Metalcraft, Jewelry, & Lapidary

TinkerMill Shop: Metalcraft, Jewelry, & Lapidary

Make jewelry and other metalcraft projects with the use of a variety of tools. Lapidary is stone cutting, shaping and polishing. This shop is located in our main space.

Shop Captains

Crystal Hinds

Crystal Hinds is an Educator in the St. Vrain Valley Schools District, and an Artist. Her interests in TinkerMill include many of the shops, but are focused in Metalcraft and Lapidary. She is inspired by the community of makers within TinkerMill.

Contact Info: crystal.hinds@tinkermill.org, and active on slack

Jon Kell

Jon is a lapidary artist and metalsmith based in Longmont. His primary interests at TinkerMill are lapidary arts and jewelry making via fabrication and casting, as well as the integration of other technologies into the process like laser cutting and 3d printing of jigs for construction. He can help members with lapidary questions and projects related to the cutting, shaping and polishing of natural stone materials.

Contact Info: jonathan.kell@tinkermill.org, and (moderately) active on slack

Notable Equipment

Metalcraft Area:

Vacuum casting table
Neycraft burnout kiln
Rio enameling kiln
Foredom flex shaft + three other non-brand
Buffing machine
Bench sander
Arbe Wax injector
a plethora of hand tools-including stone setting, forming and polishing
Acetylene-air and Oxy-Acetylene torches
3-in-1 Shear
Small Pepe Rolling Mill

Lapidary Area:

Lap wheel
10” trim saw
5” trim saw
Ring saw
Cab King Arbor with 6 wheels for forming and polishing stones
wax pot
UV viewing box
Core drilling bits

Certifications Required

A training class is required before accessing any equipment independently in this shop.

Metals 100-101: Safety and Hand Tools Class, this will grant you access to shop and be able to use all the hand tools. ($30 for members, 3 hrs)
Metals 102: Power Tools Class, this will grant you access to the four main powered tools within the shop. ($30 for members, 2 hrs)
Metals 200-201: Single-Fuel Torch Class, completion of this class and three supervised uses of torches will grant you independent access. ($40 for members, 3 hrs)

These classes are available regularly on our MeetUp Calendar, with more detailed descriptions there. If you need extra assistance, please contact Shop Captain Crystal.

Lapidary 105-106: A two part class that grants access to stone working areas. Currently on-demand, please contact Jon Kell.

Cost of Shop

In addition to being a member, there is cost associated with shop use. These are suggested donation prices that can be paid onsite.

Time Use:

Day – $10
Month – $50
Year – $400

Consumable Use:

for gas and other consumable materials, there is a list on our on-site register. These prices are at-cost to maintain supplies.

Additional Classes

There are a variety of additional classes to continue your education here at TinkerMill.

Check calendar or reach out to shop captain for more info.

Other Info

Slack Channels – #metalcraft #lapidary

Non-members can take any class, but will not have access to equipment independently.

Open Studio Hours – unique to this shop, Crystal offers open studio hours first and second Saturdays of the month, you can rsvp on our MeetUp Calendar. Open Studio is an opportunity to come in without prior training and under supervision use the shop’s amenities or to learn about shop. Open studio is available to members and non-members.

Find additional detailed information on our wiki.