Learn Practical Skills At Home

Your comprehensive, beautifully illustrated lessons are clear and well-organized; easy to follow, yet challenging and engaging at the same time. Each lesson begins with an introductory note from your instructor, plus a preview outlining the subject matter and study objectives.

Next comes the reading assignment from your textbook, lesson book or supplemental references. Practice exercises and optional hands-on projects help you check and review the key concepts you've learned. Then, turn in your open-book exam (available online) for the lesson, whenever YOU are ready.

Included with your course, at no extra cost, are these fine tools and supplies: a saw frame and blades, wax, pliers, tweezers, hand drill, drill bits, synthetic gem, silver ring mounting, prong pusher, round and square files, file handle, emery paper, v-board and clip, loupe, ring clamp, ring stick, solder pick and block, silver solder, soldering flux, brass wire and sheets, carving wax, double-sided wax file and polishing cloth. They’re all yours to keep and use as you study, and later in your career!

Enroll online or call 1-800-535-1613 to speak with an Admission Advisor!

Meet Your Instructor

Richard Malerba is the chief instructor of The Professional Jewelery Design and Repair Program. He has been designing, crafting and repairing jewellery since 1985, and is now a bench jeweler in his own business. He looks forward to sharing the secrets and techniques of this great field with you.

What You’ll Learn Lesson By Lesson in this Course

Lesson 1, Jewelers Today

Careers available in the jewelery field; duties and responsibilities of jewelers; the work environment; traits of successful jewellers; the “golden rule” of retail; shop and sales floor safety procedures; receiving a repair item; units of measure.

Lesson 2, Your First Responsibilities

Steam, ultrasonic, and hand cleaning procedures; building a plating bench; plating metals; finishes; brush plating; plating solutions and warnings; buffing and polishing techniques.

Lesson 3, Tools & Equipment

The jeweler's benchtop, anvil, and illuminating lamps; beading tools; ultrasonic cleaning machines; steam cleaners; spring dividers; drawplates; emery paper and other polishers; ring shells; files; flexible-shaft machines; hammers; loupes; mallets; steel markers; polishing motors and dust collectors; ring stretchers; saw frames and blades; shears; electric soldering irons; soldering blocks; gold-testing needles; torches; tweezers; bench vises.

Lesson 4, Fundamentals of Design Theory, I

The three major steps in the design process; the properties of a design format; understanding line, form, texture, balance, and color as they relate to the components of design; the four methods of structuring a design; keeping a sketch book of design ideas.

Lesson 5, Fundamentals of Design Theory, II

Sources of design ideas; abstract, realistic, and non-objective design principles; using themes to enhance your designs; design renderings; layout.

Supplement: Time Management Guide

How to study more effectively and increase your productivity, both as a student and when you begin your career.

Lesson 6, Anatomy of a Gem

What makes a stone a gem; the four major gem categories; the “four C’s” and how they affect value; identifying gems.

Lesson 7, Stone Setting

Tiffany, flat-top, fishtail, illusion-type, and star mountings: operational sequence; bead forming; trimming; milgraining; tube settings; bezel settings; variations; removing stones.

Lesson 8, Casting

Five different casting methods; the advantages and disadvantages of various casting techniques; the process of lost wax casting; procedures for producing multiple casts from a single model; common problems encountered when casting.

Supplement: Job Search Guide

Increasing your employability; organizing your job search; the interview.

Lesson 9, Model Making

Using quality modeling materials and waxes; additive and reductive modeling techniques; using layouts; methods for spruing wax models.

Lesson 10, Know Your Metals

Antioxidizing, pickling, cleaning, tinting, and finishing solutions; tarnish remover; removing mercury and soft solder; using flux; testing silver and gold; determining the karat value of gold; gilding; acids; satin finish; lacquering; pearl cement.

Lesson 11, Fabrication & Forging

Using a bench pin; handling the hack saw and jeweller's saw; cutting corners and straight lines; clamping large pieces; selecting the proper file; filing and shaping techniques.

Lesson 12, Joining Metals: Cold Connections & Soldering

Solders; fluxes; hard-soldering by flame, electric machine, and blowpipe; hard-soldering exercises; soft soldering; hard and soft solder methods for repairing bar pins; repairing hinges.

Lesson 13, General Repair

Spectacle-frame repair; repairing scarf pins, ring mountings with filigree, cufflinks, bracelets, broken watchcase lugs, and costume jewellers; sizing an engraved wedding ring; tightening cameos and similar stones in pins and broaches; attaching safety chains.

Lesson 14, Ring Sizing & Repair

Making a ring; enlarging and reducing ring sizes; shanking; prong repair; replacing worn mounting tops; installing new heads.

Lesson 15, Link & Chain Repair

How to handle links, jump rings, and spring rings; chain soldering methods; repairing worn links or rings.

Lesson 16, Designing With Wire

Measuring wire thickness; fabricating chain and bracelet links; double-link chains; how to produce jump rings; closing links; making a catch.

Lesson 17, Watchers & Other Repairs

Secondary jewelery repair jobs; using ring guards; how to test and replace a watch battery; how to install and adjust different kinds of watch bands; machine engraving techniques.