back at the bench...

What a great weekend! I got to flex my metalsmithing skills! Phil Reede (model maker for James Avery) gave a two-day workshop titled Mechanisms 2...part two of a series of workshops emphasizing a combination of fundamental metalsmithing/fabrication skills with mechanisms for jewelry application. Below are images of the bracelet project the students worked on this weekend.

I haven't done making my own screw since undergrad so it was great to knock this project out again. I think the students where pushed hard but for most the hard work paid off...after this technique project, fabrication moments in their ongoing projects should seem easy...just the one half of the screw (with the threading exposed) in the images below has 9 major solder seams within one square inch.

Thanks again, Phil.

Phil Reede demonstrating

bracelet technique project

it's been fun...

I've been so busy lately, trying to finish everything up for my solo show that opens Nov 25 at Design Works in Galveston, TX, that I haven't posted anything about the great workshops that the Metals program has hosted this term...
First, there was Renee Zettle-Sterling...wow! She was/is amazing and energetic...we had two days of fun playing with mold-making, and casting alternative materials into them. And lest we forget the flocking!
Next, I did a one day workshop showing how to emboss thin metal using the hydraulic press and making dies out of brass and mild steel wire. The students ended up with plenty of samples that they could use future pieces. I've kinda fallen in love with the quick, direct nature of the one-day workshop.
And last but not least, this past weekend, Phil Reede who is one of the designers for James Avery (Kerrville, TX) returned to the SSAC Metals Dept. to teach the first of a series of workshops about mechanisms/findings for jewelry. All students worked on finishing the sample technique project, a bracelet with an elaborate closure. It was great! The students got to hone sawing, filing, riveting, making a simple knuckle hinge, forming, soldering...everything I want them to practice with more. Phil is a great instructor, too.

Thanks go both of you!


Renee teaching

mold samples

two happy but tired instructors

embossing dies and samples

student mechansim project

Phil's demo sample

Phil