(PRESS RELEASE) The MJSA Press book A Jeweler’s Guide to Apprenticeships: How to Create Effective Programs has won a Silver Award in the technical book category of the 2018 Association Media & Publishing EXCEL Awards competition, which recognizes excellence in association publishing. Written by educator and award-winning jewelry artist Nanz Aalund, the book was published in 2017.
Suitable for shop owners, students, and instructors alike, the 208-page volume provides insights into all aspects of setting up a training program in the shop. It presents easily applied methods for teaching apprentices, as well as advice for finding and choosing suitable candidates. The guide also includes reproducible tests for tool identification and safety procedures, step-by-step projects (with color photos) to hone common skills, and accounts from professional jewelers about their own experiences as apprentices and trainers.
Charles Lewton-Brain, an award-winning author and goldsmith who for many years taught in the Jewellery and Metals Program at the Alberta College of Art & Design in Canada, served as technical editor of the book and wrote the introduction.
A Jeweler’s Guide to Apprenticeships is part of the MJSA Education Foundation’s BEaJEWELER initiative, which seeks to bring “new blood” into the jewelry industry. It’s available for $29.50 on MJSA.org. MJSA members will receive a 15 percent discount. To learn more, e-mail MJSA publisher Rich Youmans, rich.youmans@mjsa.org, or call 1-800-444-MJSA, ext. 3025.