National Application Center :: career details :: Jewelers
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Career Details :: Jewelers
Description
Fabricate and repair jewelry articles.
Experience
A minimum of two to four years of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Training
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Tasks
- Ties or twists gold or silver wires together, and bends to form rings.
- Places model in casting ring, and pours plaster into ring to form mold.
- Grades stones for color, perfection, and quality of cut.
- Smoothes soldered joints and rough spots, using hand file and emery paper, and polishes with polishing wheel or buffing wire.
- Examines gemstone surfaces and internal structure to evaluate genuineness, quality, and value, using polariscope, refractometer, and other optical instruments.
- Arranges jewelry pieces into specified design, softens metal by heating with gas torch, and shapes, using hammer and die.
- Immerses jewelry in cleaning solution or acid to remove stains, or in solution of gold or other metal to color jewelry.
- Estimates wholesale and retail value of gemstones, following price guides and market fluctuations.
- Forms model of article from wax or metal, using carving tools.
- Pours molten metal into mold, or operates centrifugal casting machine, to cast article.
- Forms sand or rubber mold from model for casting article.
- Immerses gemstones in chemical solutions to determine specific gravity and key properties for identification and appraisal.
- Cuts and shapes metal into jewelry pieces, using cutting and carving tools.
- Solders pieces of jewelry together and enlarges or reduces size of rings, using soldering torch or iron.
- Repairs, reshapes, and restyles jewelry by replacing broken parts or using hand tools and machines.
Related Careers
- Bench Workers, Jewelry
- Engravers, Hand
- Engravers/Carvers
- Etchers, Hand
- Pewter Casters and Finishers
- Photographic Retouchers and Restorers
Important Abilities
General Work Activities
- Handling and Moving Objects
- Judging Qualities of Things, Service, People
- Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
- Thinking Creatively
- Controlling Machines and Processes
Important Skills
Frequent Work Context
- Indoors
- Using Hands on Objects, Tools, Controls
- Consequence of Error
- Importance of Being Exact or Accurate
- Importance of Being Sure All Is Done
