It was an enlightening workshop today with Susan Kazmer. She is masterful at forging different shapes and objects from simple metal sheet and wire. I can't tell you the restraint it took to not stick a mandrel in my pendant and dangle it in the flame! Be done with Klyr-Fire and handling tiny shapes and knocking half of the enamel off while getting it to the torch. I never thought of my hands as being big and clumsy ... but today proved otherwise!
Experimented with some crayons ... forged a cone and some interesting shapes. For the torch firing I would have to say ... the differences in our approaches is what makes the world go 'round!
Susan had a lot of the pieces on exhibit from her book on cold connections. To be up close and personal to beautiful works of art was a thrill. She is a very giving instructor and holds back nothing. It was worth every cent ... and more.
My two table mates ... Britton and Donna ... were wonderful. Britton, a meeting planner, had just arrived on the red eye from Vegas and got to the hotel at 8:40 a.m.! Donna Barnanko is an accomplished jewelry artist and treated me to so much beautiful work ... from riveting to woven beaded bracelets that you could stare at for hours and still not see everything. Donna is a teacher at Stars Beads in Vienna, VA ... so she's only a hour or two away from me.
Here are a few photos from the workshop:
Donna, and her treasure!
The Treasure! Beautiful Sunset Orange Enamel and Fire Scale!
One of Donna's pieces of jewelry ... a wonderful ring!
Britton at the bench pin ... filing away!
Our fearless leader!
On to Florida for two weeks where I'll give a semi-private lesson in advanced enameling techniques including use of liquid enamel, graphite pencils, overglaze enamels, liquid enamels with ceramic underglazes ... and to making projects for the book! Talk to you soon ... thank you for stopping by!
