BENCHspace ...because making matters
creativity, community, craft
BENCHspace is a silversmithing and jewellery workshop that offers you the opportunity to come and make bespoke jewellery in your own unique style.
Taster Sessions
BENCHspace offers a range of taster sessions, courses and masterclasses to build up your skill set with step-by-step expert tuition, enabling you to spend some creative ‘me’ time in our fully equipped workshop. For all abilities, from absolute beginner to competent jeweller.
Taster sessions are a perfect gift for those special celebrations – including birthdays, anniversaries, hen parties, bridal parties, (to make bridesmaid, best man, bride and groom gifts) corporate away days, team building and creative time with friends.
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 have over 30 years of experience in the jewellery trade and am a fully qualified teacher, silversmith and jeweller and have taught all ages and abilities over the years. I look forward to supporting you in all your making adventures.
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
April Masterclass… tube /collet setting workshop.
Add some sparkle to your jewellery designs…
Join our favourite goldsmith @marlieswhite on our tube and collet setting workshop on Sunday 27th April 2025.
Make your own sparkly stone set ring and learn some dazzling new skills!
#benchspacesilverschool #stonesettingclass #tubesetting #colletsetting #jewellerymakingclasses
Back by popular demand! ☀️ 3 day Summer School…
It can be tricky getting to a weekly class to complete a course, life is busy and other commitments take priority. So, (just for you!) we have condensed our 8 week introductory course into 3 action packed days…
✔️ foundation skills of texturing, piercing, filing, drilling, soldering, and forming.
✔️Using silver sheet and wire to make several items of jewellery in your own style.
✔️How to measure, mark, and cut accurately.
✔️Suppliers and essential tools for setting up a bench at home.
You’ll be guided every step of the way to get you started on your new fabulous hobby!
You’ll never be bored again. (Plus you get to hit things with a hammer ⚒️)
Gift yourself some creative time in our seaside workshop and learn some new skills. Make yourself some beautiful jewellery to wear and enjoy being with some lovely like-minded folks.
Visit bench-space.com for more details.
Thrumming….
In jewelry making, “thrumming” refers to a technique used for smoothing and polishing hard-to-reach or intricate areas.
It involves using thin strips of abrasive material, such as sandpaper or cloth, or even string or leather, coated with polishing compounds.
These strips or strings are then worked back and forth within the tight spaces of a piece of jewelry, effectively smoothing and polishing the surface.
Tie one end to a hook secured to your bench, thread your piece onto the string and hold the other end whilst moving the piece back and forth.
You can buy abrasive cords with different grit and go up the grades as you would with any other type of polishing compounds to get a nice smooth polished edge. Or use your own compounds such as tripoli or rouge rubbed onto cotton string.
I have a little hook on my bench and a range of them tied on ready to use. It’s a simple and quick way to polish the inside of claws, internal piercings and inaccessible areas.
Plus it’s such a great word… thrumming.
#benchspacejewelleryclasses #polishingjewellery #thrumming #jewellerymakeruk #handmadejewellery
These little silver charms were made from recycled, 100% recycled silver.
All our silver is purchased as 100% recycled silver from our bullion dealers and this is usually reclaimed from Industrial processes.
These lovely charms are made from our scrap (so at least doubly recycled) however jewellers have always been at the forefront of this for thousands of years, always melting down and making new from old.
A key characteristic of gold and silver is that it is not “consumed” through use. This allows for continuous recycling as the process is infinite. Essentially, all the gold that has ever been mined is still present in some form and some sources estimate that by 2050 all the known gold deposits will have been used up!
So by its very nature, the materials used in the jewellery trade are recycled however the processes used in industrial mining are not very environmentally friendly at all! More of a move is being made to limit the damage done to water sources, toxic waste, land degradation and air pollution through mining. Jewellery however only takes a very small proportion of these precious metals with electronics and photographic industries taking the most.
#recycledsilver #recycledsilverjewellery #benchspacejewelleryclasses
We currently have 2 spaces left on our cuttlefish/water casting workshop on Saturday 5th April (10am-4pm).
Learn this ancient technique to produce unique organic jewellery and add to your skill set.
🔥 plus it’s lots of fun to melt down all your scrap and make something new!
Book at bench-space.com
Making your bangles wiggle….⬇️
Part 2
A nice fancy effect to bangles is to use a hoop and die press to give them a wavy profile. It’s easy to do with the correct tools.
Yes, you can use a hydraulic press and although I have one in the workshop it’s actually quicker and easier for my beginning guests to press it in the bench vice. (Due to the fact that my press is tucked away due to lack of space and the bench vices are there and ready to use.)
You can also hammer it hard with a brass mallet to get the same effect.
So one tool and 3️⃣ different ways of using it…
… depending on what workshop tools you have at your disposal and how much physical energy you have to use them.
All of them require adequate pressure to squash the wire between the 2 steel plates to take on the shape of the dies.
💪⚒️👌 perfect!
