jewellery making

PM Cassie - she does jewelry

(Hoping Cassie doesn't mind ab volunteering her )

I'd also suggest reading Lois McMaster Bujold's The Spirit Ring. MC is the daughter of an artisan who can also craft magic in what feels like medieval Italy. Might give you some ideas.

Remember gold and silver is expensive. A jeweller might not have much stock on hand since he'd have to protect it. Instead the jeweller might be given what he needs as part of the commission.

I guess that depends. Is he a goldsmith, or is he carving it out of horn, or doing beadwork? Or what?

If he's a goldsmith, I do recall reading an account of goldsmiths being able to pack a kit of tools in a couple of suitcases...but that assumes electricity. Presumably he'd have to remake his furnace someplace else. There's no way to do that on the move.

If he does beadwork, all he'd need would be thread, the beads themselves, a variety of needles, and a small bead loom.

As far as carving goes, well, a small lathe is easily portable, that and knives would do the trick.

Hi - I've dabbled in jewelry making using stones and silver settings. Question - is he casting his settings (the back plate if there is one, the filigree edge that can be bent in to keep the stone in place) or is he "soldering" components together? If he's casting, he would need wax for carving and casting material (plaster) to put the carved wax piece in plus a way to melt and pour the metal (crucible); if he's soldering, he would need an iron (there are ones that can be heated in a fire), flux of some sort to make the solder/metal flow, and whatever was used for solder back then.

For the stones, if they're cabachons, he'd need a way to cut a piece of the approximate size he wanted (length, width, and thickness), a wheel to grind the stone down on, and a wheel with a polishing medium to polish the stone. If he's making facets on the stones, he'd need a way to hold the stone at the precise angle needed to cut (grind) the facets.

He'd probably have a small anvil, hammers of various sizes, files, tweezers, saws, a whettle stone, pieces of leather for burnishing, etc. If he's engraving he'd have gravers of various sizes and a lathe to hold the piece in position for engraving (I've tried it - not easy). He might have an alcohol type torch. And - he'd probably have a magnifying glass of some type.

If you have an old Mom and Pop type jewelry store near you, visit them, tell them what you're working on, and see if they'll show you what's in their jeweler's bench. It's amazing. Puma