Enameling Fun!

I wanted to post the results of my second class taken at Bead Fest, and enameling class with Gail Crosman Moore.

I have to say that Gail was a phenomenal teacher--her enthusiasm is infectious! She made me feel like I could actually have fun and experiment, rather than being worried if I was going to be able to make anything worth bragging about!

I have never played with enamels before, even with my lampwork. I own a small bottle of Orchid from Thomson Enamels, which I have never opened. So I was really walking in with no experience, but we were going to be able to play with a torch, and that is right up my alley!

Like any new technique, there was a learning curve...I figured out pretty quick that some of the components wouldn't work as good as the others...and I realized I needed to be more generous with my heat. You can see some of the pieces that didn't turn out so well below.

It's a learning curve, right?

Now a few, I really loved. While they aren't at the point where I would use them in a piece of jewelry I plan on selling, I can see the definite improvement from the first few pieces I wrestled with.

Now, for the ugly. I mean, really ugly.

Non-intentional fiber art?

That, my friends, is what you get when you drop a hot brass component on a piece of carpeting. Or maybe it's a new type of component: the polyester-glazed bead. What the above was supposed to look like was more like this:

That's a little bit prettier. And a lot less furry.

Soldering Silver Bead Fest Class!

SUCCESS! I did NOT solder any part of any component to myself. Actually, that would be impossible, but I was so tired, I could imagine it happening to me.

The first class I took at Bead Fest this year was on Soldering Silver Components. I have wanted to learn how to solder for a while, mainly to create some closed rings for use with my jewelry. When I saw the class, I signed up, even though it started at 8:00 AM. In my summer world, that is the equivalent of about 4:00 AM to the rest of the world that rises early.

So armed with a coffee that was so small it wouldn't satisfy a toddler, I stumbled my way in to the class.

It's as small as it looks. Actually, it's smaller.

The teacher of the class was Mark Lareau. I realized that I had a book of his on wire work (I'm a book junkie). All Wired Up was one of the first wire-working books I had purchased.

Mark was a great teacher. He had the rare ability to take some technical material and make it so easy to understand. I was able to quickly understand why soldering was a preferred method, versus the use of the "paste" used in many cheaper components. He was also very enthusiastic and open with his knowledge. If you ever have a chance to take a class from him, go for it.

The one thing he made us do that was painful was think. At 8:30 in the morning. Have a mentioned I'm not a morning person? But he charged us with the task of designing a piece that needed to be soldered in multiple places, so we could jump into the fire (no pun intended). This is what I came up with in my foggy brain.

Kind of reminds me of a health class poster...

But the exciting part is that all of the pieces stayed attached to each other! There is definitely a slight learning curve with soldering--it reminds me of lampworking in the sense that you have to *know* your material and at what point in it's heating cycle it's at.

The soldered piece; a few gaps, but not too bad!

So I got brave and tried to make a flower. Now I would do it totally different if I try one again, but it was good practice in making some shaped rings and trying to solder a lot of points in a small area. You can see that there are some chunks of solder still there. I was so concerned with overheating the silver that I didn't wait for the solder to flow.

The "flower", even though it didn't work out quite like I had planned, was the best learning tool of the day. This is what I like the most about good classes--they give you a chance to play and experiment and actually learn; sometimes learning what not to do is much more valuable.

My final piece was simple. I wanted to make a component I could use to make earrings. I just soldered together a couple of "S" shapes, and voila!

Not too fancy, but they will make a pretty pair of earrings for my personal collection!

When I have more energy, I will post about my other class, with Gail Crosman Moore!