 Our January 4th Sawing Circle was a fun gathering. We shared recommendations for online and in-person classes, checked out some works-in-progress, talked studio fire safety, viewed recently finished ornaments and talked bandsaws and other tools. Read on for more photos and the resource links.
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 When we started in March of 2020, MAA was just a way to stay connected as the pandemic pushed us into isolation. We thought we'd do the show a few times, never imagining it would take on a life of its own for over a year. Together we've virtually traveled the world, learned tips & tricks, celebrated holidays, found solace and shared inspiration. As the world reopens, it's time to pursue exciting new endeavors. In July’s show, master metalsmith Earl Bushey will share top-notch mokume gane tips and Bette Barnett will introduce us to the fascinating world of powdered metals. As always, Metal Arts Adventures is all about you so please join us for our Grand Finale episode on July 15th.
 Nine artists participated by donating jewelry pieces to the Fandango Under the Stars Online Auction with funds going to support Guadalupe Home, an organization that helps women and families experiencing homelessness. This year, due to COVID, the event went virtual so bids were submitted online. Here's the update from Sky:
"Greetings everyone, I'm happy to see [our] donations being looked at and bid upon. The pictures do not do the pieces justice but you can see them at the Online auction: one.bidpal.net/fandango2021/browse/all, on Facebook: facebook.com/CatholicCharitiesSA/, or on Instagram: instagram.com/catholiccharitiessanantonio/. Thank you all for the great support for this event. ~ Sky". Let's give a big hand to Sky for providing such a great community opportunity and a round of applause to our participating artists! For photos and descriptions of each piece see our previous post: Guadalupe Home Jewelry Team Update. Due to popular demand and a lot of whining and silly excuses like "I have to work" and "I've been homeschooling my children" we've extended the Emerge deadline! Yay, more time! Here are just a few of the cool prizes up for grabs: Click images to view larger.
All jewelry/metals arts artists to enter their work in Emerge - San Diego Jewelry Lab’s Juried Spring Exhibition. Pieces will be juried by Anne, Bette Barnett and Ame on craftsmanship, creativity and use of the theme and our panel of instructor judges will award prizes for the best submissions. Exhibition is open to metalsmiths worldwide. Work can be any size; wearable, functional, or sculptural; made within the last year. Get details and enter. Click images to view larger. Our Sawing Circles have been filled with great info this month. On any given night you might find a jewelry metal arts presentation, see a useful tool tip, hear a great story, learn a new technique or just enjoy the good company of metal arts geeks like yourself. No RSVP is needed and you're always welcome to join us Tuesdays from 5-7pm Pacific time. See who's hosting each week and find the link on our Sawing Circle page.
As the sun warms the earth, green things emerge, slowly unfolding their leaves. As the cold winds depart, wild animals emerge, leaving their winter dens. As the vaccines arrive, we too emerge, hugging friends and revisiting normalcy. In this time and place, like none we've ever known, what does it mean to emerge?  San Diego Jewelry Lab invites all jewelry/metals arts artists to enter their work in our upcoming online exhibit "Emerge". Pieces will be juried by San Diego Jewelry Lab co-owners Anne Wolf and Ame Stanko on craftsmanship, creativity and use of the theme and our panel of instructor judges will award prizes for the best submissions. Exhibition is open to metalsmiths worldwide. Work can be any size; wearable, functional, or sculptural; made within the last year. Get details on our Emerge event page.
 From host Garage Kathe: We had about 18 people attend our March 9th Sawing Circle. One of the resources mentioned was Eva Sherman. She's a metal artist from Cleveland who teaches and has done some demos on the FB group “Friday Freebies for Metalsmiths” and anyone can join. We also discussed Metals week at Idyllwild Arts in June - Ann R. and Karen R. spoke of the fun of live classes in past years. This year all metal classes are on Zoom - 2 or 3 day formats so you sign up for multiple classes, registration is open now. Monica Cardone is teaching Bad Ass Bezels with the Hammer Hand Piece, but her class is full. You can get a discount on Hammer hand pieces from Pepe Tools with a code from Monica.
 Oh my gosh, we had so much fun at tonight's Sawing Circle. We had 16 attendees on hand talking tricky soldering jobs, patinas, gold alloying and other metalsmithing particulars at our first March Sawing Circle. Isla joined us from London, Julia joined from Michigan, Ann was on deck from Alabama with the rest Zooming in from the U.S. west coast. As always there were some really valuable links shared.
