✦ For the Serious Craftsperson

Advanced Techniques

Push the boundaries of your craft. Master metalsmithing, stone-setting, reticulation, and granulation — guided by working jewelers with decades of studio experience.

Master Level Industry-grade curriculum
Prerequisite Skills RequiredIntermediate background needed
Professional-Grade ToolsTorches, rolling mills, gravers
Max 6 Per ClassIntimate, intensive sessions
Portfolio Piece IncludedLeave with exhibition-quality work

Why Go Advanced

Where Craft Becomes Mastery

Our advanced programme is built for makers who've moved past the basics and are ready to work like professional jewelers. Every session uses authentic techniques — no shortcuts, no craft-store methods.

You'll work alongside instructors who exhibit their work, sell at galleries, and have trained under master goldsmiths in Europe and Japan. The curriculum is demanding, deeply rewarding, and designed to transform your abilities.

14+ Techniques mastered
340+ Advanced students
6 Max students per class
Explore Techniques
Advanced metalsmithing at Aurum Studio
Master Level
4–8 HoursDeep immersive sessions
🔥
Torch-work includedReal fire, real metal

Before You Begin

What You Should Already Know

Our advanced classes assume a solid foundation. Here's what you should be comfortable with before enrolling.

Basic Wire Work

Comfortable shaping, bending, and joining wire. Can create simple wrapped loops and coils without guidance.

✦ Required

Tool Familiarity

Experienced with pliers, flush cutters, ring mandrels, and bench pegs. No hesitation picking up unfamiliar tools.

✦ Required

Material Knowledge

Understands gauge differences, metal hardness, and alloy properties. Can choose correct materials for a project.

✦ Required

Completed a Class

At least one intermediate-level workshop, either with us or elsewhere — or equivalent self-taught experience.

◇ Recommended
💬

Not sure if you're ready? Contact us — we'll assess your skills and suggest the right starting point.

The Curriculum

Advanced Workshops

Each class is a deep-dive into one technique. Every session is intimate, demanding, and culminates in a portfolio-quality piece.

Silversmithing Masterclass Most Enrolled
Advanced ⏱ 6 Hours

Silversmithing Masterclass

Saw, file, solder, and finish sterling silver sheet metal into elegant, complex forms. You'll construct a complete fabricated pendant using professional bench tools.

  • ✦ Sawing, filing, and sweat-soldering
  • ✦ Pickle bath & surface finishing
  • ✦ Take home 1 exhibition-quality pendant
Advanced ⏱ 5 Hours

Bezel Stone Setting

Create a custom fine silver bezel, form it around a cabochon, and set the stone with a burnisher. Your gemstone, fully secured, beautifully framed.

  • ✦ Fine silver bezel wire forming
  • ✦ Cabochon selection & seating
  • ✦ Burnishing and high polish finish
Master ⏱ 5 Hours

Reticulation & Texture

Use a torch to create organic, flowing surface textures on silver sheet. Reticulation produces unique rippled effects impossible to replicate by hand-tooling alone.

  • ✦ Torch control and heat discipline
  • ✦ Depletion gilding process
  • ✦ Oxidising and patination finishes
Advanced ⏱ 6 Hours

Forging & Metal Forming

Work with a planishing hammer and stake to shape thick silver wire and sheet into sculptural, three-dimensional forms. This is raw, physical, transformative work.

  • ✦ Annealing and quenching cycles
  • ✦ Hammering, dapping, and doming
  • ✦ Produce a wearable sculptural cuff
Master ⏱ 8 Hours

Pavé & Prong Setting

Master the most demanding stone-setting styles. Using engravers, burnishers, and a microscope, you'll seat multiple faceted stones in a pavé cluster or classic prong mount.

  • ✦ Graver sharpening and handling
  • ✦ Drilling and seat-cutting
  • ✦ Set 5+ faceted stones precisely
Master ⏱ 7 Hours

Granulation

The ancient Etruscan art of fusing tiny spheres of gold or silver to a metal surface — without solder. An extraordinary technique requiring extreme precision and heat control.

  • ✦ Hand-making granules from sheet
  • ✦ Copper-hydroxide fusion bonding
  • ✦ Design and compose your own pattern
Advanced ⏱ 6 Hours

Chasing & Repousse

Push and pull metal from both sides using steel punches and pitch bowls to create dramatic three-dimensional relief designs in copper and silver sheet.

