Yet another newbie.

[Petal]

A warm welcome from me too and it sounds like your horological skills will stand you in good stead in the jewellery making world. I bet you've got loads of similar hammers etc too.

[Ruedeleglise]

Thanks. The problem I anticipate is that in horology we endeavour to restore and repair in such a way as to be as invisible as possible! There is little scope to express oneself in an original way. In this discipline almost the opposite applies. It will require a different mindset. I love learning new techniques and new skills. I just need to develop new and original ideas and not run before I can walk......I am hopeful and sure that I will get advice inspiration and also pushes in the right direction on this forum!

[CJ57]

You are many steps ahead of a lot of beginners in the mechanics though. Take yourself off for a walk round the city or country, look at things more closely than you might have in the past. We used to be taken to the museum to draw machines and moving parts or the botanics to draw flowers, I hated it all but it does make you look at things more closely and start to see shapes and forms, moving parts which you know all about anyway, that you can interpret in your own way and create something. Taking your camera and just taking pictures of interesting things is quite inspiring too