Back from a Great PMC Class in Jackson Hole

I got back yesterday from a great PMC class in Jackson Hole at the Art Association. Jackson is about 3 hours away from home (Lander, WY) nestled in the beautiful Teton Mountain Range. The fall colors were wonderful, the mountains snow packed and gorgeous and the weather fabulous (none of which I actually took a picture of). I didn't even get a picture of the giant herd of buffalo I drove through!

The class was small and instead of going into my usual 4 or 5 wrote silver clay projects we did a basic textured piece to get the feel of the material and then everyone pursued a project that they were interested in.

Clint made a great cuff bracelet with decoration in the Fibonacci series!, Robin created silver coinage from her antique coins to enhance her handmade chains, Juniper created gift pieces for all her friend's children, as well as a great ring and set of earrings for herself. Sindy made earrings and pendants to enhance her beaded jewelry that she sells at craft fairs throughout the region and Jennifer made wonderful pendants and earrings that she will be gifting to friends and family for the Holidays, if she can wait that long!

Check out my Flikr site for all the photos I took during the class.

Also, don't forget that I will be offering the advanced class on Nov. 4-6.

Viking Knit Tutorial Source

I found an excellent tutorial to make Viking Knit woven necklaces and bracelets. I have been making these for a while now and a lot of people have asked me how to do them. I have attempted to answer them, but it is somewhat time consuming and really requires an hour or two of practice. The author of this tutorial, Trina Ann, has done an excellent job of explaining the process. She uses a small tool that makes the process easier, but it can be done on a plain wooden dowel. I twist my new and old wire ends together, but after seeing her post I might try to skip that part. I also add my wire on the dowel and use an awl or needle tool to open it sufficiently to add the wire addition.

I like the "daisy" that comes with the tool, but I will try making some from polymer clay.

The photo that I have included is on my Flickr site and is a Fine Silver Echinacea leaf with one of my own Montana Agate cabs on the Viking Knit Cable.

Summer Jewelry Challenge

Well, its been a long time since I last posted, but no biggie.  Anyway, here is my interpretation Mary Hettmansperger's folded earrings.  I was inspired by Deryn Mentock's challenge to do the entire series of projects from Mary's book, "Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet".  The earrings were almost instantaneous.  Just bend the brass, wrap and add beads and my lovely Grandmother's embroidery floss.  I  made the spinner necklace which was pretty easy too.  I textured a piece of brass, and since it was not annealled it bent and went nice and wavy, then I used an overcooked fine silver bezel plate with a Sulphur Butterfly Wing in doming resin, a copper disk left from the kid's metals class I just taught and a PMC bit printed from a rubber stamp.  I think it worked out rather well.  I have been waiting for the correct format to experiment with the butterfly, moth and dragonfly wings.

Tomorrow I will be putting in some of the projects from the metals class I taught at the Lander Art Center.  I had two sessions of 10 kids for a total of eight hours each.  They soldered, forged, sawed, drilled, stamped, roller-milled, and cut disks and domed them.  With a few exceptions it was a success.