Hello! Antonia here - I thought I’d give you an insight into a typical day in the life of a jeweller and give you three tips on how to balance your time.
My day starts, as many mothers’ days do, with the school run. The schools aren't around the corner for me either as we live in Dorset, but my girls both go to schools in Bournemouth. So, I’m up at 6.45am, vastly encouraged by the thought of a hot coffee, and usually manage to rustle up a hot breakfast of sorts for them in the winter. It's so much easier in summer, as we all know! We’re a three generational household, so we’ve all got used to being super quiet in the mornings - no hollering up the stairs to get a move on! Then we’re off and out the door, down to Bournemouth for my eldest girl’s drop off, then I’ve got 20 minutes to get across town to drop my youngest off by the time her school starts.
Then my day as a jeweller can really begin. I adore the Jewellers Academy podcasts, which I listen to on the 30 minute journey back up home (traffic permitting!) They really get me in the right mindframe and all fired up to plan whichever particular aspect of my business or making I’m focusing on that day.
Some days I’ll go to the local Costa near my last drop off school and sit with my laptop either working on my website, photograph editing or writing product descriptions.
In summer, I have my favourite cafe by the beach at Durley Chine where I can sit facing the sea and watch the sun sparkle like diamonds - always inspiring!
When I can tear myself from my oasis and having listened to the Jewellers Academy podcast on the way home, I sit down at the bench and either start a new wax carving for a ring, or set a stone in a piece I’m finishing off but I always take this time to be at the bench.
To the right below is how I have my bench set up at the moment.
I break for coffee and do some bits around the house, as I can’t work for too long at a time because of some disability health issues that I have. So I really have to work around how I’m feeling on a particular day.If the light is good around the middle of the day or the afternoon, I tend to do some photography which is set up by the window in my studio. I’ve really struggled with my photographs in the past as I’ve only just discovered that my camera has been faulty the whole time! A real goal of mine is to re-do my photographs with my super new 50MP camera (thank you family for the early birthday present!)
I've experimented somewhat with tripods and lighting, so hopefully now my jewellery will look as good in a photo as it does in real life! I really enjoy having new photographs, so it’s something I’m determined to work at and improve on rather than fully outsource. I’ve done some product photography courses as well, so that might be something I am working on in the afternoons. When I'm working on a particular commission or new piece I often take this time to get busy with some soldering, setting stones or packaging orders.
Then I’m back out for the School Run Part 2, dinners, hair washing, homework checking and writing any necessary emails to their schools. Their father walked out on my girls and I when they were aged 4 and 2 years, so my parents and brother have really stepped up and have helped out enormously with bringing them up. Sometimes I feel I should spend more time on my jewellery business, but it is so important to me to get a good work / life balance and spend time with them. We are all Countdown fans, so we record the programme from earlier in the afternoon and watch it together as something to do as a family.
Then the girls are off to bed and I like to use this time to sketch out and plan new ideas for pieces. Like everyone though, I need to have a relax and tend to watch documentaries and historical programmes as I sketch as in my former career I was a secondary school History Teacher. So I have a particular interest in historical jewellery! Finally, its bed and round we go again tomorrow.
We're all struggling with the work / life balance, the school run, roadworks and the cost of living, so I have few tips on how I manage:
* I break my day down into 30 min blocks and, unless there's a huge job to do, try to stick within that for each 'job'. A pendant, or ring will obviously take longer than 30 minutes, but it might be that I'll set 30 mins to saw and solder.
* Allocate rest periods in the day - even if it's to go elsewhere, away from the bench to sit and have coffee.
* Try not to put too much pressure on yourself - there will never be enough hours in the day. I have so many ideas of pieces I'd like to make, paperwork I need to do but I've learnt that small steps add up to much more over a long, sustained period of time. This is better for me than going hell for leather for hours or days and then exhaust myself so I can't be productive for a week.
Thank you for reading about my typical day as a jeweller and I hope the tips might help someone else!
Antonia
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