To highlight the importance of the support offered to our students by our collaborative subsidy scheme in conjunction with the Goldsmiths’ Centre, we’ve asked some of the students supported through the scheme to share their experience, and tell us about how Setting Inclusivity has helped them in their creative practise. Sheena came to us looking to rekindle her relationship with jewellery making, after life took her down a more musical route…
I’ve always been interested in jewellery and used to make simple bead bracelets when I was a teenager, but somehow this hobby got left behind when I trained to become a violin maker and restorer. In recent years I have been asked to work on bow repairs, but my lack of experience of working with silver has held me back. I have followed the Facebook page of the CSSJ for several years but thought that joining a class would be an expensive indulgence, but I considered it more seriously when a customer asked me to repair a bow with a split silver ferrule and missing inlays. When I was looking at the CSSJ webpage I noticed that there were subsidies available which meant that, if I was lucky enough to be granted one, I could attend a weekly class.
Over the term I thoroughly enjoyed the chance to make some jewellery but I also gained experience in working with metals, soldering and forming shapes, and just getting a feel for the materials. I have been able to bring this knowledge back to my own workshop and transfer it to my work. I have completed several silver windings on bows and I am preparing to tackle a major restoration in the coming weeks.
I was delighted to discover that the subsidy was also applicable for a second term. I intend to improve my silverwork skills under the expert eyes of the tutors and explore the idea of making my own range of musical instrument themed jewellery for my own pleasure and maybe, one day, to sell.
I am very grateful for the subsidy that has allowed me to expand my skills in this way.
We have one more round of subsidies still to distribute, and these will be offered to support students attend our next term block that runs from September – November. Full course details and term dates will be announced soon, and in the meantime you can find out more about the eligibility criteria for Setting Inclusivity bursaries and note your interest in next terms classes in the Subsidised Places section of our website.
