The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-28
JEWELRY HAKING BY WOMEN,
A BRANCH OF ARTS AND CRAFTS
WORK THAT ATTRACTS MANY.

Combinations OF Metals and Gems That
Are True Expressions Of the Artistic
Sense-The Work Remunerative as Well
as Fascinating Not ONercrowded.
Nowadays the ambitious woman wage
Garner lays aside her needle and enters
the field of labor as worker in applied
arts. She finds IN some one Of the many
opportunities offered in arts and crafts
work more remuneration for her clio rts
than she could hope for in other oallings
open to the average woman.
The field is by no means overcro wded.
for the acquisition of the skill required for
good craftsmanship demands both time
and patience. At the same time the arts
and crafts worker is to be found plying her
trade in studios. not only in New York,
but also in cities large and small all over the
country.
Whether she is making brass and copper
utensils. carving wood or leather, fashion
ing gold and silver jewelry, binding books
or designing for Others to execute, she is
working to give expression to the artistic
sense within her, which is just enough
short of talent to prevent her from going
in for painting aud sculpture, Within the
last few years SO marked has been the
progress Of women in the making OF jew
elry that many women who began to
work along other lines are combining them
selves to it exclusively
Among people of taste there is a con-
stantly growing demand for jewelry and
ornaments unusual and beautiful in con-
ception and workmanship. More and more
is jewelry becoming something besides a
mere combination OF gems and metals.
Originality, taste and individuality char
acterize the finished product
The materials used and the tools neces-
sary to the fashioning Of hand made jewelry
are almost as interesting as the jewelry
itself. Many of the finer tools are made by
the worker herself.
The method employed in making piece
Of jewelry is different from that of handling
metals for other purposes. First of all the
design is drawn on paper, and into it goes
all the sense of shape, proportion and deco
ration that the worker possesses. II for a
moderately large object. it is drawn the
exact size that it will be when finished
but in the case Of a very small article the
design is roughly sketched several times
larger.
wax. From this design the worker makes
the piece Of jewelry, cutting from plates
Of silver, gold or copper all the different
parts which when put together form the
finished whole.
The metals are always Of fine quality;
the gold being never less than 10 carat.
the silver 1925 pure The copper is fire.
quently tinted by processes known to the
individual worker alone, and by her made
to match in shade the stones to be used
in conjunction with it.
1t is fas cnating to watch clever crafts
woman at work upon piece Of jewelry.
Take for inst ance a silver and jade neck
let made by a graduate Of one OF the schools
that make specially Of metal working.
The necklet is formed Of seven shield
shaped parts. joined to one another by
Each OF the shield shaped pieces is set
with jade, cut in ova! pieces aboAt half an
inch long. Pendent from each shield is
pear shaped drop Of jade.
In making the necket the pieces OF silver
were cut In inch and half sections from
a long bar about one -sixteen Of an inch
thick and an inch and a half wide. Each
piece was then roughly drilled through
the parts that were to be cut out, and next
these parts were sawed out.
Then the smaller connecting pieces,
which represented three ellipees. one over
tapping the other, were cut out OF the metal,
and then the tiny links. The settings for
the stones were then made, being cut by
hand from the silver bar They were
soldered to the shield shaped pieces:
This soldering Is one Of the most difficult
and trying processes in the making OF jew
elry, and Is often the cause Of undoing the
work Of days, as a mistake of fraction Of
an inch is ruinous to results, and It is very
difficult to avoid some slight jar that will
cause such deviation.
After the settings were soldered into