Flickr Favourites ~A Passionate Response~

1. The jeweller bench., 2. beautiful jeweller's work bench, 3. Work Bench (D80), 4. My new workbench!, 5. Museum of the Jewellery Quarter - jeweller's bench, 6. jewellery bench, 7. Bench, 8. Jewellery Quarter Museum, 9. New Order, 10. My Bench in the Thesis Room, 11. shop - looking out, 12. PICT0017, 13. PICT0012, 14. Wasps Artists at work by photographer Neale Smith, 15. simple silver ring, 16. studio bench, 17. Studio, 18. workshop2, 19. My new bench shelf, 20. when i am working..

Ack!
I feel so overwhelmed with desire I can barely contain myself!
I've been dreaming of this for about 2 years now...
Of learning the Silversmith Art.
There is nowhere to learn where I am. No beginner courses. Nothing at all.
Close, but not close enough, are 3 months worth of Sundays to learn the basics.
Which would mean a plane ride to another province and sofa surfing at a relatives home for those 90 days...But. A small price for something that causes so much passion it chokes. My throat goes tight just thinking of it. I have been acquiring little tools of the craft through EBay for about a year but I feel I need a "first starter", a mentor, a teacher to give me the basics...
I've approached a couple of local jewelers and they were less than friendly!
I am clueless about where to get the materials, what the right materials are, how to know what good prices are...So much more...But I can feel it when I look above.
This is it.
I would love it if any of you lovely jewelers (who may be reading this) could tell me how you started...A class, a course, a friends instruction, a book, a whim...?
~breathe~

♥