 Over twenty metalsmiths gathered on Tuesday evening and we had a great time seeing new works, oogling a gigantic ruby, meeting new people and catching up with old friends (a few who were seeing each other for the first time in 20 years!). In between we talked more about brooch pins, learned lapidary terms, heard about a tool making project, checked out some new home studios and compared notes on current online class offerings - all while working away on our own projects. Read on for more photos and resource links. Click images to view larger. Resource links:
 Thursday, February 21st from 5-6pm Pacific Time
Meet & Greet starts at 4:45pm. Online via Zoom Take a virtual trek deep into the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest to visit the Maleku people, see how they create their hand-painted seed jewelry and learn about their unique language and culture with award-winning jewelry designer Ileana Rojas-Bennett. Next, Anne's will show us a great approach to making brooch backs (there's a trick to it!) and we'll announce the details about our brand new call for art. Stick around till the end for our lively Q&A discussion of all things metal arts from torch tips to patina particulars. MAAA is a FREE weekly online metal arts live show. In this fun, interactive gathering we offer demos, share tips & tricks, feature work by artists and students from around the world, go on virtual studio tours, discuss historical metal arts traditions and share resources. You're invited to join in! Need help with a tricky soldering job? Wondering if a tip you saw really works? Want to give us a tour of your studio or recommend an instructor? Submit a question or segment idea and we'll follow up. Send it in!  Next Sawing Circle is Tuesday, February 9th, 5-7pm
Thursdays were just too packed with cool metal arts stuff so we've moved our Sawing Circle to Tuesdays starting this month. Our Sawing Circle is like a book club but instead of reading, we work on cool stuff, help each other with problems, share ideas and provide accountability for ongoing work. If you've been looking for support for moving forward on your projects during quarantine then this is the online gathering for you. Join us from your studio to work in the good conversation and company of like-minded friends. Totally free, no need to RSVP, simply make yourself a nice snack, settle down at your bench and click the link to join in via Zoom. We're also looking for volunteers to fill in one night a month to help take our Sawing Circle weekly. Interested? Fill out our Volunteer Form. 
Journey with us into the colorful, 500 year old labyrinth of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar guided by San Diego jewelry student & artist Karen Savel. We'll marvel at the ancient arches, see local jewelers at work in their tiny shop, walk in the footsteps of Rick Steve's and visit a gold smelter, stop to watch a street lapidarist at work and finish off with some classic Turkish delights. Next, we sit back and enjoy an informative how-to by enamelist Kay Yee as she shows us her method for creating blackboard brooches. Kay also shares a great list of resources including an inexpensive starter kit and online classes. Read more for resource links.
 Thursday, January 14th 5-7pm PST
Meet & Greet starts at 4:45pm This week, guest instructor Anne Wolf shares a guide (from the forum on Ganoksin.com) for making a scoring tool. Scoring tools are useful for all sorts of things, from box making to adding texture to sheet. We'll discuss how to go about making the tool. Anne will also show how to create texture using a scorer she made while taking an online class from Ford Hallam. Our monthly Sawing Circle is like a book club but instead of reading, we work on cool stuff, help each other with problems, share ideas and provide accountability for ongoing work. If you've been looking for some support for moving forward on your projects during quarantine then this is the place. Join us from your studio to work in the good conversation and company of like-minded friends. Totally free, no need to RSVP, simply make yourself a nice snack, settle down at your bench and click the link to join in via Zoom.
At our online Holiday Party we looked back at some 2020 highlights (we did find some!) and shared our plans for 2021. The recipe exchange was a hoot with concoctions for tasty treats as well as Mokume Goo from Earl, DIY Solder from Sky and Niello from Anne (note: don't eat!). We also had fun enjoying everyone's home decor and festive apparel. The winners of our holiday cheer prize drawing were Patty (congrats on the agate burnisher!) and Joanne (edible gemstones!). After that we heard from several people about their own 2020 - good and bad - along with hopes and dreams for 2021. We capped it all off with our Holiday Raffle. Many thanks to everyone who decorated, dressed up and shared goodies. Read on to download the recipes and get some cool free coloring pages and a handy circle divider tool.
