Jewelry Workshop Teaching Tips

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved

What’s the most important thing to keep in mind about teaching a jewelry-making workshop?

A jewelry class is supposed to be fun!

It should be fun for you, and especially fun for your students. That’s why they signed up. And that’s how you’ll get them to sign up for future workshops, and also refer their friends to you.

The number one thing you can do to build your jewelry-making workshop business is to be sure that every single person there is having a great time, including you.

As the workshop leader, students take their cue from you. You should be enthusiastic, enjoying yourself, smiling, patient, relaxed, understanding, encouraging, full of praise for your students, and have a wonderful sense of humor. Communicate what you love about making jewelry!

Who wouldn’t love a teacher like that? If you were the student, wouldn’t you tell everyone what a great class it was . . . and come back for more classes yourself?

You have to put aside all other aspects of your life during the workshop, and concentrate on having a great time doing something you love. And that’s very contagious!

Most people aren’t used to focusing on microscopic beads and jewelry findings the way we jewelry artists are. And many people just plain can’t see small things without help. Two things you can do to help them are:

1. Provide good lighting.

   If the room doesn’t have strong overhead lighting, a few 2-headed gooseneck lamps with natural-light bulbs and extension cords can make all the difference for choosing colors and seeing tiny bead holes. If you don’t have lamps to bring, the facility where you’re holding the workshop may have some you can borrow.

2. Have a couple of magnifying glasses handy.

   I use the big magnifiers that can be worn around the neck on a cord, and prop up on the wearer’s chest. There are also good free-standing ones that you can look through from the top while your hands and jewelry project are underneath.

   If you’ll be teaching groups where most students are age 40 or over, you may want to have a good magnifier for each student.

A relaxed frame of mind is important for creative activities. Some of your students will come rushing through the door at the last moment, having just left a stressful job and battled rush-hour traffic. Others will have just dealt with difficult children, or demanding family issues that are still on their minds.

You can’t just plunge into jewelry making without giving them a transition period. They need time to let go of what they’ve just been doing, and get into the mindset for creative fun—especially if they happen to be people who aren’t used to engaging in creative activities!

I suggest bringing a small, portable CD player and some relaxing CD’s. Get the music started as soon as you get there, so it’s playing to get you into the relaxed, creative mood while you set everything up. When your students walk in, they’ll start to feel the relaxing vibes and begin to unwind and tune in. Change CD’s if you need to during class to keep the music going. Music makes an amazing difference!

Welcome each person as they arrive, and introduce yourself in a friendly way. You may want to have nametag stickers for everyone to write their name on and wear, and wear one yourself. It’s important to make people feel like they are unique individuals with a name. And you’ll have enough to remember about the things you want to cover in your workshop, without having to learn 25 names too!

With some groups, a minute of stretching and neck rotating exercises, combined with breathing and releasing, are helpful for letting go of the “outside world” before beginning creative work. Others feel uncomfortable doing this in public. You decide which is best for your workshop.

Once your students are seated, give a brief (just a few sentences) story of how you got into jewelry making and what you love about it. People always want to know that, and it helps them feel like they know you better.

Then pass around a finished example of the project you’ll be working on, so your students can look at it as you describe it and give an overview of what they’ll be doing.

Give general guidelines about good design before they get started. Here is the primary guide I give in my workshops:

"A good design is based on pleasing contrasts. The contrasting elements can be shapes, sizes, colors, textures, etc. You are the artist, and you’re about to create something beautiful!"

If you give much more information than that, many people will become hesitant to choose anything or design freely because too many "rules" stifle creativity.

You don’t have to use my statement, and in fact you may not even agree with it! Think about what makes good jewelry design in your particular medium, and why. Then tell your students about it.

After describing the project, have the students choose their beads or whatever supplies they have a choice of. Give tactful alternative suggestions if it seems like someone has chosen a color scheme that seems lifeless or too jumbled.

When everyone has their choices made, describe the first small step of the project, showing what you’re talking about on the example piece you made ahead of time. Some students will get to work as soon as you describe, and some may hesitate.

As they get started, describe the same thing again, using different wording. Wander through the class and help where help is needed, and give praise and encouragement lavishly! Self-confidence is important for letting creativity flow, and you want to be sure all your students feel good.

When everyone has completed step 1, go on and do the same thing with step 2.

IMPORTANT: Keep each step small, limiting it to just one motion or action. Otherwise you’ll lose some people or they may make mistakes that will affect the outcome of their piece, and backtracking with half the class can be a nightmare!

Also, keep everyone on the same step together. Fast workers can sit and chat till everyone else has finished the step too. Otherwise, instead of teaching the class once, you will teach each person individually, which means you could be teaching the same thing 25 times!

What do you do with a hesitant student who says, "I don’t do crafts" or "I’ve never been creative"? This is a person who needs extra TLC and encouragement.

Everyone can make jewelry, but for people who aren’t used to creative activities it takes them completely out of their comfort zone. They feel like someone just threw them into the middle of an ocean of beads without a life preserver!

Spend a little extra time helping this person get started. Ask questions to get their mind off their fears and onto jewelry. Ask things that will help them find a direction to start—what are their favorite colors; what colors are the most common in their wardrobe; favorite outfits; when do they most often wear jewelry; what’s their style; do they prefer small and simple jewelry, or something more noticeable; if they envision the perfect outfit for themselves, what is it, and what jewelry are they wearing with it?

Reassurance and gentle encouragement, combined with an unhurried atmosphere, will help this person discover their creative side. Be ready to help this hesitant jewelry artist with every step, but if they suddenly get the hang of it and go racing off without training wheels, let them go for it!

Continue on step by step till everyone has finished the project. When everyone has a completed piece of jewelry, it’s a good time to get everyone out of their seat to stretch and walk around, admiring each other’s projects and socializing!

At the end of your workshop, ask what classes you students would like to take in the future! You can ask verbally and write down their suggestions, or have them fill out feedback slips that include their workshop requests. Offering your customers what they want to do for another class will help you grow your workshop business!

For the complete success guide to profitable jewelry making classes, see Teaching Jewelry Making Workshops.

Return to Home Jewelry Business Success Tips home page.

Jewelry Workshop Teaching Tips - return to top