#benchspacejewelleryclasses #handmadejewellery #jewelleryworkshop #benchspacesilverschool #jewellerybeginner #jewellerymakers #hoopanddie #silverbangles
Weekend taster sessions…
There are six different taster sessions to choose from…
Make your own fabulous piece of jewellery to wear home with pride!
It’s a great way to spend creative time with friends and family and add to your own personal jewellery collection at the same time. 😉
#benchspacejewelleryclasses #jewellerymakeruk #friendshipgoals #creativedayout
Coming soon ….Save the date! 26/27th July
2 day (weekend) bezel bootcamp… suitable for all abilities.
Bring your sea-glass or cabochon stones and learn how to set them in silver to make fabulous jewellery.
Stones and silver available to purchase during the workshop.
This 2 day workshop will be available to book on the website from 4th April 2025.
Perfect for those wishing to refresh their bezel skills or learning a new technique!
#bezelsetting #bezeledgemstones #bezelsettings #benchspacejewelleryclasses
Our March Masterclass was mould making with silver clay…
Brilliant work from everyone, learning a new technique to experiment with and some finished pieces to take home! Many happy hours ahead to hone your techniques 👌
Many thanks to @thesilverwallop for her expertise and brilliant mould making skills x
#silverclay #silverclayworkshop #silverclayjewellery #benchspacejewelleryclasses #benchspacesilverschool
Our beginners have well and truly got started…
…and this is what they made!
Well done folks and looking forward to more adventures in metal soon with you all ⚒️👏
#benchspacejewelleryclasses #benchspacesilverschool #handmadejewellery #jewelleryworkshop #jewellerymaker #benchspacejewellery #jewellerybeginner #
Making your bangles wiggle….⬇️
A nice fancy effect to bangles is to use a hoop and die press to give them a wavy profile. It’s easy to do with the correct tools.
Yes, you can use a hydraulic press and although I have one in the workshop it’s actually quicker and easier for my beginning guests to press it in the bench vice. (Due to the fact that my press is tucked away due to lack of space and the bench vices are there and ready to use.)
You can also hammer it hard with a brass mallet to get the same effect.
So one tool and 3️⃣ different ways of using it…
… depending on what workshop tools you have at your disposal and how much physical energy you have to use them.
All of them require adequate pressure to squash the wire between the 2 steel plates to take on the shape of the dies.
💪⚒️👌 perfect!
#benchspacejewelleryclasses #handmadejewellery #jewelleryworkshop #benchspacesilverschool #jewellerybeginner #jewellerymakers #hoopanddie #silverbangles
That’s the way to do it…. Lots at once!
These stones haven’t been set yet but looked so pretty on the BENCHspace benchpeg.
Well done @beeatshellards, who loves her gemstones!
Looking forward to seeing them finished next Tuesday evening in class 👌
Beautiful amethyst.
Another great basket setting made by Matt in our evening class 🤘🤩👏.
#benchspacejewelleryclasses #benchspacesilverschool #handmadejewellery #jewelleryworkshop #jewellerymaker #jewellerymakersofinstagram
Reposted from @fryrsquared :
It’s not a “fake diamond” it’s a REAL ZIRCON. And that is better in every way.
Hadean age for a post-magma-ocean zircon confirmed by atom-probe tomography, by John W.
Valley et al (2014)
Meditation rings, fidget rings, spinner rings….
Great to keep anxious hands busy.
Call them what you like but they’re great for nail biting, skin picking and that meeting you have to attend!
Two lovely little spinner rings made this morning by Sally… 👌
#benchspacejewelleryclasses #handmadejewellery #jewelleryworkshop #silverringshandmade
What a productive day on our silver earrings and pendant workshop:
9 pendants
2 charms
6 pairs earrings and
3 pairs of hoop earrings
All made by our 8 lovely guests to take home !
Our taster sessions are a brilliant way to spend time together being creative and making fabulous jewellery to wear home with pride.
A different taster session every weekend.
Visit bench-space.com for more info… 👩💻
Want to learn jewellery making but can’t fit in a weekly course due to work/ shift patterns/ life commitments etc?
Join our three day summer school to kickstart your jewellery making journey…. July 11-13th
More info on our website at bench-space.com
This is an exercise in soldering, a skill that so many people struggle with.
This project teaches you so much more than just soldering but by the end of it everyone feels a huge sense of accomplishment.
There are easier projects …. But once you’ve made this you can then make all the other easier bracelets with bigger links in any design… why?
Because you’ve made this difficult one first. 💪🤟🏼
#benchspacesilverschool #chainmaking #handmadechain
A few pieces finished in last night’s class (level 3) and they look stunning… beautiful stones in bezel settings made by this lovely lot!
#cabochon #stonesettingclass #benchspacesilverschool #jewellerymakingclasses #jewellerymakingclass
It’s our Marmite project… you either love it or hate it!
Level 2 is all about technical skills, and this project is about radial forging. Hammering with accuracy.
Ear defenders are helpful 🎧
Our lovely Friday morning group will be finishing their forged bangles off this week and wearing them with pride.
