Complaint and reply...what next?

For those of you who have been so supportive over the last few months with my silver jewellery making course, I thought you may like to see what happened and perhaps help me decide on what if anything to do next.

Below is a copy of my complaint letter to Weston college about my silver course, and then below that is the letter they sent me. ( my scanner isn't working so it is typed out) My initial reaction was to write back but I am starting to feel so sad about all of this that I am not sure I want to keep going over and over it..... What would you do????

If you want to see how it unfolded on a week to week basis follow the labels marked silver jewellery course.

10th November 2011

Dear

I would like to complain that the above course that I have been attending for the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of any structure, and this course is not meeting my learning needs.

I feel the tutor has taken no account of the nature of the student group, or catered for the wide range of student at different levels. Throughout the course there has been no explanation of any objectives set for the 10 weeks and I have received little or no feedback at the end of each session.

I have finally decided to complain this week as I literally sat in this weeks session and did nothing, as the tutor had not provided the materials I needed to progress onto my next project. This has been a common occurrence during the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of resources and a high proportion of time is wasted, waiting to use equipment.

Below is a break down of the weeks and some of the difficulties

Week 1 – All seemed well and we made a copper ring. We were shown how to solder and how to anneal. We were told we would pickle the ring the next week and asked to prepare and think of a ring we would like to make in silver the following week.

Week 2 – No silver or pickle was available. We cut out a circle of cooper and hammered into a dome. I waited 20 minutes to be able to get to a work bench and piercing saw. I had a brief discussion about what ring I wanted make (5 mins max) and the rest of the time (approx 1 hour) was doing nothing while the tutor discussed other peoples ideas.

Week 3 - Still no silver or pickle available. We were shown how to draw copper wire to change its shape. Only 3 plates were set up and available so I waited approx 15 minutes to have a go. He also showed us how to bend and twist wire and discussed our ring designs again. I spent the rest of the time, cutting and twisting copper wire, just to pass the time.

Week 4 – Still no silver or pickle available. I made a copper ring as a practice for my silver ring, repeating what we did in the first week.

Week 5 – Finally I was able to work with silver. I cut out all my components and I queued but couldn’t get to the solder area, before the time ran out so couldn’t do any soldering. The pickle was now available.

Week 6 – I completed my ring. I had asked for help with the final soldering but by the time I had queued for the solder station, I could not get the tutors attention. I had problems with the soldering and made a mistake. I spent ages trying to attract the tutors’ attention but he was showing other students pictures of his sculptures on his phone. I was told we would put it right after half term, and polish it up.

Week 7 – Tutor didn’t feel my ring needed to be corrected. No polish or polishing mops were available. I was told to work on a design for a pendant to set a stone in for the next week. I played with copper wire to try and come up with a design for virtually all of the 2 hours.

Week 8 – No stones available. Polish and equipment were brought in, but we were not allowed to use it, the tutor polished the rings for us. I did virtually nothing except chat for the next 1.5 hours.

I would also like to highlight some health and safety concerns. The tutor has been very un-observant and has had little idea of what was happening within the class. A student splashed some of the pickle solution, into her eye and I don’t think he was aware of what had happened. We have not been advised of evacuation procedures or where fire exits are. We have also never been advised on safe working, for example using safety glasses for processes like cutting wire.

The course was highly recommended to me by someone who had attended one previously, but with a different tutor, and I had intended to continue and complete the intermediate and the advanced afterwards, but I do not think with this tutor it would be worth it. I feel I have completely wasted my time and money and have learnt little in the last 8 weeks. I have found it difficult to articulate my frustration to the tutor in person and feel frustrated that my skills have not improved, since I started. We have a break next week due to the carnival and I am not sure if it is worth returning afterwards. This has certainly not been my previous experience of Courses at Weston College and I am completely dissatisfied.

I would like a refund to be able to pay for another course to cover the skills that I should have learnt during this course.

Your faithfully

30th November 2010

Dear Janice

Thank you for your letter dated 10th November 2010.

We apologise for the problems you have experienced and will take appropriate action to address your concerns. Please find below my response.

