Perfect Finish Workshop 
Joanna Hemmings: 
My name is <PRESIDIO_ANONYMIZED_PERSON>. I'm an art teacher.? Out of 10, 9, only because I wish it were longer. I think I'm one of those people who know a lot of things, but haven't really, I can't say I've focused on something enough to be a craftsman in that particular area. But for this workshop in particular, I've always liked making jewellery and I've taken this opportunity to learn specifically silver smithing and the merge of stone with silver.
So, you know, making a pendant using stone and sterling silver. So, expanding the horizon and the skill set. And from expanding your skill set, you would like to establish a business out of this? Yeah, I'd like to, not just establish a business, but because it's something that I like doing so much, I could almost say passionate about.
I want to be able to know the extent of my skill and to be able to explore different materials and mediums to make something that's unique and interesting. And so hopefully I will be able to, from the things I've learned here, continue to do it, continue to work with silver. It's the first time I'm working with silver.
So, continue working with silver and potentially, yes, turn this into a business or make an income.
Joy Kelly:
Overall, it's been very, very educational.
It's been instructive. And not just with the considerable wealth of information that we're getting from Donna Gale to the facilitator, but also what I call lateral learning, what we're learning from each other, what we're learning from the mistakes that we make and the mistakes that other people make. I find that that has been just as beneficial.
So I have managed to conquer quite a number of fears. I was not comfortable with using... with melting metal down into molten liquid metal. And now I'm much more comfortable with it.
I can go to the crucible and take out the torch and melt down and pour it into the ingot and... You know, before I... I wouldn't even have thought that I could. I'm very comfortable annealing. I'm comfortable with using the saw, just with the tools of the trade.
And what has been very, very, very helpful is the camaraderie among the group where people... So everybody takes to different things at different rates. People who take to one area are willing to help another one who's weak in that area. So in my areas of strength, I'm willing to offer advice and to start people off and to help.
So what's happening is that you have a lot of cross-instruction happening. Under Donna's tutelage, but people are helping each other in a way that is very encouraging to me. And when you're... It's daunting because we're doing a lot in four weeks.
well, I saw it advertised last year, but I think it was metal with wood. And then I missed that opportunity.
Shauna-kay Fisher:
I saw it again being advertised, I said, oh, I have to take this, you know, take up this offer, this opportunity. And so that's why I'm here. And also to experience, to learn something new because I work with polymer clay.
I've also worked with bees, I've worked with wire, and I said, mmm, sterling silver, you know, that should be interesting. And so just to learn how to melt and to solder and so on, you know, that's why. Do you have a business for you? Do you already have a business? Yes, I do have a business.
Yeah, it's called Pink Cinnamon. Pink Cinnamon. Yes, where I do polymer clay jewellery.
So do you plan on commercialising what you learn today? Yes, I do. I hope to have a collection. I'll be able to produce a collection maybe later this year or early next year.
Natalie Doyen:
0:00) So, could you tell me your name and why you chose to do this workshop here? (0:04) Okay, I'm <PRESIDIO_ANONYMIZED_PERSON>. I developed this hobby, jewellery making as a hobby, a way to de-stress from work and I loved it. (0:15) And I saw the ad for milling and working with silver and I'd been hesitant to get into precious metals because I wasn't sure what I messed it up, I didn't know how to work with it.
(0:30) And I was amazed and excited and so I signed up and I've been here and I'm excited to be actually sitting here. (0:40) I've designed my first piece. I have learned to melt the silver down from a wire into a sheet of metal and do all the things that I saw experts doing on TV.
(0:51) I mean, I'm not an expert but I'm doing it, you know, and that's just amazing to think that in four classes between then and now I'm actually sitting here struggling with putting in a saw blade (1:02) and laughing and saying how basic this is and why should I be struggling with this when a few weeks ago I didn't even know what to do. (1:09) And I'm excited because I'm making a cutting out into the metal and cutting a design into it and putting the stones in and today we're learning different types of gemstones and it's just amazing. (1:19) You know, it's just amazing the short period of time, the class, the camaraderie in the class, the supportiveness of a group of women working together to achieve their individual goals (1:29) and feeling comfortable enough in their own skill, in their own creativity to lend a helping hand to somebody else operating in the same space.
That's amazing. (1:38) And then there's our teacher who is just the most wonderful person. She's definitely a no-person-left-behind type of person and just gentle and kind.
(1:48) I got here very late one, you know, about a week ago and based on where the class had gone in the space of time that I was not here, I was feeling very left behind and like, oh my god, I'm just going to drop out of the class because I'm too far behind to really catch up. (2:04) And she pulled me in and said, okay, then and gave me a list of, you know, step-by-step as to what needs to be done on outline and then she helped me to get caught up and that is just amazing. (2:18) And where I was hesitant even after that because, you know, when you miss the first lesson, the full teaching, even like catch-up, sometimes you miss little things.
(2:24) The others were there to help me and so I'm here just enjoying the camaraderie. At this point, it's not even, yeah, I'm going to finish this piece today, but it's so much more about building the relationships. (2:36) We have an idea now that we're going to form a grouping coming out of this and just, you're seeing it.
You're seeing it happen. Look at those two over there. They're working on pulling metal and, you know, that's the kind of thing.
(2:48) Helping each other and joking and laughing and enjoying the process, which is an amazing thing. (2:54) Yeah, I'm hoping that you mentioned camaraderie because this collaboration and this initiative will kind of boost art and business in Jamaica. (3:03) Oh, I wasn't even sure that I was supposed to talk about it because we're in such an early stage of it, but we definitely want to create a formal group with this to work together to secure different things.
(3:16) I don't want to name all the things that we're thinking of right now, but we definitely want to continue the group, to formalize the group, to work together to harness resources. (3:26) You know, like even next week we're planning on going out into the country. One of the members organized a presentation by the Ministry of Mines to understand local gemstones.
(3:41) And then we started talking about internally within the group about how to create a vertical supply chain so that we could continue to do this, but now working with Jamaican materials. (3:52) You know, and the value of that locally and internationally. And that's a level of thinking that we are looking at.
(3:59) We're planning to go together next week now to a source, a local source of these agates, these gemstones, not just agates, but other gemstones. (4:08) To identify them in the rough and to talk with the local persons about how they can form our supply chain. (4:16) So we're looking at how do we support the communities, how do we support by working locally to source local materials, to add our creativity to that, and to sell here so it becomes an import substitution.
(4:32) In a way, it becomes job creation for someone in a remote district that can add this to supplement their farming income perhaps. (4:40) And us banding together to work together to source our production inputs and wherever we might want to take our individual businesses afterwards. (4:50) And that's the power of working together.
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