New Year? New Work!

Really?
It's spring!

Has it been that long since I have done an update?
I've got to find a better way.
So many things are the same yet so many are new.

Classes seem to continue to fill up, which has kept me busy.
Workshops have all been a success and I am thankful to all of the guest teachers I have had in, we seem to be developing quite a creative family.

The festival season is coming to a close which means applications are going out for the fall, Wendy and I are planning a few more trips up to the Atlanta area so if you are up that way stay tuned!

This is the time of year I try to take advantage of the warm weather to stay indoors and catch up on learning and making...

 

It's a beautiful time of year to be inspired so look around you and create!



 

Lake County Holiday Art Tour

Better Late than Never!

I've just been invited to the Art in the Gardens in north Palm Beach!
 See you in a couple of weekends!

Through New Eyes!

I am lucky enough to be attending William Holland Lapidary School for a second time this season and I have a someone with me that is not only a student but a friend as well.

Laura is giving me the opportunity to see the school through new eyes again, she reminds me everyday of what a special place this is.

Thank you for being you Laura!

We are attending a week long workshop for Enameling and Cold Connections and were a bit surprised to discover the class is focusing on kiln enameling but we are loving every minute of it. Our instructor Renee Kelley is wonderful, patient and funny! By the time we all got back to our rooms last night we had all accomplished at least two projects and were well into our third, we were all excited and exhausted...and this was just day one!

My first project.

Renee doing a demonstration.

One of the techniques we learned on our first day was Water Color Enamels, Roger was my inspiration:

My second piece, Watercolor Enamels, silly!

We then moved into adding wire to our projects, I decided to make a pair of earrings to match my first project. It took a few tries but I am happy with the end result:

My Sgriffito  bird was the final project for day one, whew, and for me it dragged into day two but all in all it was a great day:

Moving right into day two, we all completed our partial projects and began a fold formed bracelet:



I love how this is beginning and can't wait to see how it comes out!

Day 5 (Thursday), I've lost track!

As we move towards Friday I realize just how difficult this week has been.
Today is "Show and Tell" in the dining room, we put out our work for all to see, it's a wonderful sharing experience.
I also realize I won't be putting much out, just par for the course in this class I guess.

We began making prong crowns, this is Jim's, what we all aspire too...

So here's how I've been doing...

My stone is not sitting correctly, obviously I am struggling but I hope to have this one ready for this afternoon! Sigh.

As I try to remember, "This is class, we are here to learn, perfection will come in week 4!"

Ta-Da!

I finally have a piece completed!
Yesterday was a half day so after we got our "Stone-in-Stone" pieces completed we were pretty much done for the day.

 I spent the rest of the day wandering around town and enjoying dinner with my neighbors. Wine and visiting after dinner ended my day.
So now it's off to Day 5, (Day 4 at the bench!) I can't wait to see whats next!

Days 2 & 3

Unless you have taken one of Jim's classes they are kind of hard to explain with the exception of one word, fun. Okay, maybe two, educational...and fun!

So see if you can follow me:
Our first project was to create a small box, more like a box top for a future project.

 Step 1

 Step 2

Next we move onto Project 2...making a SMALL bezel:

Soldering our bezels onto domes.

Another thing you can count on in all of Jim's classes is going home with "new" tools, either one's you have made or ones "new to you", meaning tools purchased from Jim's ever growing stock!

So now we move into tool making!

Filing a piece of brass for a bezel tool, note the action shot!

So here we have the result of day 2...mostly.

Project 2 completed and two bezel tools completed!

Then we moved into Monday evening, yes, Jim is one of the few instructors that will work evening hours...for those of us that have not had enough after 8 hours at the bench!

We all choose 2 stones to combine, it took me an hour to make a decision then an hour this morning to drill a hole through the piece of agate I selected...

You would have thought I would know better but  could not resist the colors!

(This where I will get a little out of sync...try to follow me here.)

Last night, in the midst of students drilling in holes and some of us still deciding...Jim discovered that he had no fine silver 5mm tubing! What does a true Silversmith do? Just watch!

He cuts some fine silver sheet into a strip and begins hammering & forming.

He wraps it around a piece of tool steel and continues hammering.

Then solders the whole darn thing and draws it down to exactly 5mm!

The man is amazing, all in all it took him maybe 30 minutes!

This morning we all came back into class to continue our Stone-in-Stone projects.

There was enough  tubing for the whole class to make at least one pendant. The base is square wire with prongs, spinning in the tumbler as we "speak" and I've already begun a second.

Tomorrow is a half day, I can't wait to see what comes up next!