the value in me, you know, to me anyway. But then once you get into that custom design, you got to get into CAD and 3D printing and all the things that go along with it. So it's a completely different world and it's a lot more expense, you know, but it's worth it, you know, if you want to continue down that rabbit trail of pursuing jewelry making as a career. Another way of pursuing it is creating your own pieces and selling them or creating your own line of jewelry and producing it and selling it on a bigger scale. All of those are things that I've lived in as well. So here at my shop, we service our customers and our community with repairs and custom designs. I love doing that. But we also have a line of jewelry that we produce for the area and for people, you know, beyond our area. We also do custom jewelry just for our shop. We do custom pieces all the time and put them in the showcase. And that's so much fun because you're creating something one of a kind usually just because, you know, a lot of times I'll do stuff with stones. I'll have a stone and I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. So I'll put it on my bench and I tell people, I'll let it sit there until it tells me what it needs and then I'll create something from it. So I've had stones and things sitting on my bench for two or three years before I actually pick them up and create something out of them. But once I do, it's the right thing for that piece at that time. And it's hard to explain, but as an artistic person, you kind of get into that mindset and you'll know what I'm talking about. We've also got our own production jewelry. And all of those things are the rabbit trail. You know, I started out working on jewelry and making jewelry and creating. So I'm going down this rabbit trail. And then like six years ago, I started a training center. So this workshop here used to be 100 percent training center. And that was pretty much what I did from day to day. I put on classes and workshops and things like that. And I enjoy doing that. I enjoy working with people and training people and giving them the tools and the skills to do what they want to do. And then right about the time COVID hit, nobody was coming to a training center. So I had to figure out what to do next. And that's when we started producing our own lines of jewelry. But the training center is still in me. And so if you followed me along this journey, you know, I started out as the Jewelry Monk Studio and Training Center. Then we come up with our own line of jewelry, which was Jewelry by Decori. And they've all got their own standalone websites and brands and stuff. The next phase in that, we are bringing this back to a training center, but we're ramping it up a little bit. And we've actually started a non-profit regional trade school that will be opening up within the next year or so. As soon as we get all of our planning done and fundraising and things like that, then that's our next goal is to open up a regional trade school. Right now, we are opening up our own retail store just down the street. So that's kind of where our energy is. So again, if you followed me on my journey, you kind of see me all over the place. I started out doing a bunch of videos on training and teaching. And then you see me transform a little bit and I'm showing more pictures of jewelry I'm creating. Then I started showing jewelry that is in our jewelry line that we come up with. And then you see me showing pictures of the new retail space. And I'm just sharing all of this stuff. And if you continue to follow me, you'll see that transfer back to the training mindset, but it'll be on a bigger scale with the regional trade school. The reason I'm coming out and sharing all of this is to warn you. Like I said at the very beginning, if you want to pursue this and you're happy doing anything else, do that. Because this will take up everything that you've got. I've been doing on my own for about six years. Before that, I was all over the place. But I've been doing it on my own for about six years and I still don't make any money at it. Every money that I make goes back into this place to grow and build the vision and the mission that I'm on. So I've actually even got a part-time job on the side just so I can make sure that my house is paid, you know, my house payment is paid. So I've got a jewelry, I'm a a production manager part-time for a jewelry factory and I help them out and stuff. But everything else gets dumped into this place and into this vision. So if you continue to follow what I'm doing, you will see me speak more about the Decori Jewelry Institute. And we've even got a website up right now for fundraising and stuff like that because it's a non-profit. It's going to have scholarships available, but it's also going to have two-year programs in the trade school that teach everything from making jewelry out of a stick and a rock to making jewelry on a computer, printing it in 3D, casting it and making molds and getting into production. So it's going to cover a lot of things. So if that interests you, continue to follow. You know, like I said, we've got our line of jewelry which is JewelryByDecori.com. We've got our training center right now which is JewelryMonk.com. We've got our