Skill gain is faster the more difficult the work; improving items to 30 points below your level won't generate skillgain as fast as improving items to 10 below your skill level, and so forth.
==Jewelrysmithing==
In order to practice jewelrysmithing you need the same tools as for any other smithing skill: whetstone, hammer, pelt, and water. The higher the QL of your tools, the greater the chance to succeed when improving.
To train JSing it is best to begin with making bowls for initial skill. Bowls can be made of any metal, resulting in high resource availability. As with all skills involving improving, you should endeavor to improve each bowl (and all subsequent items) to your skill plus 10 for maximum skill gain. Eventually, presuming access to silver or gold ore, you can progress to creating armrings. These have a relatively high creation chance for low-skill Jewelrysmiths, and are worth a pretty penny to traders. Their downside is that since they weigh 0.30 each, they consume a lot of gold lump per imp attempt. You can endure this extra lump cost for a while if you have ready access to ore, but if not it is best to skip armrings entirely and proceed to the final item: rings. While their creation chance is initially low, they only weigh 0.05, meaning that a 0.10 lump lasts for 30 uses.
==Carpentry==