practice, practice, practice!
Like so many things in life you can't just be a pro at something after your first lesson, or second, or third. I was reminded of this when I took up the craft of Sourdough bread baking. After one beginner's luck success I faced multiple failures of hard lumps of floured bricks destined for the trash. I almost gave up but after much persistence and a curiosity for the process (like feeding the starter) that pushed me to discover something new with each loaf I can say I have a humble understanding of the process that I can finally make a semi decent loaf of bread (to Bryan's delight!)
Why do I share this?
Because smithing is like this but even on a grander scale. It always surprises me when someone becomes a student of smithing with the expectation that they are going to make that thing that they saw on etsy or youtube right out of the gate.
It doesn't work like that.
Pick up a violin and play Tchaikovsky.
Or pick up a scalpel and operate on someone.
Or let your children go to school where the teacher has no education.
Boston marathon without training?
Hopefully you get the idea.
I see this more often than I would like to admit. Again and again I will get someone who may enter one of my classes with delusions of grandeur not realizing that holding a torch a couple of times does not yet make you a silversmith. Granted, I pride myself on stuffing in a whole lot of learning in my classes but when it comes right down to it there is no substitute for practice. The more mistakes you make the more you learn. That is why I offer Open Studio.
You can't become Joshua Bell overnight.
And just by shear will you can not just manifest what is in your head if you haven’t first mastered simple soldering.
The other thing that amazes me is when someone is determined not to recognize the laws of physics. There are some things you just can’t bend to your will. Or if a mistake is made (like completely melting something) I may get the question from the student, “What do I do?”
Maybe it is because we are so used to that “undo” key stroke on our computers. LOL. But many times there is a point of no return. You have to start again.
So, my advice to students of this craft is:
My hope is that every step that you take in your smithing journey will reveal something new and encourage you as you see progress.
I came into the studio with this new view out my window.
The violent microburst we experienced last week cut the power, damaged some buildings, and took out a dozen trees.
Including mine.
This ornamental pear tree has been a friend in my studio window season after season for almost 15 years.
Now it sits in a corner of the park transformed into a pile of mulch.
So sad.
Sunny morning, then some rain, then suddenly I can’t see out my studio window but when I can everything is SLANTED!
Now I lived through a tornado as a child and this felt chillingly similar.
It was only a matter of minutes and the power went off (which is always accompanied by an annoying alarm siren).
Once the storm cleared we all emerged from our various studios to examine the damage. Folks wandered around with their cell phones as cameras like we had just experienced an episode of The Walking Dead.
I’ve always loved the view out my Studio 1 window, but alas the storm took out half of the beautiful ornamental pear tree that graces us with its blooms every spring.
But in all the destruction the one thing that was happily untouched...
the carousel.
This reception felt more like a party on a space station than an art show. It has always been Bryan’s thing to come up with the theme related food for the event. Tonight he did not disappoint. And who knew there were such crazy looking fruit on this planet?
And then there was the wine.
Who knew that there is a real Chateau Picard in France.
New tools in my tool box include a 3D printer from Form Labs. Preparing for my June show dealing with all things Sci-fy prompted this design idea from Bryan. Since he is the one heading our 3D printing initiative he played along with these that I ultimately cast in silver.
Its that time of year for me to craft these out of reclaimed copper from the roof tops of Washington DC.
Each piece is unique, its patina created by the passage of time and a witness to history.
Our own Louis Kutyla is off to his next adventure. This time school in Milan. Who knew what kind of talent we were launching from my tiny sandbox way back when. And who remembers when he was shorter than me (well almost). Very early we gave him the nick name of Young Jedi because it was clear that the force was strong with this one.
Not to be deterred by a little thing like a PANDEMIC he scooted off to Antwerp to attend the Alaxandre School of Optical Diamond Setting, furthering his skills, working, and taking on the mantel of teaching our newest Jr-Artist-in-residence, Claire Busch. Always willing to help out he also helped us install plexiglass in both studios.
After a goodbye lunch there were lots of tears as this goodbye signifies that he is truly out of the nest. Bryan and I will miss this second son. My heart is simultaneously heavy and full of joy as he embarks on this next stage of his life. The SilverWorks family will miss him.
You may have been wondering if/when SilverWorks would open its doors again. That time has finally come. Like the friendly cicadas emerging from the ground this season I am slowly emerging with a scaled back schedule that will start the SilverWorks engine in a sustainable way.
You might think that starting back up again full steam ahead would be no problem.
Not so.
After a year and a half some resources need to be replaced. Tools that were put into storage need to be unpacked and accessed.
The pandemic has had a domino effect with some of the teachers that I have added to my team over the years moving on to other things. People having babies, getting married, little things like that.
Plus there is me. Even starting up with a small class load proved to be a physical challenge after months of doing other things. Many lessons have been learned in the process.
And like other small businesses trying to get back I have had to make some tough choices. Although in the past the SWX gallery has featured student work, faculty work, as well as my own, for economic reasons I am currently showing only my work at the moment. And that gallery is only open 11-5 Sat & Sunday
And then there is Open Studio. A very popular service allowing students the space to practice, it had an engine of its own. I am still working out the kinks to get that engine running again.
