- Research and analyze reference materials, and consult with interested parties to develop new products or modify existing designs.
Occupations with related tasks Save Table: XLSX CSV
- Design clay forms and molds, and decorations for forms.
- Design spaces to display pottery for sale.
- Operate gas or electric kilns to fire pottery pieces.
- Mix and apply glazes to pottery pieces, using tools, such as spray guns.
- Raise and shape clay into wares, such as vases and pitchers, on revolving wheels, using hands, fingers, and thumbs.
- Adjust wheel speeds according to the feel of the clay as pieces enlarge and walls become thinner.
- Position balls of clay in centers of potters' wheels, and start motors or pump treadles with feet to revolve wheels.
- Move pieces from wheels so that they can dry.
- Prepare work for sale or exhibition, and maintain relationships with retail, pottery, art, and resource networks that can facilitate sale or exhibition of work.
- Attach handles to pottery pieces.
- Press thumbs into centers of revolving clay to form hollows, and press on the inside and outside of emerging clay cylinders with hands and fingers, gradually raising and shaping clay to desired forms and sizes.
- Pack and ship pottery to stores or galleries for retail sale.
- Smooth surfaces of finished pieces, using rubber scrapers and wet sponges.
- Pull wires through bases of articles and wheels to separate finished pieces.
- Verify accuracy of shapes and sizes of objects, using calipers and templates.
- Examine finished ware for defects and measure dimensions, using rule and thickness gauge.
- Maintain supplies of tools, equipment, and materials, and order additional supplies as needed.
- Operate pug mills to blend and extrude clay.
- Perform test-fires of pottery to determine how to achieve specific colors and textures.
- Start machine units and conveyors and observe lights and gauges on panel board to verify operational efficiency.
- Operate drying chambers to dry or finish molded ceramic ware.
- Adjust pressures, temperatures, and trimming tool settings as required.
- Teach pottery classes.
- Operate jigger machines to form ceramic ware, such as bowls, cups, plates, and saucers.
- Design clay forms and molds, and decorations for forms.
- Design spaces to display pottery for sale.
- Negotiate with representatives from supply companies to determine order details.
- Prepare and place meat cuts and products in display counter to appear attractive and catch the shopper's eye.
- Wrap, weigh, label, and price cuts of meat.
- Cut, trim, bone, tie, and grind meats, such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish, to prepare in cooking form.
- Prepare special cuts of meat ordered by customers.
- Receive, inspect, and store meat upon delivery to ensure meat quality.
- Estimate requirements and order or requisition meat supplies to maintain inventories.
- Shape, lace, and tie roasts, using boning knife, skewer, and twine.
- Total sales, and collect money from customers.
- Record quantity of meat received and issued to cooks or keep records of meat sales.
- Supervise other butchers or meat cutters.
- Cure, smoke, tenderize, and preserve meat.
- Negotiate with representatives from supply companies to determine order details.
- Discuss design specifications with designers, and convert their original models of garments into patterns of separate parts that can be laid out on a length of fabric.
- Create a master pattern for each size within a range of garment sizes, using charts, drafting instruments, computers, or grading devices.
- Input specifications into computers to assist with pattern design and pattern cutting.
- Draw details on outlined parts to indicate where parts are to be joined, as well as the positions of pleats, pockets, buttonholes, and other features, using computers or drafting instruments.
- Make adjustments to patterns after fittings.
- Compute dimensions of patterns according to sizes, considering stretching of material.
- Mark samples and finished patterns with information, such as garment size, section, style, identification, and sewing instructions.
- Draw outlines of pattern parts by adapting or copying existing patterns, or by drafting new patterns.
- Test patterns by making and fitting sample garments.
- Position and cut out master or sample patterns, using scissors and knives, or print out copies of patterns, using computers.
- Create a paper pattern from which to mass-produce a design concept.
- Examine sketches, sample articles, and design specifications to determine quantities, shapes, and sizes of pattern parts, and to determine the amount of material or fabric required to make a product.
- Determine the best layout of pattern pieces to minimize waste of material, and mark fabric accordingly.
- Create design specifications to provide instructions on garment sewing and assembly.
- Trace outlines of paper onto cardboard patterns, and cut patterns into parts to make templates.
- Trace outlines of specified patterns onto material, and cut fabric, using scissors.
- Discuss design specifications with designers, and convert their original models of garments into patterns of separate parts that can be laid out on a length of fabric.
- Design and create glass objects, using blowpipes and artisans' hand tools and equipment.
- Heat glass to pliable stage, using gas flames or ovens and rotating glass to heat it uniformly.
- Inspect, weigh, and measure products to verify conformance to specifications, using instruments such as micrometers, calipers, magnifiers, or rulers.
