Jeweler
Quick Facts
Median Salary$49,024
Most Common EducationHigh school or GED
Projected 10-Year Growth+9.43%
Assessment MatchTake the Assessment
What They Do
A Jeweler designs and creates jewelry, often using precious metals and gemstones, and sells or appraises jewelry.
Core Tasks:
- Clean and polish metal items and jewelry pieces, using jewelers' tools, polishing wheels, and chemical baths.
- 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.
- Cut and file pieces of jewelry such as rings, brooches, bracelets, and lockets.
- Make repairs, such as enlarging or reducing ring sizes, soldering pieces of jewelry together, and replacing broken clasps and mountings.
- Examine assembled or finished products to ensure conformance to specifications, using magnifying glasses or precision measuring instruments.
- Position stones and metal pieces, and set, mount, and secure items in place, using setting and hand tools.
- Compute costs of labor and materials to determine production costs of products and articles.
- Grade stones based on their color, perfection, and quality of cut.
- Select and acquire metals and gems for designs.
- Shape and straighten damaged or twisted articles by hand or using pliers.
- Create new jewelry designs and modify existing designs, using computers as necessary.
- Plate articles such as jewelry pieces and watch dials, using silver, gold, nickel, or other metals.
- Record the weights and processing times of finished pieces.
- Construct preliminary models of wax, metal, clay, or plaster, and form sample castings in molds.
- Soften metal to be used in designs by heating it with a gas torch and shape it, using hammers and dies.
- Write or modify design specifications such as the metal contents and weights of items.
- Pierce and cut open designs in ornamentation, using hand drills and scroll saws.
- Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs.
- Mark, engrave, or emboss designs on metal pieces such as castings, wire, or jewelry, following specifications.
- Pour molten metal alloys or other materials into molds to cast models of jewelry.
What to expect as a Jeweler
1Earn a High school or GED Diploma
33% of people achieve this level of education.
2Gain skills and experience
See Jeweler related courses on Tallo
3Land a job
330 openings for Jewelers
Career Progression
in United States (Nation)
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