SILVER II: PIERCING, HOLLOW FORM, FUSING & STONE SETTING BEYOND BEZELS
INSTRUCTOR: HEIDI MANDICH
Our focus in Silver II will be to strengthen sawing and soldering skills and help you develop your own design esthetic. This will be done through a couple of projects that will build on techniques from your Silver I foundation. We will continue to explore unique advantages of using Argentium Sterling Silver (940). For sawing, we will make a pair of matched earrings using a jeweler's saw to create intricate pierced (interior cuts) designs. For Argentium we will learn the advantages of its fusing properties and clean finish to balls as design elements, by creating a fused pendant. For soldering skills, we will construct a hollow form piece with multiple solder joins and learn how variations of this form can be incorporated into your own jewelry designs. Students will then design and create their own project incorporating these new skills and include setting a stone beyond basic bezel setting which can include prong or tab set, perhaps a combination, maybe incorporating a unique or unusual stone shape.
Closed toed shoes are required and long hair needs to be tied back. Please bring eye protection - glasses or readers are fine or safety glasses.
Class fees include printed materials for techniques, step by step detailed instructions for class projects, along with consumables (fuel, flux, solder, patina, saw blades, drill bits, solder brick, sandpaper) plus use of tools and equipment, as well as specialty tools and equipment provided by the instructor. It will also include Argentium Sterling Silver (940) for 2 projects.
ClassFee: $195 (includes Argentium for earrings and fused pendant)
Est Materials Fee: $150-$250 I will have Argentium Sterling Silver available to purchase for hollow form project as well as some stones, other metals for accent if needed - sheet, wire and tubing
Prerequisite: Silver I (student needs to be comfortable sawing with a jewelers saw and soldering multiple solder joints)