In a way it is like starting over, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It has been a very loud couple of weeks. With these little beasties flying all akimbo to and frow I have been negligent in harvesting them. I wanted to give them their day in the sun before harvesting their wings for jewelry.
But I realized today that I may have waited to long. A week ago they were crawling on everything and today when I went out to find some It took more effort to find those that had newly perished.
I love it when smithing techniques get repurposed when faced with a unique problem.
Herbs.
No, herbs are not the problem, neither is planting them or watering them.
It’s labeling them.
My home studio has been a disaster since last year’s show. I dreaded going into the room due to so many unfinished pieces, silver scrap everywhere, and tools that hadn’t been put away.
With my studios being closed thanks to being “non-essential” not knowing when it will be opened again, two things have happened.
I know, I know...everyone and their dog is filming themselves doing this or that right now. But students over the years have asked me time and again to do this. And the crazy thing is I sleep with a video professional with an arsenal of gear just begging to be used for this.
It took a lot longer (what day is this?) to get my studio up to par both functionally and structurally for camera positions (no it won’t just be a single iPhone...come on!). But now the stage is set minus a few final details.
Filming of Blair’s Bench starts this weekend.
December’s Intro to Lost Wax class finishes up today. Noha Nader took a unique approach to the “addition” method. Random melting of wax around a mandrel. Bravo!
We call him Edward Scissor Ghost because apparently he likes the scissor box. Today he did it again. Scissor box flying out of the wall and hitting the floor.
Of the three times it has happened June 2016 was his best performance with the scissors stuck in the floor. But this one was pretty dramatic.
There has always been more than one person in the studio when it happens so there are witnesses (so i am not crazy).
And even if you want to apply logic and physics it is hard to brush aside the fact that the scissor box has been in a different slot in the wall each time;-0
All the goodies made in this class. Students learn how to use the hydraulic press, the sandblaster, the big rolling mill and the pen plater. Just check out the great projects that were produced!
We also experimented with Liver Of Sulfur (going from cold solution and warming the metal). This cold technique allows the metal to change color gradually instead of going straight to black.
One of the projects we make in my Dive Into Studio 2 is the fabulous spinner ring.
So many choices with this project that it presents lots of opportunity to grow those smithing skills. It also tests those soldering skills as some students discover that when flaring the ring (to hold the “spinners”) the seam may start to split. This either indicates not enough solder used or more likely a cold join. A cold join is when you see the solder flow but don’t stay long enough for the solder to melt inside the join not just on the outside.
Studio 2 gets a facelift this fall. We reduced the number of benches from 10 to 8 allowing a little more room for students in my classes and for open studio. The benches are traditional jeweler’s benches.
My new collection this year delves deeply into rich textures, oxidation, and patinas. But I continue my life long love affair with opals. Alternate materials and techniques like fusion, feathers, fossils and Fordite pepper the work. But my tradition of connecting a wearer with a story told in metal continues.
The Retrospective brings back a few pieces from my previous collections from the last 10 years as well as a few “vintage” works that I have kept. It also takes a look at the evolution of my humble studio from just me to today’s wonderful SilverWorks community of faculty, students, and residency recipients.
Bringing this back to life. She has been with me this many 20 years and has seen the most use in the last ten here at SilverWorks.
Faithfully tumbling students’ work day in and day out she finally succumbed to some radical rusting. Once undertaking the project thinking I was going to just give her a thoughtless coat of spray paint I was inspired into a full blown restoration. Thanks to Bryan oiling it, and going to the hardware store with a chip of paint thinking that he might find something close, the guy at the store got into the act and mixed an industrial quality matching paint and asked if we wanted it to be recorded in their database as “Tumbler Blue”. LOL.
Truth be told it will take me years to use up the quart that we had to purchase to bring this old girl back but it was well worth it after seeing her with her nice new coat.
Fun time with all those stones. Lots of folks came out to check out the stash have some wine or mimosas and chat with their fellow smithys.
Here is some of the stash I brought back from Tucson to share with all our great SilverWorks folk. Doing the inventory and placing all these lovelies into their little individual bags is bit overwhelming but somewhat inspiring too. All this eye candy!
All in preparation for a mini-gem show March 30 & 31.
International Gem Show in Tucson! I’m here and doing the power shopping for the studio. Stones as far as the eye can see in every venue all over town. It is overwhelming as you go from vendor to vendor from all over the globe.
Today I plowed through the JOGS show finding some goodies for SilverWorks Studio students and some items for my own work for this year’s exhibition.
It's that time of year for me to craft these out of reclaimed copper from the roof tops of Washington DC.
Each piece is unique, its patina created by the passage of time and a witness to history.
We had a great turnout for Louis’s talk. In an interview format he shared his artistic process, the what and why of his latest work, and how it all began.
A wonderful turnout for this year’s show. Best ever. I love this collection. Both the SilverWorks faculty and students brought their best work.
The project that finished out Louis’s residency at SilverWorks was a teapot.
Yup.
This kid continues to amaze us as he embraces the most challenging works.
