Engraving with Air Tools with Harry Forster-Stringer

Delivered in person at the Goldsmiths’ Centre, this course will help you with:

• Developing Precision: Air tools allow for precise and intricate engraving, making them suitable for creating detailed designs and fine lines. The pressure of the compressed air can be adjusted for different engraving depths and styles, allowing for versatility in creating different textures and patterns. They also tend to produce less vibration compared to some other engraving methods, which can improve comfort and control during long engraving sessions.

• Transferable Skills: The precision, attention to detail and artistic sensibility developed through engraving can be applied to other aspects of jewellery design. Learning air tool engraving will improve your overall craftsmanship, making your jewellery pieces more refined and sophisticated. You can create unique patterns, textures and motifs on your jewellery, setting your pieces apart from mass-produced items.

• Repairs and Restoration: Engraving skills are valuable for jewellery repair and restoration work. Whether you’re restoring a vintage piece or fixing a damaged item, engraving expertise can be essential.

• Additional Income: By offering engraving services, you can generate additional income for your jewellery business. Customers often pay extra for personalised engravings.

You will learn how to:

• set up microscopes for efficient work practice.

• set up the handpiece and control unit.

• transfer designs onto your work using different methods.

• sharpen and polish gravers to get the right geometry and perfect bright cut, especially on carbide.

• achieve different types of cut and choose the right gravers for each.

• hold different pieces of work when engraving.

• produce an enamel cut or letter cut (time permitting).

• choose the best value-for-money equipment, and find lots of other ways to save money.

Please bring:

• Protective clothing or clothing you do not mind getting dirty (e.g. an apron), and closed-toe shoes.

• One pair of dividers.

• One scriber.

You will be provided with:

• Gravers.

• Practice plates.

• GRS equipment.

Beginner: Limited prior experience required.

No previous engraving experience is needed, but you should be comfortable working at the bench with basic hand tools and handling small pieces of metal. You will be introduced to air-assisted engraving from the ground up: setting up the microscope, handpiece and control unit, transferring designs onto metal, and sharpening and polishing gravers to the correct geometry. The focus is on building control, muscle memory and good habits, so that you leave confident enough to keep practising in your own workshop.

Intermediate: Practical experience and understanding of listed skills required.

This level suits makers who already have some hand engraving experience, or who use gravers for setting, and want to work faster and with greater precision. You should be comfortable holding and securing work at the bench and have a basic understanding of graver shapes and sharpening. The course will refine your graver geometry and bright cut, introduce different types of cut and when to use them and, time permitting, enamel and letter cutting, helping you develop speed and consistency with air tools.

We are committed to making our training programmes and events as inclusive and accessible as possible. If you have any access requirements, please inform us as early as possible so we can make the necessary arrangements. While we will do our best to accommodate your needs, advance notice is essential to ensure we can provide appropriate support.

To discuss your requirements when booking tickets for our Goldsmiths’ Centre training programmes, please contact us at boxoffice@goldsmiths-centre.org.

We believe that talent should not be held back. Here at the Goldsmiths’ Centre, we are open, accessible and inclusive to all. Our Access Grants help anyone to build thriving creative careers, supporting jewellers, silversmiths and allied industry practitioners to access our training courses for free.

If you need help to cover fees for our business and technical skills short courses, please apply for one of our Access Grants. To find out more and read our application criteria, click here

The Access Grants are delivered by the Goldsmiths’ Centre and funded by the Goldsmiths’ Foundation.

Setting with Air Tools with Harry Forster-Stringer: This two-day course will further develop your skills in using air tools, focusing on micro-setting techniques.