CAD Jewellery Skills - Bespoke Jewellery CAD Training & Education Blog

🎨 Adobe Illustrator for Jewellery Design – Part 1

CADJewellerySkills is proud to offer in conjunction with our officially certified Adobe Illustrator online short course for jewellery design.

This 3-session live online course is focused specifically on technical jewellery illustration and rendering using Adobe Illustrator — from orthographic stone drawings and shading techniques through to ring layouts, tracing workflows and building your own reusable object library.

📅 Course Dates:
4 June 2026 — 2pm–5pm BST
11 June 2026 — 2pm–5pm BST
18 June 2026 — 2pm–5pm BST

Delivered live by Jack Meyer via Zoom.

Find out more on our website:
https://www.cadjewelleryskills.com/events/event/adobe-illustrator-for-jewellery-design-part-1/

Or visit The Goldsmiths’ Centre website to book:
https://www.goldsmiths-centre.org/whats-on/adobe-illustrator-essential-for-jewellery-design-with-jack-meyer-part-1-jun26/

💻 Private Jewellery CAD Masterclasses

If there’s a particular software package or technique you’d like to study outside of the scheduled online courses, I also offer bespoke one-to-one masterclasses.

These sessions are designed for students who already have some CAD experience and want to develop specific workflows, techniques or problem-solving skills in more depth.

Masterclasses are available for:
– 3Design
– MatrixGold
– Matrix 9
– Rhinoceros
– ZBrush
– CARVECO
– Adobe Illustrator

Training can be delivered live online via Zoom, in-person in Central London, or at your own workshop depending on location.

Each session is tailored around your existing knowledge and what you’d like to achieve.

➡️ More information:
https://www.cadjewelleryskills.com/jewellery-cad-software-options/private-jewellery-cad-training-masterclasses/

💻 3Design Level 1 & Level 2

We run our Beginners and Intermediate 3Design CAD online courses in conjunction with , giving a clear progression from the fundamentals through to more advanced modelling.

Level 1 (Beginners) covers the core — interface, parametric history, solid modelling, tolerances, and exporting for print.
Level 2 builds on that with more complex models and a stronger understanding of how to work in 3Design day to day.

Both are live, structured sessions designed to give you confidence working in CAD.

➡️ Level 1: https://www.cadjewelleryskills.com/events/event/3design-beginners-cad-online-short-course/
➡️ Level 2: https://www.cadjewelleryskills.com/events/event/3design-intermediate-jewellery-cad-online-short-course/

💻 Looking to build on your MatrixGold skills?

We’re running our Intermediate MatrixGold CAD online short course in association with GVUK Design — aimed at those who have completed beginner training and want to move into more advanced modelling.

This course is about understanding how to actually work with MatrixGold day to day, not just following steps. The focus is on giving you the confidence to handle more complex designs and solve problems yourself.

📍 Live online via Zoom
📅 Starts 2 June (runs through to 7 July)
🕙 10am – 1pm BST

If you’re already using MatrixGold but feel like you’re guessing your way through parts of it, this is where that starts to change.

Full details and booking on our website:
https://www.cadjewelleryskills.com/events/event/matrixgold-intermediate/

For anyone looking to get started with 3Design, we run a 3Design Beginners CAD online short course in conjunction with Sierra Consultancy.

It runs over 6 sessions from 15 May to 26 June, with each session 2:00–5:00pm (BST), live on Zoom.

It covers the basics properly — how the software works, how to use the history tree, and how to actually build things rather than just follow steps.

That includes:
– The interface
– The parametric history tree
– Solid modelling for building your own shapes
– Problem solving in CAD
– Tolerances for manufacturing, especially for stone setting
– Basic rendering and STL export

There’s also the option of a 4-month 3Design trial licence (including 3Shaper) if you need access to the software while doing the course.

Details are here:
https://www.cadjewelleryskills.com/events/event/3design-beginners-cad-online-short-course/

📕 For March’s CAD Jewellery Skills Book of the Month, I present “Wax Carving for Jewellers” by Russell Lownsbrough and Danila Tarcinale.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and working with these two master wax carvers for a very long time, and I’ve seen both of them in action not only at the bench, but also in the classroom. Over their long multi award-winning careers they’ve built up a distinctive and efficient approach to making jewellery with wax which has served a whole generation of jewellery students well. In this book they’ve distilled their techniques into very well-illustrated step-by-step processes. It covers everything from making your own carving tools to stone settings to what to do with the casting.

Overall, I would definitely consider it an essential book for anyone who works or wants to work with wax carving.

Shop now https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/wax-carving-for-jewellers-fipg-lownsbrough-russell/4930072?ean=9781785008344&next=t&affiliate=16401

💻 Still using Matrix 9 for jewellery CAD?

Finding clear tutorials for this classic software can be difficult — but now there’s a way to master it properly.

This pre-recorded video course has been created by one of the UK’s longest-serving and most respected CAD jewellery tutors. It’s based on the highly successful Matrix CAD in-person short course series that ran from 2009 until Matrix 9 was discontinued in 2019.

Designed specifically for jewellers who still maintain a working copy of Matrix 9, the course helps you unlock the full potential of the software and refine your CAD design workflow.

🎓 Learn at your own pace and get the most from Matrix 9.

Enroll today. https://www.cadjewelleryskills.com/course/matrix-9-prerecorded-online-short-course/

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💎 MatrixGold online short courses
Beginner starts 27th February

🖥️ Intermediate starts 21st April

💺 Seats still available, but not for long
Book now at CADJewellerySkills.com