New Feature: Online Jewelry Courses!

I recently finished the first of my full-sized online jewelry courses and what a journey it has been! I started with a class that I’ve been teaching for over a decade: Byzantine Chain Mail Bracelet. This was on the class schedule last Spring and I had to cancel it. Here’s a little background of how the courses came to be and what I have planned for the future.

You can see all the courses currently posted on the Online Courses page.

Changing with the Times

In March of this crazy year called 2020, the art center (ASiF Studios) where I teach jewelry making classes had to close up shop. California started its shelter-in-place order and most of us had to head home and away from others. While it seemed at first that it would be a short-term thing, it soon became obvious that – even though we learned to work within new protocols and expand many of our activities – the changes we faced were going to last a while.

I received a lot of requests to do online classes soon after (thank you for that input, by the way!). It seemed like the natural thing to do since so many people were getting used to Zoom. I faced a few obstacles:

1. For me, jewelry making does not lend itself well to Zoom meetings! I tried it a little bit with friends, and I felt that you just can’t get close enough or move around comfortably.
2. I didn’t know anything about videos or video-editing.
3. I am a little camera-shy! AND it’s very hard to teach to a camera when you’re used to in-person interactions.
4. I wasn’t sure how to post the classes for sale – it’s a whole new element of web design I was unfamiliar with.
5. I didn’t know where to start. It all seemed so overwhelming.

I loved all the encouragement I received from friends and students. I got many responses to my survey/questionnaire about what you would like from video classes. A shout-out must go to Sierra Commons, which works in conjunction with the California Small Business Development Center. Their free business advice for these Covid-times was invaluable. Everyone said, “Just do it!” “It’s so easy!’ “This will be great!” “All you gotta do is…” Well, easier said than done. But without that encouragement I never would have moved forward, so I appreciate it!

Making it Happen

With live Zoom classes off the table (except for personal consultations – see below), I dove into the video world. Thank you to all the participants who watched my test-video-class, the Criss-Cross Wire Wrapped Bracelet. I got some fabulous feedback and practiced my video skills. I also started to get some ideas about format and layout.

Next I decided on the Byzantine Chain Mail Bracelet for the first of my online jewelry courses. Teaching the chain mail weave was no problem – I’ve done it many times, just not this way. I still had to learn a lot about cameras: phone cameras, video cameras, lenses, close ups, front facing vs. rear facing, macros, slow-mos, tripods etc. I learned about video software and how to piece it all together. I learned that I can try to say something fairly simple but it takes me five tries to get it right! (Note to self: I should be keeping a blooper reel 😜)

Amidst all this, I also had to implement new software on my website to offer the courses to everyone. This helped make it all come together. The software I chose allows you to purchase a course, and watch it online as often as you want. I can break courses down into sections that help the flow of learning. You can take breaks and only watch a section at a time – learning at your own pace. All your course content is in one place that you can access easily.

Moving Forward!

So here’s where we’re at:

I have posted one full-sized course, the Byzantine Chain Mail Bracelet course. It requires a pre-requisite of Chain Mail 101. You can BUNDLE the two and get a discounted price! And once you take the 101 course, you can take future chain mail classes without it. The bundled pricing is very similar to what I would charge for an in-person class and I actually think there is more material in the videos. Full-sized courses include lots of separate lessons that thoroughly explain each portion of the project with background and details to help you be more successful. You can even get materials kits and tools from me to make things easier!

In addition, there are two shorter courses posted. These are stand alone videos without multiple lessons and are priced below the full-sized courses. One is the Criss-Cross Wire Weave Bracelet I mentioned above that I used for practice. The other is the Crossroads Bracelet, one of my most popular beadweaving classes. This is a video that I made almost ten years ago – it’s offers complete, thorough instruction, but the filming is a bit lower quality since it’s older.

I have also posted all my currently-available $5 patterns as online courses, so you can have all your material in one place. These are pdf instruction sheets with no videos, except for a bonus on how to tie of your thread for beadweaving. To view these, go to the online courses page, and sort the full course list for “patterns.”

AND we can Zoom if you want! Even though I felt like there was too much that got missed in a full-sized Zoom class, these past few months I’ve been able to help several students in “face-to-face” online zoom consultations. Now you can schedule those meetups here.

What’s in Store for the Future?

My next set of online jewelry courses will focus on soldering. So, I have Soldering 101, 102, and 103 in the works.

I hope to have at least one full-sized course available each month. Of course, I will be able to produce online jewelry-making instruction more quickly as time goes on.

Eventually we will be able to get together in person again. I’ve already started to get some green lights in that area and look forward to a time when we can join up in our creative pursuits. But I have decided I will keep posting online videos. It will be nice to have a library of instruction that students from all geographic locations can access and refer back to, as often as they like!

I can’t wait to see how all this unfolds over the coming months and years!