Little disappointed to hear this jewelers apprenticeship moves quite a bit slower than I thought. The other apprentice I work with has been there for 1 year and has only had one training shift on the bench. I was told during the interview I was brought on to free up more time for training so hopefully that is is the case.

On the plus side working around jewelry has kept my mind on it and had me focused on my goals more. I've been spending about an hour a night working through YouTube tutorials for Rhino 6 to learn CAD design. I also ordered some books to help expand my knowledge and skills. They are; Modeling in Wax for Jewelry and Sculpture (covers carving and casting), Jewelry Design and Development: From Concept to Object (Follows 20 artists from start to finish on a piece), Jewelry Illustration, Jewelry Concepts and Technology (seen it on a few lists as the benchworkers bible) , Jewelry Design: The Artisans Reference (covers the fundamental components of rings, cuff links, bracelets, watches,ect.)

I have some more books on my shopping list about more specialized for certain techniques or the history of jewelry but I think this is a good start to establish a solid understanding of the fundamentals. I'd like to find a good beginners project book for benchwork but I haven't done the research yet to find one.

If they will not be able to give me bench time at work I will teach myself in my free time. I hope with developing my own skills and the work experience/resume bullet point of the job I will be able to get my foot in the door somewhere better paying and more interesting in a few years.

kleinbl00 I know you are studying Jewelry as well. I mainly posted the book list above for you. Do you have any recommendations to round out my self education?