Stage 2 Complete — Ten Projects, Five Months, and Lessons from the Bench

This week the torch stayed mostly cold. After months at the bench, Stage 2 of my jewelry apprenticeship finally came to a close—not with a final solder joint, but with photographs, paperwork, and a certificate arriving in my inbox. I spent the weekend documenting the finished work, preparing submissions, and sending everything off. A few days later, the certificate from Peter came through.

Stage 2 complete.

With everything photographed and laid out together, it dawned on me that although Stage 2 is presented as five projects, it actually ended up becoming ten separate pieces:

• Chain Linkage
  • Chain Bracelet
  • Tube Link Bracelet
  • Sister Hook Catches ×2
  • Bicycle Chain Ring
• Riveting Techniques
  • Riveted Animal
  • Riveted Ring
• Gyroscope Ring
• Spinning Top Pendant
• Snowflake Pendant

No wonder it felt long.

Five months. Nine finished pieces. Chain linkage, riveting, movement, forming, fitting, soldering, and more hours at the bench than I realized while I was in it. Stage 2 turned out to be far bigger than I understood while working through it. Looking back, the real product was not the jewelry—it was the repetitions. Each piece taught something different. Together they mark the end of this stage and the beginning of the next chapter at the bench.

For almost five months I had the feeling that progress was slower than I wanted. Looking back now, I think I was measuring the wrong thing. I was counting projects instead of counting repetitions. At the end of the day, however, what matters is not the number of completed pieces but the learning hidden inside them: different forms of riveting, working on curved surfaces, workholding, alignment during soldering, fitting of parts, and seeing how Stage 2 builds directly on the foundational fabrication skills introduced in Stage 1. The projects themselves were never really the point. The skills were. 

Throughout the process of completing this stage, I also realized that my biggest weakness is still precision. Jewelry operates at a scale that continues to surprise me. Fractions of a millimetre matter. A slight drift while sawing becomes visible. A small misalignment compounds across assembly. A component that shifts during soldering can turn what should have been a quick operation measured in minutes into a multi-day detour of salvaging work, troubleshooting, and figuring out how to reach the same destination by a different path. That challenge remains.

This week I did not do much active fabrication. Intentionally. Instead, I gave myself a short pause before launching into Stage 3. I melted down some scrap sterling silver and poured fresh stock for the first project—a pearl ring. The pearl itself should be arriving shortly.

The bench is reset. The material is ready. Stage 2 is behind me now. Stage 3 is waiting. Time to fire up the torch again and, in the words of Steven Pressfield, “put my ass where my heart wants to be”.

For the next chapter, check in here next week—and follow along on Instagram @pinedaandco.