- Record manufacturing information, such as quantities, sizes, or types of goods produced.
- Place glass into dies or molds of presses and control presses to form products, such as glassware components or optical blanks.
- Spray or swab molds with oil solutions to prevent adhesion of glass.
- Blow tubing into specified shapes to prevent glass from collapsing, using compressed air or own breath, or blow and rotate gathers in molds or on boards to obtain final shapes.
- Operate electric kilns that heat and mold glass sheets to the shape and curve of metal jigs.
- Determine types and quantities of glass required to fabricate products.
- Set up and adjust machine press stroke lengths and pressures and regulate oven temperatures, according to glass types to be processed.
- Shape, bend, or join sections of glass, using paddles, pressing and flattening hand tools, or cork.
- Place electrodes in tube ends and heat them with glass burners to fuse them into place.
- Operate and maintain finishing machines to grind, drill, sand, bevel, decorate, wash, or polish glass or glass products.
- Repair broken scrolls by replacing them with new sections of tubing.
- Develop sketches of glass products into blueprint specifications, applying knowledge of glass technology and glass blowing.
- Superimpose bent tubing on asbestos patterns to ensure accuracy.
- Cut lengths of tubing to specified sizes, using files or cutting wheels.
- Strike necks of finished articles to separate articles from blowpipes.
- Place rubber hoses on ends of tubing and charge tubing with gas.
- Design and create glass objects, using blowpipes and artisans' hand tools and equipment.
- Draw up detailed specifications and discuss projects with customers.
- Verify dimensions or check the quality or fit of pieces to ensure adherence to specifications.
- Produce or assemble components of articles, such as store fixtures, office equipment, cabinets, or high-grade furniture.
- Measure and mark dimensions of parts on paper or lumber stock prior to cutting, following blueprints, to ensure a tight fit and quality product.
- Set up or operate machines, including power saws, jointers, mortisers, tenoners, molders, or shapers, to cut, mold, or shape woodstock or wood substitutes.
- Establish the specifications of articles to be constructed or repaired, or plan the methods or operations for shaping or assembling parts, based on blueprints, drawings, diagrams, or oral or written instructions.
- Attach parts or subassemblies together to form completed units, using glue, dowels, nails, screws, or clamps.
- Reinforce joints with nails or other fasteners to prepare articles for finishing.
- Install hardware, such as hinges, handles, catches, or drawer pulls, using hand tools.
- Trim, sand, or scrape surfaces or joints to prepare articles for finishing.
- Match materials for color, grain, or texture, giving attention to knots or other features of the wood.
- Cut timber to the right size, and shape and trim parts of joints to ensure a snug fit, using hand tools, such as planes, chisels, or wood files.
- Perform final touch-ups with sandpaper or steel wool.
- Bore holes for insertion of screws or dowels, by hand or using boring machines.
- Repair or alter wooden furniture, cabinetry, fixtures, paneling, or other pieces.
- Estimate the amounts, types, or costs of needed materials.
- Dip, brush, or spray assembled articles with protective or decorative finishes, such as stain, varnish, paint, or lacquer.
- Design furniture, using computer-aided drawing programs.
- Apply Masonite, formica, or vinyl surfacing materials.
- Program computers to operate machinery.
- Draw up detailed specifications and discuss projects with customers.
- Confer with customers to determine furniture colors or finishes.
- Brush, spray, or hand-rub finishing ingredients, such as paint, oil, stain, or wax, onto and into wood grain and apply lacquer or other sealers.
- Fill and smooth cracks or depressions, remove marks and imperfections, and repair broken parts, using plastic or wood putty, glue, nails, or screws.
- Smooth, shape, and touch up surfaces to prepare them for finishing, using sandpaper, pumice stones, steel wool, chisels, sanders, or grinders.
- Remove accessories prior to finishing, and mask areas that should not be exposed to finishing processes or substances.
- Remove old finishes and damaged or deteriorated parts, using hand tools, stripping tools, sandpaper, steel wool, abrasives, solvents, or dip baths.
- Treat warped or stained surfaces to restore original contours and colors.
- Select appropriate finishing ingredients such as paint, stain, lacquer, shellac, or varnish, depending on factors such as wood hardness and surface type.
- Mix finish ingredients to obtain desired colors or shades.
- Remove excess solvent, using cloths soaked in paint thinner.
- Examine furniture to determine the extent of damage or deterioration, and to decide on the best method for repair or restoration.
- Distress surfaces with woodworking tools or abrasives before staining to create an antique appearance, or rub surfaces to bring out highlights and shadings.