• I feel the tutor has taken no account of the nature of the student group, or catered for the wide range of student at different levels. Throughout the course there has been no explanation of any objectives set for the 10 weeks and I have received little or no feedback at the end of each session. This is a beginners course aimed at students with no experience. The session has been delivered on a week by week skills basis.
• I have finally decided to complain this week as I literally sat in this weeks session and did nothing, as the tutor had not provided the materials I needed to progress onto my next project. This has been a common occurrence during the last 8 weeks. There has been a lack of resources and a high proportion of time is wasted, waiting to use equipment. We are in the process of ordering additional tools and materials which should alleviate this problem.
• Week 2 – No silver or pickle was available. We cut out a circle of cooper and hammered into a dome. I waited 20 minutes to be able to get to a work bench and piercing saw. I had a brief discussion about what ring I wanted make (5 mins max) and the rest of the time (approx 1 hour) was doing nothing while the tutor discussed other peoples ideas. Silver was not available as the tutor had not scheduled to work with it that week. Students are advised to work on their skills whilst waiting for tutor support.
• Week 4 – Still no silver or pickle available. I made a copper ring as a practice for my silver ring, repeating what we did in the first week. It was thought to be more appropriate to practice using copper as silver is very expensive.
• Week 5 – Finally I was able to work with silver. I cut out all my components and I queued but couldn’t get to the solder area, before the time ran out so couldn’t do any soldering. The pickle was now available. Additional technician support will be available to assist the students.
• Week 8 – No stones available. Polish and equipment were brought in, but we were not allowed to use it, the tutor polished the rings for us. I did virtually nothing except chat for the next 1.5 hours. The tutor polished the rings due to health and safety issues.
• I would also like to highlight some health and safety concerns. The tutor has been very un-observant and has had little idea of what was happening within the class. A student splashed some of the pickle solution, into her eye and I don’t think he was aware of what had happened. We have not been advised of evacuation procedures or where fire exits are. We have also never been advised on safe working, for example using safety glasses for processes like cutting wire. The pickle solution is made of lemon juice which should not be harmful. With regards to the evacuation and health and safety procedures will ensure that this is actioned.

Thank you again for your letter, we do greatly appreciate student feedback so that we can improve our delivery.

You may be interested in the Silver Jewellery for Intermediate Evening Classes which starts on Monday 10th January 2011 at 7pm.

Your sincerely

Moving forward....

I put in a complaint about my silver jewellery course, so I have decided not to go back for the last 2 weeks. I doubt it will do any good but at the very least hopefully it will make the tutor aware that just turning up is not enough to qualify you as a teacher.

So I am moving forward, I am practicing my cutting and soldering skills. Having not learnt what I wanted from my course I have bought myself a good book, and have been watching utube videos, it seems to me you can learn just about anything from these, I would not advocate just learning from them and I would still like to do a good course as I think practical help is something worth getting.

The first one is all sterling silver it is based on a

buckle that I found in my button tin. The second is a copper base with a sterling silver top, that is bent over to make the bale. I am loving putting copper and silver together, and it again is influenced by the mayan carvings I saw in Mexico. I will have to photograph this better as it doesn't show the contrast that well.

I hope you like my new pieces x.

Arrrgggggggg Silver Jewellery course week 7 & 8

I was fairly pee'd off last week so didn't blog about my course. But it got even worse this week so I just need to vent.

After half term we were told we told we would finish our rings and start to learn about setting stones in week 7.

I had just about finished my ring, I had been told we would straighten it after the problems I had placing the top on, but it became apparent he felt it wasn't worth the effort to try. So I thought, Oh well at least I get to move on and learn how to set stones. But No! there were no stones and no advice on how to set them, I couldn't even polish my ring as he still hadn't brought the polishing equipment in. I asked what I should do and he said, design a pendant to set a stone in, I was ignored when I asked what size stone and any guidelines. To be honest I just felt he was fed up with me!

I played with some copper wire and came up with the a set of wires soldered together, as shown here. He showed no interest in what I have done all evening and gave it a quick look over at the end and just shrugged. Then in the following week I played with the design and made the copper maquette shown here .

So with maquette proudly in hand I went off to week 8 hoping to make it in silver and learn how to mount a stone.

