Go Bold or Go Home! Geometric Hollow Forms in Steel
Online
$125, discounted for multiple classes
November 4-5, 2023
Day 1 Workshop 10 am-12 pm Pacific Time
Day 2 Open Studio 3 pm Pacific Time
Have you ever wanted to cut loose and create big, bold sculptural jewelry but were intimated by the cost or scale? In this fun and fast-paced workshop, you’ll be able to step outside your comfort zone to create bold dimensional steel jewelry that shouts, “Look at me!”
Steel invites creative exploration into sculptural forms. It’s inexpensive and lightweight (25% lighter than silver), so larger pieces are comfortable to wear. It’s also soft enough to saw and texture as well as malleable enough to form into many different shapes.
Going bold with steel is an adventure because the metal comes in so many forms—solid sheet, perforated sheet, expanded, wire and woven mesh. We’ll work with all these forms to create volumetric steel pieces.
You will learn to:
- Layer different forms of steel sheet, perforated steel sheet and wire
- Score and bend steel to create cubes, pyramids and other three-dimensional shapes
- Form woven mesh spheres and hemispheres
- Build ring shanks and bails from wire and perforated steel
- Trap objects (stones, rocks and found objects) in dimensional forms
- Create bezels and bails with perforated steel and wire
- Apply a heat patina to create a range of different colors including inky black
- Seal your jewelry using a high-grade wax
Skill Level
Students should be comfortable using a torch and should possess basic metal working skills, such as sawing, filing and forming. Students should be knowledgeable about safe practices in a jewelry studio.
Kit
$45 including shipping USPS flat rate small box
For U.S. students, kits will be shipped approximately at least one week before the class start. For non-U.S. students the timing and shipping cost will be based on location.
- Steel sheets—1 sheet 5” x 8”
- Perforated steel sheet—3 sheets, 5” x 8” in different patterns
- Woven wire mesh—1 sheet, 5” x 8”, different size mesh
- Black annealed wire—2 feet 16 gauge and 1 foot 10 gauge
- Dedeco double sided separating disc and mandrel
- 3 surprise objects for capturing in dimensional forms (Hint; might be items such as silkworm cocoons, shark or snake vertebrae, seed pods, etc.)
- Sample of metal wax for sealing
- Handouts (Patterns for two class projects, course presentation handouts, and source sheets for purchasing materials and supplies)
Student-Provided Supplies
Note that the sources shown are merely examples. Many different vendors can be sourced for these products.
In addition to the general list for tools and supplies needed for working with steel (see “Basic Tools and Supplies” PDF below), you will need to provide the following supplies, materials and tools for this class:
- Parallel pliers. Two pairs if possible from Rio Grande
- Mallet and forming hammers from many jewelry supply vendors
- Forming blocks. For example, hemispheres, swage block, mushroom stake. Whatever you have on hand, wood or steel.
- Oxpho Blue gun bluing from Brownell’s OR Presto Black PC-9 from Sculpt Nouveau
- Optional patinas:
- Japanese Brown patina for steel. From Sculpt Nouveau
- Solvent dyes, any color(s). From Sculpt Nouveau
Basic Tools & Supplies
For supplies, materials and tools that you will need to provide for all classes, please refer to the basic list for tools and supplies needed for working with steel in the pdf below. As with the list of class-specific supplies (above), many of these are items that you may have on hand. Note that the sources shown are merely examples. Many different vendors can be sourced for these products.
Basic Tools and Supplies for Working with Steel »All classes are $125 each. If you sign up for two classes, each class is $110, and for three or more classes, $100. The cost of a kit, if any, will be additional. Discounts for multiple classes will be applied at checkout.