- Stencil, gild, emboss, mark, or paint designs or borders to reproduce the original appearance of restored pieces, or to decorate new pieces.
- Disassemble items to prepare them for finishing, using hand tools.
- Recommend woods, colors, finishes, and furniture styles, using knowledge of wood products, fashions, and styles.
- Wash surfaces to prepare them for finish application.
- Follow blueprints to produce specific designs.
- Paint metal surfaces electrostatically, or by using a spray gun or other painting equipment.
- Replace or refurbish upholstery of items, using tacks, adhesives, softeners, solvents, stains, or polish.
- Design, create, and decorate entire pieces or specific parts of furniture, such as draws for cabinets.
- Spread graining ink over metal portions of furniture to simulate wood-grain finish.
- Brush bleaching agents on wood surfaces to restore natural color.
- Confer with customers to determine furniture colors or finishes.
- Confer with customers to determine types of material and garment styles desired.
- Measure parts, such as sleeves or pant legs, and mark or pin-fold alteration lines.
- Remove stitches from garments to be altered, using rippers or razor blades.
- Sew garments, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
- Let out or take in seams in suits and other garments to improve fit.
- Measure customers, using tape measures, and record measurements.
- Fit and study garments on customers to determine required alterations.
- Trim excess material, using scissors.
- Assemble garment parts and join parts with basting stitches, using needles and thread or sewing machines.
- Make garment style changes, such as tapering pant legs, narrowing lapels, and adding or removing padding.
- Maintain garment drape and proportions as alterations are performed.
- Take up or let down hems to shorten or lengthen garment parts, such as sleeves.
- Repair or replace defective garment parts, such as pockets, zippers, snaps, buttons, and linings.
- Press garments, using hand irons or pressing machines.
- Fit, alter, repair, and make made-to-measure clothing, according to customers' and clothing manufacturers' specifications and fit, and applying principles of garment design, construction, and styling.
- Estimate how much a garment will cost to make, based on factors such as time and material requirements.
- Position patterns of garment parts on fabric, and cut fabric along outlines, using scissors.
- Record required alterations and instructions on tags, and attach them to garments.
- Examine tags on garments to determine alterations that are needed.
- Develop, copy, or adapt designs for garments, and design patterns to fit measurements, applying knowledge of garment design, construction, styling, and fabric.
- Put in padding and shaping materials.
- Sew buttonholes and attach buttons to finish garments.
- Confer with customers to determine types of material and garment styles desired.
- Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates.
- Fit, install, and secure material on frames, using hand tools, power tools, glue, cement, or staples.
- Measure and cut new covering materials, using patterns and measuring and cutting instruments, following sketches and design specifications.
- Build furniture up with loose fiber stuffing, cotton, felt, or foam padding to form smooth, rounded surfaces.
- Make, restore, or create custom upholstered furniture, using hand tools and knowledge of fabrics and upholstery methods.
- Read work orders, and apply knowledge and experience with materials to determine types and amounts of materials required to cover workpieces.
- Examine furniture frames, upholstery, springs, and webbing to locate defects.
- Adjust or replace webbing, padding, or springs, and secure them in place.
- Sew rips or tears in material, or create tufting, using needles and thread.
- Remove covering, webbing, padding, or defective springs from workpieces, using hand tools such as hammers and tack pullers.
- Attach fasteners, grommets, buttons, buckles, ornamental trim, and other accessories to covers or frames, using hand tools.
- Repair furniture frames and refinish exposed wood.
- Interweave and fasten strips of webbing to the backs and undersides of furniture, using small hand tools and fasteners.
- Draw cutting lines on material following patterns, templates, sketches, or blueprints, using chalk, pencils, paint, or other methods.
- Stretch webbing and fabric, using webbing stretchers.
- Operate sewing machines or sew upholstery by hand to seam cushions and join various sections of covering material.
- Design upholstery cover patterns and cutting plans, based on sketches, customer descriptions, or blueprints.
- Maintain records of time required to perform each job.
- Pick up and deliver furniture.
- Attach bindings or apply solutions to edges of cut material to prevent raveling.
- Collaborate with interior designers to decorate rooms and coordinate furnishing fabrics.
- Make, repair, or replace automobile upholstery and convertible and vinyl tops, using knowledge of fabric and upholstery methods.
- Discuss upholstery fabrics, colors, and styles with customers, and provide cost estimates.
- Meet with clients, printers, or designers to discuss job requirements or binding plans.
- Examine stitched, collated, bound, or unbound product samples for defects, such as imperfect bindings, ink spots, torn pages, loose pages, or loose or uncut threads.
- Read work orders to determine instructions and specifications for machine set-up.
