BENCHspace Silver School
Because making matters…
BENCHspace is a silversmithing and jewellery workshop that offers you the opportunity to come and make your very own silver jewellery in your own unique style.
Taster Sessions
BENCHspace offers a range of taster sessions and courses to build up your skill set with step-by-step expert tuition, enabling you to spend some creative ‘you’ time in our fully equipped workshop.
Taster sessions are a perfect gift for those extra special celebrations – including birthdays, anniversaries, hen parties, bridal parties, (to make bridesmaid, best man, bride and groom gifts) Corporate away days, Team Building and more.
Great for friends and family
Bring your friends and family to share your special occasion, creating amazing jewellery to wear home with pride and great memories to share.
Your Expert Instructor
Karen Cooke
I’m Karen, a silversmith with over 25 years of experience in designing, making & teaching.
In the last 12 months
Why Choose Us
Here are a few reasons
- Enjoy learning in our fully equipped jewellery workshop.
- Each person has their own jewellers’ bench with full set of tools.
- Make your own amazing jewellery to fit perfectly in your own unique style!
Testimonials
What people are saying
After the fire….
Sandcasting from obsidian (volcanic glass) pebbles to make cufflinks for a special 21st birthday gift.
Matt last night on our Tuesday evening class trying out the deflt clay and Little Smith torch…
#benchspacesilverschool #benchspacejewelleryclasses #jewelleryworkshop #handmadejewellery #jewellerymakersofinstagram
Jewellery Journeys…
We were all beginners once…
work exhibited by our BENCHspace students from levels 1-3.
Progress made piece by piece.
#benchspacecadets #benchspacejewelleryclasses #benchspacesilverschool #metalsmithing
Our exhibition starts today!
A brilliant late addition to our Winter Exhibition is the irrepressible @amandakestell. She first joined us on one of our taster sessions making an ashes and inlay ring about two years ago and was instantly hooked. She regularly travels all the way from Southend to Brightlingsea to learn more techniques and to constantly upskill with stone setting becoming a firm favourite. Mandy is very skilled in resin work and works with commemorative materials to make very special mourning jewellery (“Mandy’s Memories”) alongside her growing collection of gem set pieces.
“I have been a memorial jewellery maker for many years specialising in horse hair jewellery and setting cremation ashes into resin.
BENCHspace has given me the skills to be creative with other styles of jewellery and I particularly enjoy sandcasting, all the different varieties of stone setting and making rings of all sizes to perfect my soldering techniques.”
Our exhibition is on from 19th-24th November (11am-4pm) @thesentinelgallery .
The last featured artist in our BENCHspace Winter Exhibition is me… Karen Cooke, metalsmith, tutor and business owner at BENCHspace.
“I established BENCHspace in 2019 to share my love of jewellery and silversmithing and to offer people the opportunity to make in metal. I believe that making matters and is mindfulness in action. Focusing on making things quietens the mind and is good for the soul. There is no provision to learn these traditional skills outside London and so I opened BENCHspace to provide this opportunity.
I run taster sessions, 8 week courses and masterclasses to take you from being an absolute beginner to an accomplished jeweller.
I wanted to create an artistic community around metalsmithing in my local area and my lovely BENCHspacers and The BENCHspace Collective is the embodiment of that. We meet weekly to make things in metal because it’s challenging, we hit things hard with hammers, melt things and generally get to swear a lot when things go wrong. Making stuff in metal is very time consuming, difficult and therefore really satisfying when it goes right. Its highly addictive and expensive but we love it!
This, our first group exhibition, is a celebration of our shared success and a milestone for the BENCHspace Collective who have worked so hard behind the scenes to make this happen. We hope you enjoy it!
I started in the jewellery trade at 18 years old and have worked at all different levels in the trade over the years including being a fully qualified gemmologist and working as a silversmith in Clerkenwell, London.
My own work draws inspiration from the natural world. I enjoy making large silversmithing pieces, holloware forms hand raised from sheet (not on display) and hand forged and hand formed jewellery inspired by seedpods, vines and leaves.”
#benchspacesilverschool #jewelleryworkshop #benchspacejewelleryclasses #jewellerymakersofinstagram #jewellerybeginner
Brilliant bracelets made today!
Lots of hard work forming, pulling, hammering, twisting, squashing and soldering.
People are always a bit surprised that making jewellery is actually quite physical and not that easy.
Congratulations to everyone who came today and left with a wonderful, shiny bracelet handmade by themselves.
👌🤩👍👏
Tiny little hinges…
An articulated silver bracelet started by @colchestercaninemassage.
Well done 👏! 🏆
Another jeweller in our Winter exhibition in @magpie_metalsmith. She assists us on our spinner and stacking ring workshops and will be teaching the beginners class in January!
Magpie Metalsmith belongs to Kitty, a Brightlingsea-based designer maker.
“My background is in 3D design, jewellery and silversmithing, but before discovering BENCHspace 4 years ago I hadn’t sat at a jewellers bench for 20 years, so I’m making up for lost time! My work is influenced by traditional techniques, the natural world and an insatiable curiosity about people and their objects. I create pieces with emotion, each with a unique story to tell.
My collection for the exhibition explores a lifelong interest in talismans and a love of our coastline, showcasing unique silver pieces including sea glass finds, lucky pebbles, picture agate landscapes and seaweed motifs.”
