Chez Monique Silversmith Classes — Local services in Pulau Bali

Cannot recommend this experience. It's not a silver class, it's a professional family silver studio that they realized they could make double profits with by opening to tourists. There's no teaching or guidance. You choose a design from one of their idea books or you come up with one on your own. I already have some experience silversmithing but didn't know the design i'd chosen was beyond my ability level. Rather than help me edit the idea, they let me struggle with it for an hour, by myself, until I was practically in tears... Only to just take if from me and do it in like two seconds. They are quite skilled! But I wanted to make the piece. I did maybe 10% of the work on the piece.

They don't let you do any of the firing or soldering. You're only allowed to draw, cut, and file the pieces. The fire stuff is the best part! And they don't tell you what they're doing or how. No learning here.

I took silver classes in Thailand in which you were responsible for 100% of the finished product. That's not how they do it here.

The worst part was the bait and switch demand for extra money at the end. I had emailed the day before to confirm that the price was 450k and included up to 10g of silver. An honest business would be selling you that 10 grams, and you would be allowed to take home whatever you didn't use. But this place doesn't weigh the silver! No scale in sight. My piece was extremely tiny, no more than 5 grams at most but of course happy to pay 450. I would have liked the option to have taken home the spare silver I didn't use. However, my husband's piece, slightly larger, he asked for an additional 100k! I said, oh is it over 10 grams of silver? Let's weigh it. He refused and kept asking for more money. I said no, we will pay you the agreed upon price. He didn't like that very much. And he'd been all smiles and jokes before that. Huh. He said the extra fee was for "the design.". Well my husband brought in his own design and executed it himself with minimal help, and only involved cutting and polishing. Not sure how an extra fee would have applied.

This is sadly a family business that has let tourism dollars cloud...

Didn't really meet expectations - I thought I would be attending a silver jewelry class, but this is really just access to a workshop and its tools. There's minimal instruction provided on how to use a tool if you look too confused, but you really just show up and make something out of whatever silver they provide you.

When we booked, the stated price was 450k for up to 10g of silver, which is more than most classes default to, which sounded nice at the time. In keeping with the minimal in-person communication, questions like "how much silver might this design use?" were met with silence and "you decide how.big to make it". As a first-time jewelry maker, there's no way I should be expected to know what 10g of silver looks like.

Along those lines, when we went to settle up at the end, the price suddenly jumped to 550k, with no explanation. Then the excuse of "because yours was complicated and we needed to help a lot" was used. I made a pendant entirely using the saw myself. And also, isn't having help the entire point in taking a class? There was also no point at which the amount of silver used was ever measured, so if you are planning on making just a set of earrings or something small, you're probably better off going to a cheaper place that actually weighs the items and charges you by the material used.

All in all, I'm glad I spent an afternoon making jewelry, but would pay more attention to reviews telling me whether an experience is a class (as advertised) or just access to tools and help...

Amazing experience ! Booking was easy via email, Wayan replied almost immediately. As soon as I walked into the class and he gave me a big hug, I knew I had chosen the right class! I had come with some drawings of what I planned to make, but, if you need inspiration they have folders to look through. They had stones/pearls to choose from but others in the class brought their own - I think it’s quite a popular thing to buy in Ubud before a silver class. Wayan and his great team guided me through the steps, always on hand to help with advice on what was possible with the piece and opinion as to whether an element would work/look good or not - any mistake was easily sorted. Soldering was done by them, and polishing. As I’m a perfectionist, I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be relaxing and enjoyable (or what I made wouldn’t be wearable), but happily, it was almost meditative , mindfulness even (& I can wear the pendant with pride). This was a gift from my parents for my special birthday , and every time I look at my pendant, I will fondly remember Wayan and team, and a great creative relaxing afternoon making it. Wayan and the guys there, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! Am super happy with...