- Install or adjust bindery machine devices, such as knives, guides, rollers, rounding forms, creasing rams, or clamps, to accommodate sheets, signatures, or books of specified sizes.
- Trim edges of books to size, using cutting machines, book trimming machines, or hand cutters.
- Stitch or glue endpapers, bindings, backings, or signatures, using sewing machines, glue machines, or glue and brushes.
- Monitor machine operations to detect malfunctions or to determine whether adjustments are needed.
- Maintain records, such as daily production records, using specified forms.
- Lubricate, clean, or make minor repairs to machine parts to keep machines in working condition.
- Set up or operate bindery machines, such as coil binders, thermal or tape binders, plastic comb binders, or specialty binders.
- Set up or operate machines that perform binding operations, such as pressing, folding, or trimming.
- Prepare finished books for shipping by wrapping or packing books and stacking boxes on pallets.
- Set up or operate glue machines by filling glue reservoirs, turning switches to activate heating elements, or adjusting glue flow or conveyor speed.
- Train workers to set up, operate, and use automatic bindery machines.
- Insert book bodies in devices that form back edges of books into convex shapes and produce grooves that facilitate cover attachment.
- Cut cover material to specified dimensions, fitting and gluing material to binder boards by hand or machine.
- Cut binder boards to specified dimensions, using board shears, hand cutters, or cutting machines.
- Bind new books, using hand tools such as bone folders, knives, hammers, or brass binding tools.
- Perform highly skilled hand finishing binding operations, such as grooving or lettering.
- Imprint or emboss lettering, designs, or numbers on book covers, using gold, silver, or colored foil, and stamping machines.
- Compress sewed or glued signatures, using hand presses or smashing machines.
- Form book bodies by folding and sewing printed sheets to form signatures and assembling signatures in numerical order.
- Design original or special bindings for limited editions or other custom binding projects.
- Punch holes in and fasten paper sheets, signatures, or other material, using hand or machine punches and staplers.
- Repair, restore, or rebind old, rare, or damaged books, using hand tools.
- Apply color to edges of signatures using brushes, pads, or atomizers.
- Meet with clients, printers, or designers to discuss job requirements or binding plans.
- Measure customers for fit, and discuss with them the type of footwear to be made, recommending details such as leather quality.
- Dye, soak, polish, paint, stamp, stitch, stain, buff, or engrave leather or other materials to obtain desired effects, decorations, or shapes.
- Cut out parts, following patterns or outlines, using knives, shears, scissors, or machine presses.
- Construct, decorate, or repair leather products according to specifications, using sewing machines, needles and thread, leather lacing, glue, clamps, hand tools, or rivets.
- Repair and recondition leather products such as trunks, luggage, shoes, saddles, belts, purses, and baseball gloves.
- Align and stitch or glue materials such as fabric, fleece, leather, or wood, to join parts.
- Inspect articles for defects, and remove damaged or worn parts, using hand tools.
- Drill or punch holes and insert or attach metal rings, handles, and fastening hardware, such as buckles.
- Prepare inserts, heel pads, and lifts from casts of customers' feet.
- Dress and otherwise finish boots or shoes, as by trimming the edges of new soles and heels to the shoe shape.
- Attach insoles to shoe lasts, affix shoe uppers, and apply heels and outsoles.
- Clean and polish shoes.
- Cement, nail, or sew soles and heels to shoes.
- Check the texture, color, and strength of leather to ensure that it is adequate for a particular purpose.
- Shape shoe heels with a knife, and sand them on a buffing wheel for smoothness.
- Place shoes on lasts to remove soles and heels, using knives or pliers.
- Repair or replace soles, heels, and other parts of footwear, using sewing, buffing and other shoe repair machines, materials, and equipment.
- Cut, insert, position, and secure paddings, cushioning, or linings, using stitches or glue.
- Estimate the costs of requested products or services such as custom footwear or footwear repair, and receive payment from customers.
- Draw patterns, using measurements, designs, plaster casts, or customer specifications, and position or outline patterns on work pieces.
- Nail heel and toe cleats onto shoes.
- Re-sew seams, and replace handles and linings of suitcases or handbags.
- Stretch shoes, dampening parts and inserting and twisting parts, using an adjustable stretcher.
- Read prescriptions or specifications, and take measurements to establish the type of product to be made, using calipers, tape measures, or rules.
- Attach accessories or ornamentation to decorate or protect products.
- Make, modify, and repair orthopedic or therapeutic footwear according to doctors' prescriptions, or modify existing footwear for people with foot problems and special needs.
- Select materials and patterns, and trace patterns onto materials to be cut out.
- Measure customers for fit, and discuss with them the type of footwear to be made, recommending details such as leather quality.