Jewellery Making/Design Tips

[ANTHONY]

Hello all,

First time ive posted something since I joined , sorry just been a little busy. Ive been a Jewellery Designer/Manufacture now for over 20 years, I have a small workshop in Liverpool south west of Sydney.Most of my Jewellery is made by hand , although some designs are much easier to be cast or Designed via Cad software ,depends how busy or lazy I am will depend on how it will be made. Also making a ring from wax can be fun and save a lot of time in the making process, my favourite Designs are Abstract. Thats a little about me. If anyone ever needs some Tips or guidance in making or Designing Jewellery please dont hesitate to contact me  actually Im always learning! as we always find a new design and have to think how the heck do i make this ..... sometimes it comes naturally from experience and other times even I look it up in a book or ask a friend , so please feel free to ask me and hope I can help!
Anthony
www.designerjeweller.com.au

[mehoose]

And about time too

Great to see the new site is almost complete.
Can I nick your photographer? This photog course I'm doing isn't getting me anywhere near taking good shots. It's 90% theory.

Anyway, I'm glad you've found your voice and looking forward to more posts.

Merryn.

[moonshadow_dancer]

Hi ANTHONY,

Nice to see you back on ALF.

Just curious, what type of Cad do you use for Jewellery Design? I use GemCad for gemstone designs, but always wondered if there was a program that one could use to design jewellery.

Take Care,
Deb

[ANTHONY]

Hi Deb,

At the moment Im contracting cad design work out to a few Cad designers I know when needed, but I have some software called Rhino it isnt Jewellery software but is being used as a platform for software called Matrix by Gemvision (www.gemvision.com) and also Rhino has Plug-ins for jewellery design that costs much less than the Matrix software $8,000 + a few thousand for some training. So for the moment I borrowed a friends Rhino for learning from a friend have some tutorials and books but really isnt easy and you need a lot of time to learn. There are other Software companys out there for Jewellery cad design Jewelcad ,Artcam jewelsmith, 3design & Matrix.

Gemcad must be fun ?

Anthony

[ANTHONY]

Hi Merryn,

The Pics on my website were taken by me , Im no professional thats for sure , I use a Sony cybershot DSC-F707 I bought it around 4-5 years ago think I will update soon , main function for me is the Macro for the close ups and also I have a small light box/tent not sure there exact name and I use 2 lights on stands and way i go , then I use photo shop and take all the backround away from the photo and use the same for all my pics on the website ect Im also still learning and it probably takes me 5 times as long to do compared to a professional but I guess its saves me money for the moment. The courses are good but you really need to experiment with the camera and lighting and also you need to learn how to use software that you can alter the pictures to make them look better. There is one software I use mostly for all my pictures its called Jasc Paintshop Pro www.jasc.com  company who makes the coraldraw software sells it and its cost is reasonable and is much easier to use than photoshop.

good luck
Anthony

[ANTHONY]

I should read what I write before i post to look for typo mistakes hehe

[mehoose]

I realise lighting and diffusion are my main issues. Have macro and super macro, trouble is with the last setting you have to have the camera virtually touching the jewellery.
Don't need to tell you what happens with a high polish dome surface.
When funds allow I'll be getting one of those see through brollies or tent and think I need the ability to be back but zoom in with the macro.
Know I need to do touch ups on the puta but I would much rather take the good shot to start with.
At the mo I end up with the stone looking good, or the metal looking good, esp. silver just not both together.
Still need heaps of practice.

[ANTHONY]

If you have a auto focus you should be able to get a decent shot  Its taken me many hours and many headaches over the past few years.....

good luck

Anthony

[mehoose]

Yep, hours for sure 
Mebe it's just one of those things for me.