  • ✦ Pitch bowl preparation & use
  • ✦ Steel punch and chasing hammer technique
  • ✦ Create a sculptural relief brooch
Advanced ⏱ 4 Hours

Tube Riveting & Cold Connections

Join metals, resins, and mixed materials without heat — using tube rivets, eyelets, and pressure connections. Ideal for incorporating non-metal elements into fine jewelry.

  • ✦ Drilling and tube cutting precision
  • ✦ Rivet setting without cracking
  • ✦ Multi-material mixed-media pendant

Who Teaches Here

Your Instructors

Every advanced class is led by a working jeweler — not just a teacher. These are people whose work appears in galleries.

Elena Vasquez

Founder & Master Goldsmith

Metalsmithing Stone Setting

Trained under master goldsmiths in Florence and Tokyo, Elena has been exhibiting her sculptural jewelry work internationally for 18 years. She founded Aurum Studio in 2012 with a vision to bring professional-grade goldsmithing to a wider audience. Her patience, clarity, and exacting standards make her advanced classes transformative experiences.

18 yrsStudio experience
340+Advanced students
12Gallery exhibitions

Marcus Chen

Senior Instructor — Surface & Forging

Reticulation Forging Chasing

Marcus trained as a traditional blacksmith before shifting his focus to precious metals. His background in industrial forging gives his metalsmithing an unusual physicality and raw power. He specialises in reticulation, granulation, and chasing & repousse — techniques he teaches with a calm, methodical precision that puts even nervous students at ease.

11 yrsTeaching experience
180+Surface art students
3Published techniques

Book Your Spot

Upcoming Advanced Classes

ClassDateTimeLevelSpots
Silversmithing Masterclass Apr 16, 2026 9:00 AM Advanced 4 spots Book →
Bezel Stone Setting Apr 20, 2026 10:00 AM Advanced 2 spots Book →
Reticulation & Texture Apr 25, 2026 9:30 AM Master 5 spots Book →
Forging & Metal Forming May 2, 2026 9:00 AM Advanced 6 spots Book →
Pavé & Prong Setting May 9, 2026 9:00 AM Master 2 spots Book →
Granulation May 16, 2026 9:00 AM Master 6 spots Book →
Chasing & Repousse May 23, 2026 9:30 AM Advanced 5 spots Book →

Advanced Student Voices

What Makers Say

★★★★★

"The granulation class was unlike anything I've done in 15 years of hobby jewelry making. The technique is ancient and demanding — and Elena made me feel capable every step of the way. The piece I made is genuinely museum-quality."

R
Rachel Obi Granulation Class
★★★★★

"The pavé setting class was 8 hours of pure, focused joy. Placing 8 tiny diamonds under a microscope, using tools I'd never held — and finishing with a perfect cluster ring. Worth every single minute and every single penny."

S
Sophia Renaud Pavé & Prong Setting Class

Got Questions?

Advanced Techniques FAQ

You should be comfortable at an intermediate level — meaning you've completed at least one structured jewelry workshop (with us or elsewhere), or have spent significant time teaching yourself the basics. You should be able to use bench tools without hesitation and understand the properties of common metals and wire gauges.

No. Advanced classes assume prerequisite knowledge and move at a pace that would be overwhelming for beginners. If you're new to jewelry making, please start with our Beginner Classes — they're designed to build exactly the foundation you'll need before stepping into advanced sessions.

All professional tools are provided — including torches, rolling mills, gravers, pitch bowls, and specialist finishing equipment. Metal and stones are included in the class price unless otherwise stated. Some classes allow you to bring your own stones; contact us to discuss specific needs.

Maximum 6 students. This is non-negotiable — advanced techniques require close, personalised supervision that isn't possible in larger groups. When classes sell out, we add waitlists and open new dates rather than increasing student numbers.

Absolutely, and we encourage it. Many of our most accomplished students have taken 4–6 different advanced sessions over a year, building a truly professional toolkit. We can help you plan a curriculum based on your interests and goals.

Full refund if cancelled 10+ days before class. 50% studio credit for 5–10 days notice. No refund within 5 days, but we may be able to transfer your booking to a future date in genuine emergencies. Advanced classes are more expensive to run, so we appreciate maximum notice.

Ready to Advance?

Your Next Level
Starts Here

Classes fill in days. Reserve your place in an advanced session and make something extraordinary with your hands.