So what actually happened - I polished my ring - actually I watched him polish my ring!! Yes after 2 weeks of promising to bring in the polishing equipment he actually did. For some reason we were not allowed to do this ourselves and we all watched while he did it!

That took up the first 10 minutes and then I sat on my backside and did sweet FA. I showed him my maquette and he said "Oo look at you". I asked him if I needed to use a jig to help get both sides even, he then went on to explained what a jig was !!! In retrospect I should have just left, as the longer I sat there listening to people chat the angrier I got. There were only 2 people still working on rings , I got frustrated when I found out the the stones we would be setting were 5mm big and so no way could I make the design I had hoped for as it is much bigger. He really could have told me that 2 weeks ago and not got my hopes up.

I have gone ahead an mounted a stone of my own already.

It may not be perfect, but I learnt a lot from doing it and feel the next one will be spot on.

So here is where I need your advice! We have 2 weeks left, I don't feel in that time I will learn anything new.

I don't want to go back, I feel its an utter waste of my time. My gut reaction is to complain, and never see him again. But, should I just shut up and get on with it and finish the course and then put a complaint in after?

What do you think???

silver Jewellery course week 6

I have finished my ring, well sort of, I have polished it by hand but it needs finishing off as I didn't have time in the class. Again I am frustrated, I had to wait, 20 minutes just to do one solder joint, while I waited for equipment to become free.

I struggled to attach the top to the ring, I didn't know how to do it and so asked Ian to help when I could get to solder it. When I finally got to the front of the queue to solder it he was nowhere to be seen so I had a go on my own, unfortunately it all went a bit wonky. I went to find Ian after as while I was fiddling, I was being chased to by other students to free up the soldering equipment. He was busy showing 2 other students photos of his sculpture work on his phone!!! I tried to get his attention, but he was not keen on being interrupted . By the time I finally spoke to him, it was too late and he said we would correct it next session - after half term

Generally I am pleased with it x

Silver jewellery course week 5

Ahhh at last, silver has been used. I cut out my ring, filed the ends so they would bend to make the stand up bits. I then soldered in the bends to strengthen them. I also cut out the top piece and the copper pattern bits to applique on the top.

So I did have a bit more of a busy time and actually felt I achieved something, We also had pickle this week in order to clean the pieces.I didn't quite get to finish my ring but have all the elements ready

Silver jewellery course week 4

What can I say, made another copper ring!!! For a silver jewellery making course I have yet to see any silver. At least I did a bit of soldering.....Arggg this is so frustrating...

I asked the tutor what was involved on the intermediate course, he said" about the same as this one"....Do you think I will bother?????

Silver jewellery class week 3

Week 3 was a bit more interesting. First Ian went through all the tools we might need, most of it, I had already used, but there were a few I hadn't seen, he also explained uses for some that I hadn't realised you could do.
He then showed us how to make wire narrower and into square wire , triangular and basically any shape you wanted. Copper wire was annealed, to make it soft, then it was pulled through shaped plates. It was time consuming, as it had to go through several times and had to be filed each time to make the forward end, small enough to go through a smaller hole. I did think it would be more efficient to buy square or half circle wire etc, but I suppose its good to know how to do it, and until I start making jewellery a lot I wont know if I need to use this technique or not.

He also showed us how to twist wire together and to twist a single piece for a nice square patterned effect.
Then he showed us how to make very neat squares from bending wire. I have bent wire before but just bending it with pliers gives you a rounded inside edge. To get over this then you cut into the wire to leave a gap for the wire to fold into. You have to be quite brave as you could easily cut right through the wire, you would also need to solder the corners for strength at the end, as it leave them quite weak. The picture is of my practice , not measured just done by eye. I was quite please and can definitely see the difference it made to the neatness of the corners. I added a jump ring that I also made.

Even though we have thought for the last 2 weeks we would start to make our rings then the last part of the session was starting to prepare for making them. I was going to do the swan ring on my previous page, but decided with a little bit of encouragement to do this ring, it will be in silver and copper and with be raised up on the top in an unusual manner, I am quite excited about starting it now.

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will be able to show you its progress.