school which is DecoriJewelryInstitute.com. And I'm all over the place because jewelry has turned into my life somewhere along the line. When I first got into it, I didn't know what I was getting into. And if somebody would have told me if I was smart, I would do anything else. I would have probably still went down this path. But I'm just warning you. So again, this is your warning. If you decide to go down this road as a jewelry maker, as a profession, as a career, the warning is it will take everything you've got. But it will also be more fulfilling than anything I can explain. And I guess you have to be there to understand that. So the rewards are great. I tell people I enjoy, I love what I do every day. Some days I'd like to do something different, but I couldn't. I wouldn't be fulfilled. I wouldn't be able to do that for very long. I would be drawn back to this. Somehow along the line, it has swallowed me into its world and now I'm just a part of it. And everything that I do has at the foundation training and teaching. Even if you look at the lines of jewelry that I've created, every piece in our new lines has got a video story that goes with it that educates people on whether it's the culture from my area or whether it's the area itself that I live in. So education is in my DNA. So the Jewelry Institute is the next step in that. So stay tuned and if you would like to be any part of that, get a hold of me. You can email me at Doug at JewelryMonk.com or reach out through this video or whatever. You can figure out a way to get a hold of me. I'm all over the internet. So if you want to pursue this, I can come alongside you and point you in the right direction and give you the tools, the equipment, the training, the guidance to do that and learn at the same time. I learn every day. So that's what I've got for you. If you can do anything else and be happy, then do that. But if you can't, that's why I'm here. So whether it's this page or the school or whatever, I'm just here to encourage you and tell you that, I guess not tell you, but warn you that it will be tough, but it will be worth it. So if you hold on a minute, I will give you a quick tour of this place I call The Studio. So when you walk in, right now there's a few pieces of jewelry that I have on display. We're in the process of opening up our own retail store. So all of the stuff that was in here is all being moved, but I do got a few pieces around that we'll just keep here. Over here, we've got tools and equipment. I tried to get out of the tools business, but I can't. So we also have tools available. Here's some of our artwork for our lines of jewelry. Again, it's jewelry by Decori. You come in here and here's our, say if there's our conference table where all of the crazy ideas come from. There's more storage. There's my mess of a bench. Here's the wax station where we do our treeing up, our wax injecting, our mold cutting. We've got some wax injecting and some pieces here. We've got a vulcanizer where we make our molds. We've got an ultrasonic that we've got to turn back on. And another little ultrasonic. We've got all kinds of things. Here's my small casting unit that when I'm doing small flasks, you know, one to 50 pieces, I usually use this piece. And then I'll either torch melt my metal there or I've got an electric melt there. Here's my small burnout oven with a control unit. Over here, we've got what used to be the training center. Now it's work benches. So this is Ken's area. This is Sam's area. This is kind of a collect all. It's got a pin tumbler, magnetic tumbler. And over here, we've got some more work areas. Here's a spare bench for some apprentices that come in and work with us. And we go back up into here. And here's my office, computer. There's a laser engraver that works pretty slick for engraving stuff. There's our 3D printing station. There's the printer. There's the vats. There's the clean-out unit. Back there is just storage. It's got all kinds of tools and equipment and things. Here's my other casting unit for when we do larger flasks or larger production pieces. We can do, you know, 100 to 200 pieces at a time in this. It's got a controlled environment. It's got a cover gas and vacuum and all that stuff. So it's pretty cool. Coffee pot, that's important. And here's more spaces here. We got our stone lapidary system. We got a rolling mill. We got steamers, filtration system. There's our polishing unit. Here is our laser welder. Here's more toys, which most people call tools. There is a tumbling system, which works pretty slick as well. So that's kind of the tour of the shop. Here's the new sign that's coming up. So there you go. I promised you a quick tour. And like I said, this started out with just a few tools and an idea. And I warned you, it will continue to grow and continue to grow. This used to be all at my house. So there you go. I have warned you and I've continued to warn you. But if you're still around and you're not scared off and still encouraged, get a hold of me and let's see what we can do together. Whether it's through collaboration, whether it's through training, whether it's through the school, but I'm here to equip you and encourage you and educate. So take care and look forward to hearing from you.