About This Career

Designs, fabricates, adjusts, repairs, or appraises jewelry, gold, silver, other precious metals, or gems.

This career is part of the Manufacturing cluster Production pathway.

A person in this career:

• Positions stones and metal pieces, and sets, mounts, and secures items in place, using setting and hand tools.
• Smooths soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polishes smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
• Creates jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
• Makes repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
• Cleans and polishes metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
• Cuts and files pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
• Selects and acquires metals and gems for designs.
• Computes costs of labor and materials to determine production costs of products and articles.
• Examines assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
• Pierces and cuts open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves sitting more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Seeing clearly up close

Work Hours and Travel

• Regular working hours and limited travel