For the remainder of 2024, The STU is offering two formal six-class sessions in Jewelry and Metalsmithing. The Beginning Class occurs weekly in both a Fall Session (Oct. 10- Nov. 21) and Holiday Session (Nov. 6- Dec. 11).
The Casting Course will be held for three consecutive weekends on Saturday and Sunday, November 2 through 17.
The Beginning Class is three hours in duration and covers basic jewelry and metalsmithing fabrication skills such as sawing, cold fusion, soldering, finishing, and bezel stone setting. Students are aided in designing their own projects in which to apply the techniques learned, henceforth additional methods are potentially introduced such as hammering, stamping, forming, etc. Students will complete at a minimum one ring, chain, and cabochon setting.
Project materials used in the Beginning Class include primarily sterling silver, but also include copper coated aluminum, copper, and brass. (Work with gold can be accommodated, if desired, at student’s expense.) All necessary materials will be provided, although most students prefer to purchase their own desired cabochons, as well as some additional design elements or specialty tools.
The Casting Course presents students with an overview of the Lost Wax Casting process. Projects generated with this method have an opportunity to be of a more organic design since they are sculpted in wax (via deductive and/or additive means), therefore not limited to fabrication metal forms (i.e. sheet, wire, tubing). Students will be instructed how to carve a small wax model during the first weekend. The second weekend encompasses the technical preparation of spruing and investing the wax model and centrifugally casting sterling silver to transform the student’s wax model into silver! The final weekend is devoted to cleaning, polishing, and adding any finishing details to the project.
All materials for this class are provided with the exception of the amount sterling silver required for each individual project (as each project weight varies). Accommodations can be made available for gold casting, if desired.
Similar to the Beginning Class, each class time is three hours. Due to the necessity of basic skills, a prerequisite completion or concurrent attendance of the Beginning Class is required. For students with prior experience with jeweler’s saw, flex shaft, soldering torch, and polishing lathe, approval may be granted at instructor’s discretion.
If you are interested in either class, but are not available during the scheduled class times, please don’t hesitate to send an Inquiry Form (or contact me directly). If there is enough interest in certain time frames, I will do my best to accommodate requests for future sessions. Of course, there is always an option to book private or semi-private instruction time!
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