Silver jewellery course week 2

I was a bit disappointed this week, we were told to bring in a ring design and we would start making a silver ring. Not a chance! only 3 of us had designs and Ian our tutor spent most of the night talking to other people about what they might like to do.

We did cut a disk out and then made them into domes using a mould and punches, the frustrating thing is we only had 4 benches and piercing saws, so I had to wait 20 minutes to cut the disk out, that is a lot of waiting in only a 2 hour session. He briefly spoke about, how I might make my ring, he also melted a bit of silver wire to show us how it made a ball.

I decided on one of the swan designs, so while he was with other people I decided to have a go at cutting out the swan shape in copper to see what happen. I am quite pleased with the result and hopefully next week I can start making something and perhaps start working with actual Silver.

Ring design

For my next jewellery class I need to design a ring to make in silver. I have decided I am rubbish at it. It doesn't really help that I have no idea after one lesson what I can actually make and what skills I will need for it, so I am trying to second guess what I may be capable off.

Having no limits at all is harder than if I had to stick within certain guide lines.

When I paint and I am not sure of colours or have no references I limit my pale

tte or I have a tendency to go all over the place with it. I have always found it easier to design jewellery based on what materials I have not to just design something and then figure out how to make it. I know this is a contradiction as I only have one material - silver, but I don't yet know my limits.

These are some of my sketches so far I am sure there will be load more by Monday, now all I have to do is decide which ones to take with me......

What would your favourite be?

Silver jewellery making course week 1

I have been excited for weeks about my jewellery making course and last night I finally got to go on it.

I loved every minute. There were 13 of us and most people were there just to learn a new and interesting skill. Me and another lady already made jewellery so did have some knowledge. Although most people hadn't had any done anything like it before, they did know roughly what they were letting themselves in for but one lady just kept saying " Oh I never expected to be doing this", she obviously was shocked to have use tools and a heat source, she seemed very nice, but I think she thought it was going to be a beading course.

Anyway, my tutor is a guy called Ian. He seemed quite nervous, and I wasn't really sure if he had taught before as he seemed a bit disorganised but he was obviously very knowledgable and also very keen, so I think we will keep him...

Our project for the night was to make a ring out of copper. We had to work out ring size, make a guide wire and then cut the copper out to size using a saw. We learned to make adjustments for size to allow for the width of the metal, how to mark the metal and how to make it easy to saw or 'pierce' it by using a gental but long action. As the metal had then become 'work hardened' we then had to anneal it, to make it pliable again. We then re-pierced the joint, cleaned it, shaped it, fluxed it, and soldered it. We learned about different types of solder, and how to heat metal to allow certain areas to relax and so the joint moves together rather than apart. We didn't pickle the ring but just had time to hammer it to harden the metal and shape it for a final look.

Of course these were not fantastic rings we made, much to some peoples disapointment but I feel for a first 2 hour session we learnt a lot. There was a lot of info about tools and techniques which was brilliant.

Next week I get to make a ring from my own design in Silver so I am off now to have fun in designing for next week.

I'm going back to school

...well not exactly but I am quite excited as I have signed up for a silver jewellery making course. Its a beginners course that I have wanted to do for a while but not been able to fit it in with my work commitments, but its once a week at my local college after work , so ideal.

I have been making and designing jewellery for as long as I can remember, I made tiaras and have taught myself beading and wire work and moved fairly recently into Precious Metal Clay. I love to make a wide range of lovelies and have done quite well across fairs, at work and now am delving into the strange and complicated world of the Internet, with my Folksy shop.

I have become rather frustrated that I can't do some of the things I want to do and so I decided what I really lacked was some of the basics that I missed out on by teaching myself and being quite specific in what I wanted to learn.

So back to school I go. Hopefully I will be able to realise some of those designs I have worked on but can't quite bring to

fruition because of lack of skills.

I have always believed it is never to late to learn and had the best time, when I did my Art degree which I achieved in my 40th year and then my Post Grad in teaching the following

year. But I have become lazy and I miss learning new skills and developing my creativity, so I am really looking forward to my new challenge.

Watch this space and I will let you know how it goes....wish me luck