Jake Vial-Golden

Jake is born and raised in NorCal and still considers himself a California kid at heart. Jake's family has long filled their time crafting and creating things - both as art and as medicine. For most of his life, Jake only admired that creativity from afar, but metals (specifically silver!), stones, and jewelry had fascinated him from a young age. In 2019, after stepping away from work in global non-profits, he finally decided to engage with that fascination. Coming across SilverWorks and feeling the energies align, he immediately dove in, spending many hours in Open Studio.

Jake Vail Golden

Groovy geometric beads

Craft sterling silver beads to wear on a cord or wire. You will learn the process of making hollow spheres and cylinders. Make the beads uniquely yours with texturing techniques. Skills used will be sawing, texturing, drilling, forming, soldering and finishing. 

Must have completed Silversmithing 1 and 2 or Silver Saturday 1 and 2. 

Minimum age 13.

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Jewelry Enameling: I Can See Clearly

Discover the mysterious world of transparent enamels. Work on copper, fine silver and sterling silver. Explore techniques for achieving the full potential of transparent color over textured surfaces. Sifting and wet packing for adding enamel to pieces, learn the fundamentals of Cloisonne, Basse Taille and a few special effects. No experience necessary. Minimum age 13.

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Jewelry Enameling: The Basics

Learn how to apply and embellish jewelry pieces with colorful enamel. Basic techniques are introduced such as sifting powdered enamel and kiln firing. You will be introduced to ways to decorate your pieces with embellishments like sgraffito, stencils, silk screens and gold foil. Go home with multiple finished pieces. No experience necessary. 
Minimum age 13.

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It’s riveting

Expand your design horizons without solder. Cold Connections allow the silversmith to join two materials without using heat. One type of cold connect is the rivet. In this workshop we will learn how to construct the three types of rivets: wire, tube rivet, and the hidden rivet. These will be applied to a project of your choice.

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Keum Boo Workshop

Keum Boo is the ancient Korean surface technique of bonding 24k gold foil over silver. It enhances the perceived value of jewelry with the addition of gold accents. Learn the step-by-step process of depletion silvering and adding gold with keum boo.

What we will cover in this workshop

  • The basic principles of keum boo
  • The steps to create a keum boo enhanced panel

What you will walk away with: Multiple finished Keum Boo projects

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Beginning Silversmithing

Learn the foundational skills of silver fabrication techniques in this intensive 5 week course. Skills learned include the use of an acetylene torch, soldering, sawing, forging, and fusion as well as how to create a bezel for stone setting. This class has the added bonus of a visual presentation “The Basics of Good Design for the Jewelry Artist”.

What you'll learn

Week 1: Cold Forging

Skills we will discover in this session:

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