 Thursday, January 14th
5-7pm PST - online via Zoom hosted by Anne Wolf Our monthly Sawing Circle is like a book club but instead of reading, we work on cool stuff and explore bench tips and tricks (see the latest edition of MAA for details). You're also free to work on anything you have in progress or need help with. Either way we hope you'll join us from your studio to work in the good conversation and company of like-minded friends. Totally free, no need to RSVP, simply make yourself a nice snack, settle down at your bench and click the link on our home page to join in via Zoom.
Join us online for an hour of glad tidings and merriment. We'll take a look back at some 2020 highlights (you know Ame, she'll find something good) and share our plans for 2021, hold our recipe exchange (be sure to send in your favorite recipes for brownies, cookies, patinas, billet stacks, etc.), see who has the most festive decor and apparel (winner gets an agate burnisher!) AND we'll raffle off some goodies including a couple of great jewelry books and some GOLD (seriously!!). Totally free, just tune in by clicking the link on our home page. Save the date and don't forget to decorate your space, don some gay apparel and send in your recipe.
Click images to view larger.
 Thursday, December 17th 5-6pm PDT
Meet & Greet starts at 4:45pm Join us online for an hour of glad tidings and merriment. We'll enjoy a holiday metal arts slideshow, a few surprises and raffle off some goodies. Plus, we'll host a recipe exchange so send in your favorite recipes for brownies, cookies, patinas - whatever you want to share. Totally free, just tune in by clicking the link right here on our home page. Be sure to decorate your computer or tablet, don some gay apparel and send in your recipe. MAAA is a FREE weekly online metal arts live show. In this fun, interactive gathering we offer demos, share tips & tricks, feature work by artists and students from around the world, go on virtual studio tours, discuss historical metal arts traditions and share resources. You're invited to join in! Need help with a tricky soldering job? Wondering if a tip you saw really works? Want to give us a tour of your studio? Care to recommend a tool or instructor? Get free feedback from professional metal arts instructors! Submit a question or segment idea any time and we'll follow up. And for our December online party, remember to share your favorite recipe too! Send it in!  Anne Wolf is our guide this month for a fascinating photo journey into the gorgeous niello work of southeastern Turkey. This time she'll discuss several striking pieces from her collection, all purchased during her trip to the region in 2005. After that, we take a deep dive into a topic many of you have burning questions about... working with torches in your home studio - specifically working with gas. Which type is best? Where do you buy tanks? How do you safely store them? What about insurance? What about oxygen concentrators?!? Read more for resource links and photos!
 A friendly group of about 10 of us chit-chatted away while working in our home studios at the November Sawing Circle on the 19th ... actual sawing transpired even! Along with filing, hammering and all sorts of comparing notes and discussing tools, torches, tanks and the finer points of patinas. Our shared project was fold-formed copper leaves and there were some fantastic pieces completed (Go Kathy and Karen!). Anne filmed (and I edited) a a great video tutorial about the project so it was fun to see it put into use. Anne also gave us all a sneak peek of a new mokume pattern she's working on from an ancient Japanese tsuba - the pattern is sakura leaves on water. Wow! We also heard about new projects from Jan (cool essential oil pendants), Earl (mokume billet fusing), and Carol (amazing piercing work). See, these are the cool things that make Sawing Circle fun! For photos and a link to the video click read on.
 Thursday, December 10th 5-6pm PDT
Meet & Greet starts at 4:45pm Work on anything you like or take a stab at this month's shared project - Wire Holiday Ornaments! Anne will be showing off some simple ways to make cool ornaments - great last minute gifts! Whether you work on your own thing or watch the demo, we hope you'll join us from your studio to work in the good conversation and company of like-minded friends. Totally free, no need to RSVP, simply enter by clicking the link. Meet & greet starts at 4:45pm, demo begins right after 5pm. Holiday decor and attire encouraged!  While we wait for that other result🗳, we can announce our #HandMedalProject winners! Karen won the award for “Most Prolific” with 20 medals completed 🏆 while Nancy won the prize for “Most Intricate” for her addition of a teeny tiny bracelet to all 11 hands she made🏅. Since we started the project in the summer time, their prizes are tiki face masks😷🦜🍹🗿- going out in the mail today. Thanks again to everyone who participated.
🍁🍂 Get involved with our next project: we’re making fold-formed copper leaves this month at our free online #SawingCircle. See our website for a free video demo and the date & time. |
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