I’m excerpting from my recent newsletter, and updating my blog as to my whereabouts these past several weeks. But, unlike overprotective fathers, my blog doesn’t really care. It’s rather an inanimate object, yes? All kinds of bad keyword search Google-ish damanable metric-adverse things may have happened to my blog during my hiatus. I’ll never know for sure. However, just in case someone stumbles across these words, I’m compelled to apologize for not posting for awhile.
My plate has been overflowing with more activities than I can name. I took an this unusual break from my monthly newsletter for the past two months due to a temp job working the primary election – which turned into a job with major overtime! I’m glad I did it…but I won’t be doing it again. It gave me an appreciation for artists who work full time and try to fit in their art on the side. It validated that I’m not meant to split my time! So my focus will be on my custom clients, the creation of jewelry, and jewelry instruction. Feels good to know – again.
I’m back in the studio in fits and starts, and have completed a few projects for my lovely, patient clients, and more are underway. I’m currently making a wedding band for the engagement ring pictured below, and a wedding band for the groom based upon the bride’s ring. Soon, I’l be sharing photos of more “dreams made by hand.” Until then, thanks for sticking around.
Tag Archives: jewelry instruction
Are you inspired to learn something new in 2014? Or hone a nearly-forgotten skill? If you’re interested in metal and jewelry, maybe I can help. I’ve been creating jewelry for over 20 years, and have been creating metal jewelry (sterling silver, copper, brass, gold) for 15 years. I offer private and semi-private metalsmithing and jewelry making lessons in my own metals studio and will travel to your studio location teach groups of six or more students. Just today, I created a page on Thumbtack.com to spread the word a bit. I generally teach privately and semi-privately (1-4 student max in my studio space, depending on the nature of the class), and have taught at the Indianapolis Art Center and have acted as Instructor’s Assistant in a teapot fabrication workshop at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Here’s the Thumbtack.com link to my page:
Nancy Lee Metalsmith and Jewelry Instruction“>Nancy Lee Metalsmith and Jewelry Instruction
You can request my services directly through me by clicking here, or through the Thumbtack website.
Here are a few photos of classes and workshops I’ve taught over the years.
Besides the classes listed above, I offer a solid basic metalsmithing class that is 3 hours long and teaches a lot of basic metal working skills, such as using a bench pin, piercing metal, cutting it with a jeweler’s saw, using metal shears, filing, sanding and hammering metal into shape, and heating with a torch (annealing) to soften it. If the torch work is too much, I demonstrate the technique and allow students to do the metal work after the torch work (annealing) is done. Students typically begin with copper and sterling silver.
Art Jewelry Magazine – watch a beginner attempt to saw metal for the first time
Art Jewelry Magazine sent me a newsletter today, and it contains a video with a young lady using a jeweler’s saw – for the first time! She is an editor at Art Jewelry Magazine, and was testing out a new product from Thomas Mann and being a good sport about it, too. This is particularly relevant to me and my students at the Indianapolis Art Center, as we have been working on jeweler’s saw techniques the past couple of “Jewelry Smorgasbord” classes – listening for the “ping” of success! Watch, learn, and enjoy!
P.S. I don’t especially like the body positioning shown in the video – I think the body should be squared to the saw frame, and the left wrist should not be at such an acute angle. Also, the strokes are on the short side. I always remind my students that they paid for the whole saw blade and to feel free to USEÂ the whole saw blade! However, this is a beginner after all – she’s still learning AND my techniques are not the same as every instructor’s technique…
Note: Mann teaches “no lubricant on the blade” in his classroom!