Art Jewelry magazine Editors' Blog : classes

2009 March Madness of a different sort

Jill Erickson — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:25:00 GMT

Every year, my husband and a bunch of his buddies go a little nuts over the college basketball tournaments, known as "March Madness." Well, I don't share in that excitement, but I will enjoy a bit of my own brand of March madness at the 2009 Bead Retreat presented by the Loose Bead Society of Greater Milwaukee.

This is a wonderful annual get-away for bead and jewelry-making enthusiasts. I'm actually teaching a polymer clay technique at the Retreat this year, which runs from March 13th through the 15th in Racine, Wisconsin.

One of our Art Jewelry magazine contributors, Kelly Russell, will be teaching a workshop on how to make a mixed media focal bead. Kelly's 3-day workshop includes techniques in polymer clay, BRONZ clay, and silver metal clay. I'm sure it will be fun and inspiring.

I don't know about you, but I really enjoy a change of scenery now and then, and workshops are great for that. Always a good thing to visit a different town, check out its museums, and refresh your perspective. In fact, I'll be sure to check out the Arline Fisch Exhibit at the Racine Art Museum (right)! And of course, there's the upcoming Bead&Button Show--registration opens January 13; preregistration is open now; and the class catalog's available online.

Cheers, Jill

Improving my jewelry-making skills

Hazel Wheaton — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:06:00 GMT

When it comes to making my own jewelry, I'm strictly minor leagues. Actually, looking at the skill levels of the jewelry makers that I've had the privilege to know and work with, "minor leagues" isn't even fair. I'm the Little League (fitting, for someone who was born about 30 minutes away from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, home of the Little League Hall of Fame). I've taken a few classes, and enjoyed them immensely — I discovered a surprising-to-me love of melting things when I took my first metalsmithing class. But in terms of the skill level I've achieved, I'm more a dabbler than anything else. Putting a magazine together takes a lot of time, and strangely enough, all that time I promised myself that I'd have to play in our jewelry-making studio just never materialized.

Which is why I jumped on the chance to take a class at the 2008 Bead & Button Show. The show is going to be held in Milwaukee in early June, and the arrival of the class catalog certainly was a source of excitement. Despite the fact that Art Jewelry doesn't cover beads or buttons, there are plenty of classes in metalsmithing, wire working, and metal and polymer clay that will be of interest to Art Jewelry readers. Me, I'm going to be taking a forging class, and will be spending a whole day hammering things under the watchful eye of Michael David Sturlin. It's another technique that I discovered a surprising love of in previous classes — there's something wonderfully cathartic about hammering stuff. But forging is more about making your mark and releasing your frustrations; it's about making metal move the way you want it to, and that takes a delicacy of touch. I'm looking forward to learning more!

We're in the middle of making plans for Art Jewelry's contributions to the 2008 show; we'll be planning some demonstration sessions which you'll be able to see on the show floor. If you're coming to the show, and there's something you'd like to see, let us know — there are some things that we can't do (such as lost-wax casting or anything requiring a hydraulic press), but we'll do our best to fulfill any requests.

Art Jewelry Editor's Pick: Fred Zweig repoussé and chasing

Kristin Sutter — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:15:00 GMT

One of my favorite things about www.artjewelrymag.com is the Community page, where we can go to check out the cool work that our readers are doing and find out what jewelry-making issues are important to them. I haven't visited the "Show Us Your Work" section in the Forum for a while, and when I saw Fred Zweig's repoussé faces and frog, I was delighted! They have a sense of movement and emotion that makes me want to stop and stare and get to know them better. Lucky for the jewelry-making world at large, Mr. Zweig, who makes his own tools because, he says, "Most of the commercial chasing tools are not suited for this fine work and are expensive," is offering a class in Tucson in March 2008. So, in his class, he'll be letting you in on his secrets for toolmaking as well as for repoussé.

Personally, I'm just glad that he let us see his work. Thanks for sharing, Fred.

And thanks to everyone else on the Forum who posts pictures of what they're working on. It's exciting to see!

—Kristin

Places to go, new techniques to learn

Addie Kidd — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 19:22:00 GMT

I'm sacrificing my next Saturday morning (one of my two precious weekly sleep-in days, mind you) to take a little half-hour drive down to Racine, WI. One of the few things that could lure me out into the cold and snow early on an weekend morning is a class. And I'm taking a great one — glassblowing. This isn't my first time working with glass: I've taken a number of lamp-working classes, and I have a small kiln in my home studio for fusing and slumping. But glassblowing is another beast entirely, and one I've wanted to explore for quite some time.

During our first class last Saturday, the other 4 students and myself toured around the Hot Glass Shop, learning about all the equipment and terminology from our enthusiastic instructors Amanda and Doug. We then each took our turns creating paperweights — each one just a round, clear solid blob with decorative bubbles inside.

After I put the finishing touches on mine and popped it into the annealing kiln, I realized I was beaming. It seemed almost silly to be that proud of such a simple creation. But what I was mostly excited about was that this little beginner-level paperweight was such a challenge to me. While I wasn't terrible at it, this was obviously not going to come as easily to me as many other techniques have.

If you've ever tried it, you'll know that in glassblowing there are an awful lot of different variables and actions that you need to keep track of at once. And the realization that I'd need to really work on all these factors until they (hopefully) become second nature was invigorating. If you hadn't guessed, when it comes to learning new techniques I enjoy a good, healthy uphill battle.

So we'll see how my first actual blown hollow vessel attempts come out this Saturday. If the results are halfway decent I'll try to take a photo or two to share. Wish me luck!

I'm curious though, what sort of student are you? Do you like a challenge from the start, or would you prefer a quick accomplishment for a positive first experience? Or if you're an instructor, how do you approach teaching a new technique to students...any tricks or tips?