Some of the first pieces from our lovely beginners course.
Well done folks! Some great work and so many new skills learnt.
Our jewellery exhibition starts on Tuesday (19th) and we still have a few jewellers to introduce to you….
@soanesjewellery did his beginners course about 2 years ago. He makes lovely precise jewellery with geometric shapes and loves learning new techniques to improve his skill levels. Robert enjoys making handmade chains and comes up with new and innovative designs and patterns.
“I began my Jewellery journey about 3 years ago. Starting off being self taught at home for the first year, then going to Benchspace to expand my knowledge and skills. I have always had a creative background and jewellery making has allowed me to continue creating which always give me immense joy and helps me relax. I enjoy all aspects of designing and making but in particular I am interested in keum-boo, fine stone setting and creating different styles of bracelets.”
5 days to go….
Our Winter Exhibition is from 19th-24th November (11am-4pm) @thesentinelgallery
Come and see what we’ve been making and bag some truly one-off bespoke pieces of handmade jewellery.
See our lovely learners and their jewellery journeys from the very beginning …
Not as easy as you think….
Soldering jump rings is a tricky job to get right and often the first thing that learners want to do. It is however quite hard when you’re new to soldering so get some experience first on some larger items.
The smaller they are the harder it is.
Here goes to a quick guide as to how to solder a silver jump ring…. Maybe S A V E this post to remind you.
The first thing you need to do is to cut your solder pallion small enough. How small? This depends on the thickness of your jump ring wire and you find out through experience. You do not want a big blob of solder on your jump ring as this will interfere with the hanging /articulation of the piece (plus it looks bad, you don’t want to file it, as seriously who has time for that!) If the solder was too much, cut the jump ring off and do it again.
Flux and place your tiny pallion directly on the join. This means you need to get a fully closed jump ring (no gaps!) and no over lapping ends. Use a loupe if you can’t see.
Use two pairs of parallel pliers to ensure a tightly closed join using a sideways motion when closing.
Then you need to heat the jump ring so both ends get to same soldering temperature - not one side hotter than the other (as the solder will go to the heat and not across the join…)
Set up your job so that the flame is not causing other joins to get hot - too many people use tweezers badly causing heat sinks in the wrong area. Think through every solder job when you set up so that you don’t solder things together accidentally!
The position of your flame is vital in soldering and difficult to see from online courses or YouTube videos. The difference a cm makes in any direction is huge in terms of temperature and success. Always heat the mass not the solder.
Heat with a blue cone flame until the solder runs then take off the heat, quench and pickle.
Et voila’…
Remember your first 100 solder joins are all only practice!
May the soldering gods be good to you … 🤞
#jewellerymaker #jewellerymakersuk #jewellerymaking #benchspacesilverschool #benchspacejewelleryclasses #silversoldering
A beautiful citrine pendant …
…in a silver basket setting, all made from scratch by our talented Matt on the Tuesday evening class. These are quite tricky to get level and accurate as made entirely from 1.2 mm wire and all soldered together.
(It’s also very tricky to get smooth video of holding it up in the air when it’s on zoom lens, without it wobbling about too much!).
#benchspacesilverschool #benchspacejewelleryclasses #jewelleryworkshop #handmadejewellery #benchspacejewellery #jewellerymakers
S P A C E S A V A I L A B L E this Saturday for silver bracelet making.
Make yourself (or someone else ) a really amazing chunky silver bracelet made to fit perfectly.
No experience necessary with our expert step by step tuition. Wear it everyday with pride, knowing that you made it yourself.
Check out our amazing reviews at bench-space.com and book online.
Another exhibitor in our Winter showcase is @katesparsi who has been a regular BENCHspacer for a few years. She loves making textured jewellery with copper and brass contrasts, inspired by natural elements.
“I am a novice silver jewellery maker and have been enjoying working with circular shapes and exploring textures by using the rolling mill and various texturing hammers. I especially love the delicate leaf imprints on silver as you can see here and the way the heavier, random marks with the texturing hammers catch the light. I hope you enjoy my work.”
Do your Christmas shopping this year by buying from local makers with ethically sourced materials. (All our silver is 100 % recycled) Spread some joy with handmade jewellery and support our fabulous students.
New year, new hobby!
Many thanks to all our future jewellers.
We look forward to seeing you in January!
(Look out for your booking confirmation email with all the information for your course.)
Better be quick if you’d like to join our January 8 week beginners course!
Just one space left on our Monday evening classes.
Book online at bench-space.com
We look forward to starting your jewellery journey with you…
Christmas shopping with a difference…
19-24th November (11- 4pm)
Private view 6-8.30pm Friday 22nd November
Come and see what we’ve been making at BENCHspace…
The Sentinel Gallery, Chapel Road, Wivenhoe CO7 9DX
Photo credit @marlieswhite
Stunning stacking rings and splendid spinners…
Well done to all the very lovely people who visited BENCHspace today and went home with these bespoke beauties!
We hope you enjoyed making them and will enjoy wearing them. 👏🫶🏽
Marcasite, Lapis Lazuli, Labradorite, Rose Quartz.
Beautiful stone set pendants made in last nights class, exploring bezel and prong setting styles.
Well done everyone!
