Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers design, fabricate, adjust, repair, or appraise jewelry, gold, silver, other precious metals, or gems.
Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.
Smooth soldered joints and rough spots, using hand files and emery paper, and polish smoothed areas with polishing wheels or buffing wire.
Create jewelry from materials such as gold, silver, platinum, and precious or semiprecious stones.
Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
Select and acquire metals and gems for designs.
Compute costs of labor and materials in order to determine production costs of products and articles.
Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
Pierce and cut open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.
Construct preliminary models of wax, metal, clay, or plaster, and form sample castings in molds.
Pour molten metal alloys or other materials into molds in order to cast models of jewelry.
Shape and straighten damaged or twisted articles by hand or using pliers.
Soften metal to be used in designs by heating it with a gas torch and shape it, using hammers and dies.
Determine appraised values of diamonds and other gemstones based on price guides, market fluctuations, and stone grades and rarity.
Grade stones based on their color, perfection, and quality of cut.
Plate articles such as jewelry pieces and watch dials, using silver, gold, nickel, or other metals.
Write or modify design specifications such as the metal contents and weights of items.
Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary.
Buy and sell jewelry, or serve as agents between buyers and sellers.
Record the weights and processing times of finished pieces.
Lay out designs on metal stock, and cut along markings to fabricate pieces used to cast metal molds.
Mark, engrave, or emboss designs on metal pieces such as castings, wire, or jewelry, following specifications.
Cut designs in molds or other materials to be used as models in the fabrication of metal and jewelry products.
Design and fabricate molds, models, and machine accessories, and modify hand tools used to cast metal and jewelry pieces.
Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties in order to develop new products or modify existing designs.
Anneal precious metal objects such as coffeepots, tea sets, and trays in gas ovens for prescribed times to soften metal for reworking.
Weigh, mix, and melt metal alloys or materials needed for jewelry models.
Rotate molds to distribute alloys and to prevent formation of air pockets.
Rout out locations where parts are to be joined to items, using routing machines.
Work Context
Work Context information for this career will be available soon.
Work Activities
Thinking Creatively — Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
Getting Information — Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
Making Decisions and Solving Problems — Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information — Estimating sizes, distances, and quantities; or determining time, costs, resources, or materials needed to perform a work activity.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work — Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People — Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events — Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Material — Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge — Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
Controlling Machines and Processes — Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships — Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Handling and Moving Objects — Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
Scheduling Work and Activities — Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.
Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings — Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public — Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Production and Processing
Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Design
Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Mechanical
Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Judgment and Decision Making
Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
Finger Dexterity
The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
Near Vision
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
Manual Dexterity
The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
Control Precision
The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
Problem Sensitivity
The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
Visualization
The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
Category Flexibility
The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
Information Ordering
The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
Deductive Reasoning
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
Originality
The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
Flexibility of Closure
The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
Fluency of Ideas
The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
Visual Color Discrimination
The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
