Jewelry Making:
For my 2020 In-Depth Project, I decided to pursue the art of making jewelry.
Who: My mentor for In-Depth is a teacher friend of my Mum’s who works in School District 43. She is a teacher at Dr. Charles Best Secondary named Nafissata Toure, and she has been making jewelry for years. My ideas were narrowed down to water colour painting and jewelry making, and after talking to both Mme. Toure and my Mum, I chose Jewelry making because of what I learned from my mentor. Mme. Toure has made beautiful jewelry for years, and even sold them at craft/art fairs. I was very intrigued and impressed, hoping that she could teach me to be just as good at the craft.
What: My In-Depth project this year will be a very interesting challenge as I take on jewelry making. I have only had a small amount of time to talk to my mentor, but I have been doing lots of research and fact gathering about jewelry making. While talking to Mme. Toure we went over how I can make things like rings, necklaces, and bracelets, and really decide to dive as deep into it as I feel. There was even a chance I could learn make a chain mail vest on top of everything else. In my own research I learned about different ways to make jewelry, and as of this moment I’m not sure the exact type I will be practicing (molding, bending, shaping, or building). All I know is that I am both excited and ready for this challenge.
Where: I will be meeting with Mme. Toure at both Dr. Charles Best Secondary and her house for mentoring. Mme. Toure has taught other people in the past and has everything at those locations for me to learn how to make jewelry. On top of meeting with Mme. Toure for mentoring at her house and the school, I will conduct my own research each week at my home.
Why: I decided to chose jewelry making for two reasons. Firstly, I had no previous skill or history in making jewelry. Secondly, I never would have had the option or thought to try jewelry making without In-Depth. I wanted to do something that was original and interesting, and jewelry making fit perfectly. It gives me a chance to learn a completely foreign and new skill that is actually very interesting (in my opinion). When compared to water colour painting, it proved to be a better option because I can do water painting at any time, but I can’t do that with jewelry making. Altogether, these factors made me chose jewelry making as my In-Depth project.
When: As of this point, I don’t know the exact dates or times that I will be learning about jewelry making. Tomorrow I will be talking with Mme. Toure again to finalize and figure out dates. The general idea is to either meet Thursdays, Fridays, or Sundays bi-weekly for mentoring. Right now everything is flexible and I need to talk with her directly before confirming any exact dates.
How: I am focusing on two different strategies to learn jewelry making. The first strategy is to do research on my own. This will be the harder of the two because this will be one hundred percent autonomous and it will take lots of effort to find reliable and relevant research on jewelry making. The second way I will learn jewelry making is by actually making the jewelry with my mentor. We will be meeting bi-weekly as my mentor teaches me the skills behind proper jewelry making. This will be challenging, but I’ll do my best and try my hardest.
I can’t wait to get started!