Friday, August 8, 2014

Wire Chains, Jump Rings & Clasps,
Oh my!

a sampling of the work created by students

Well, I'm happy to report that we had a very productive class this past week-end at CCAE! We spent the week-end working with wire, annealed steel wire to be exact. It was messy business, but we all survived!

It's always exciting to have ultra-newbies as well as more experienced students working side by side. We all have something new to learn from one another. I learned a new trick from a student for forming a ball on the end of a wire which totally made my day!

bangles and bracelets for mom and her daughter!

Since it was a smaller class I was able to allow each student to explore the forms and techniques that they found most interesting. Some students chose to work on their forging and forming techniques while others chose to work towards completed pieces.

beautifully forged forms with opposing planes

As you can see in the photo below, there was a lot of activity!
Forged squiggles were the most popular form, but clasps and riveted hoops and bangles were a close second. One student chose to tube rivet wire links together while another created a pair of brass earrings and a unique pendant using a vintage domino whose numbers have a special meaning.

just a sampling of the many things made in class

If you read my earlier post, you'll know that I shared a quote with each of my students. I gave them each a different quote and asked them to read it out loud to their fellow students. It was pretty funny, but I think it helped them to realize that it's expected that we'll make mistakes while we're learning something new. Kudos to my students for doing an amazing job!

I'll leave you with this quote from the wire master himself...

"To an engineer, good enough means perfect. 
With an artist, there's no such thing as perfect."
~ Alexander Calder


All rights reserved.

No comments: