What Does a Jeweler Do?

One of the most desirable things about being a jeweler is that no day is the same as the day before. You will always be learning new things, solving new problems, creating something different. Some of the tasks you will do in your job include:

• Create jewelry from gold, silver, platinum, and precious gemstones.
• Shape metal to hold the gems when making individual pieces.
• Carve models from wax by hand, or use CAD/CAM (computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing) to build them.
• Cast models into metals using the lost-wax casting process.
• Solder pieces together and set stones.
• Finish metals to smooth out rough surfaces or create textures.
• Clean and polish jewelry using polishing wheels and chemical baths.
• Repair jewelry by replacing broken clasps, altering ring sizes, or resetting stones.
• Compute the costs of labor and material for new pieces and repairs.
• Examine assembled or finished products to ensure quality results, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
• Analyze jewelry taken in for a specific repair, to see if other repairs are needed. For example, a ring that needs to be sized up or down might also have worn-out prongs that need to be fixed. This kind of quality analysis is a very important part of the job.