In last night’s class I finally finished a necklace that began last semester in Jewelry as Sculpture. My professor, Anya Pinchuk, was pleased with the result…!
Chain works in the display case at the Corcoran Georgetown campus.
My work: necklace in polymer clay, resin, enameled steel and silver.
Some prototypes I’ve been working on. The may end up as Bored of Trade limited editions… I will keep you posted. :)
January 2, 2010. Two days into the new year and we’re in the paper!
The post did a little interview with me on the paleo diet, which I follow. You can read it here. My mom called at 9 am the day it came out (I was at my grandmother’s in NC) to say that it was a pretty picture and she liked the heart on my face. She called again at 10 pm that night and left a voicemail letting me know that she thought it was a very nice article and that she’s proud of me. I guess it took her all day to realize that she hadn’t actually read the darn thing, she was that excited. :)
Elizabeth and I were heading back to DC that day. Here we are at Galaxy Diner in Richmond having a bit of dinner and getting to see the article (and pictures of the two of us) in print. If was a special moment between friends and a really good start to 2010. Special thanks to Anna for mentioning me to her boss and to Christina Ianzito and Sarah Voisin for writing such a lovely article and taking equally lovely photos (respectively). And extra special thanks to Elizabeth for driving all over Wilmington looking for a Washington Post because my grandmother had a hard time reading it off the computer! None were to be found but I’ll be sure to mail her a copy this week…
Baker’s twine.
During the Summit of Awesome pink (?) elephant gift exchange, I snagged a discarded length of baker’s twine. The traditional red and white stuff is just so perfect I thought “Who would throw this away?” In fact, I have long admired this candy stripe string without knowing what it was called. Glad I learned about it today as I would love to add this to my jewelry packaging. And wouldn’t you know, it also comes in other color varieties! Yessssss!
And of course Martha. :)
I have yet to write/post on many things, including my adventures in CRAFT WEEK DC. I will try try try to get to it some time in the not so distant future. Promise.
For now I am busy with the previously eluded to ‘projects’ and prepping for attending the Summit of Awesome. Yes, you read that right, Summit – of – Awesome. Well, we shall see how it goes. I’m just hoping to meet some cool people, learn some cool things and have a good time. I think they should be able to manage that, don’t you?
Also, another sale at the jewelry shop today!
AND a jewelry show for you on Friday. I can’t go (awesomeness calls) but you should.
To say that I have been busy is really quite the understatement. Jewelry, school, vintage, baking and oh yeah, I have a day job too! All this is to say that I’ve been a little late getting to all this Craft Week DC business, which started, well at the beginning of this week! I’m not a slacker, really, just sooooooper busy!!!! (update: Craft Week DC actually starts today so I am just on time!)
And so I am about to leave the office just a wee bit early to make this talk on Art vs. Craft. It’s a very hot topic so it should be good. I’ll report back later.
Let’s tour the studio!
Hey that’s my stuff in that chair!
The roller and cutting station. Don’t you love the real tree stumps for hammering?!
Soldering stations – no more soldering in my kitchen!
Lots of jewelry workbenches all in a row!
The drill, not that exciting but it makes nice perfect holes…
I worked on a new pendant in class. This will likely be part of my puzzle pendant project, only this is just a mock-up…
I used the blow torch to clean it up after cutting…
Basically you burn it clean… wow, jewelry is pretty hardcore huh?
In this session, we learned how to use the roller to make patterns on metal…
Puzzle pendant mock-ups..
Oh how I wish I had sandpaper to finish this one off. Soon!
We also learned about pickle (I just love that we get to call it that). It’s the acid you use to clean off the residue from blow torching your metal. Jimin then demonstrated patinaing with sulfur, a smelly technique that I have yet to practice on my own. Maybe I’ll get into that this weekend….
Great class, I feel like I learn so much each time. I can’t wait for the next one!
My first class in jewelry-making/metalsmithing ever was last Wednesday evening at the Corcoran College of Art + Design. I was a bit nervous and anxious all day, but once class started I found my groove and relished in the excitement of learning something new about my chosen craft. Much to my surprise, and delight, the first class included two hours of bench work. Each of us received a toolkit and learned to saw, drill and file with lots of demonstration from our lovely instructor, Jimin Park. My classmates have all taken different paths to arrive at their interest in jewelry and I was also surprised to learn that I am the only student who is already making jewelry on my own.
Here are some pictures of my in class work. The whole time I was at the bench I couldn’t believe I was finally attacking metal with a saw. Well maybe not ‘attacking’, but in either case it’s something that I’ve wanted to do for so long and it was such a rush to finally get into it. I love working with my hands and jewelry making is such a great outlet and stress reliever….
A free-form window…
Practicing corners…
Straight lines and cuuuurvy ones…
I finished early and used the extra time to work on a bow! (no surprise there…)
Look at that pretty sawed side – can you believe this was my first time?!?
