First Lesson for a Budding Artist

Where does the person start who knows little to nothing about jewelry or metal fabrication?  Do they start with beads?  Metals?  Wire wrapping?  Why not all three?  Last week we had some out of town company visit with us from Ohio.  This was my husband’s college roommate and his wife, Trish, who is a nurse.  The wife asked me if she could watch me work in my studio and I asked her if she would consider working with me.  She was game.  She had not dabbled in jewelry arts and was graciously willing to allow me to show her some of the tools.  

Since Trish is a new grandmother she was interested in making a necklace with her granddaughter’s name on it.  I felt that her experience would be dimensional if she could dabble in many of the tools offered to create such a necklace.  This meant bringing out the torch, rolling mill, hammers, dapping blocks, metal stamps, disc cutter and jewelry tools.  

Here you can see Trish using a drill press for the first time.  

What was so amazing is Trish’s steady hand while stamping metal.  This stamping she did was her first attempt.  She nailed it!!  It was awesome to see Trish work all of the metal fabricating tools with great confidence and precision.  Her finished necklace looks great.  Don’t you think?