Colouring metal with coloured pencils

As someone with a long time obsession with pencil crayons ( I own a bin full--and yet there is always a new colour beckoning me in the art store), I was captivated by the jewelry on the cover of the most recent Metalsmith magazine. It shows a beautiful piece by Helen Shirk using enamel paint to add colour. Inside were many more of her pieces employing pencil crayons.

It seems that the basic technique involves first preparing a suitably rough surface for the pencil crayons to adhere to. This can be achieved by sandblasting, hammering metal over a rough surface (sandpaper, cement…), applying a thin coat of gesso, using the rolling mill, or adding a patina first.

The next step involves the slow and long process of adding layers of colours--fixing the piece occasionally with a workable fixative.

And finally, sealing the piece with a durable matt or gloss fixative.

Sounds fun to me!


- Lianne

This week was the start of two classes that I am teaching. To the left is the beginnings of all the carved wax pieces from the Introductory and Intermediate Casting class.  They will be finishing their carved waxes next Wednesday, then in the following week we will be casting them in sterling silver.  I'm always really excited for casting classes because students that are new to jewellery can create something more complicated than they realized right off the bat.  I will have to be diligent and post the process of these pieces!
-Alexis

Student Exhibition Prize Announced

It is hard to believe but we have been teaching jewellery making classes at a variety of levels here for the past four years now. During that time I think we have been just as inspired by our students and they have by us. It is because of this positive exchange of artistic ideas that we decided it was time to start showing off what our students have done.

Our first student exhibition will take place from February 4th, 2011- February 28th, 2011 with an opening reception on Friday February 4th from 5pm-9pm. I would like to thank Magnotta Winery in advance for their generous support of this event!

Another first will be the sale of student work through Jewel Envy. It was a big decision but we thought if students were going to brave enough to show their work to the public and then price it we should make it possible for prospective buyers to take home their favorite pieces! Of course only the work students are willing to part with will be for sale but I have a sneaking suspicion if there is interest and a piece is not for sale we might be able to coordinate a commissioned piece.

Today I decided that we will also give out a People's Choice Award to one artist in the show. It would be to hard for us, the teachers, to choose our favorite piece so we are letting the public have their say! Everyone that comes in during the month of February may cast one vote for their favorite piece of jewellery on display in the exhibition. We will tally the results at the end of the month and the jeweller who receives the most votes for one piece of jewellery will win two days of bench time to help further develop their skills.

I am pretty excited to see what people bring in and I hope you are to so please come out and support creativity this February!

Gillian

Time to Focus

The holiday season is behind us and it’s time to focus again.

There are many different craft shows and jewellery exhibitions coming to Toronto and Jewel Envy goldsmiths are working hard to be part of them.

It has been three months since Tete jewellery has become a part of the Jewel Envy studio.

As a recent graduate, I have to say that it has been a smooth transition from College to the collaborative jewellery studio.

What amazes me the most is the creative and uplifting atmosphere of my goldsmith colleges and the different energy everyone uses as  their creative outlet.

Being surrounded with such dynamics is a great motivator in my creative process.

We are all focusing on new and challenging projects, so stay tuned for future updates.

Happy 2011!

Happy new year to everyone!!
It is always good to spend time with friends and family during holiday, especially if you were too busy working on something else or you've been apart from them. This winter, my mom visited me from Korea to stay with me and ordered very special rosary rings with ten roses all around the wavy ring, and one for my dad. It took me many hours to hand-carve ten roses, but came out beautifully and she loved it :)

Rose Rosary Ring, Sterling silver, Rhodium plated

 Rosalyn