01.26.2024 Back to School

My bench (for the semester) at ACC

Here we are at the end of January (how did that happen already) - and I realized if I want to start the year with the goal of a post a month, I'd better do something about it...

...happily, I am back at then bench - enrolled as a continuing education student in the Jewelry Department at Austin Community College, so I have things to write about!

It's been a long time (nearly 40 years) since I had a "first day of school" for myself...and I was as excited about it as any kindergartener.

I bought school supplies - metal, wire, sandpaper - and packed up my new tote bag and headed out the door early for my first class a couple of weeks ago.

Design sketch for the piercing assignment

Despite having metalsmithing experience, and an Etsy shop, I decided I wanted to start from scratch and enroll in the Jewelry Techniques 1.

At least for a while, I'm back at the bench solely for myself - with no plans to make anything to sell - I simply want the joy of being creative again.

It might be an introductory class, but we wasted no time getting started.  We hit the ground running - actually working with metal - after taking care of a few administrative things.

My Green Lion saw and 24 square inches of silver

To my great delight, our first project involved my very favorite tool, the saw.  Our first assignment was to design a piece (or in my case, pieces) that would need to be cut from sheet with details created by piercing (sawing the metal).  I decided on a pair of monstera leaf earrings.

It felt so good to have my Green Lion back in my hands, and it turns out it is kind of like any other activity that involves muscle memory - the skills come back pretty quickly.

The inspiration for the earrings came from a pair I bought as a souvenir on our honeymoon.  They were very inexpensive, made of brass, and unfortunately - didn't last very long - one of the earwires broke off, and I wasn't able to get them repaired.  Nonetheless, I've kept them as a memento, and was excited about making something to fill that void (especially since we just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary).

Old and new earrings

I arrived for the second day of class ready to get to work, with my template stickers, my saw and a big shiny new sheet of silver.

I got to work, first drilling small holes to get out the interior part of the design, then carefully moving around the metal with my saw until, at the end of class (and my first week) I had the beginnings of a pair of beautiful earrings.

I also lit the torch for the first time - and made earwires.  I had forgotten just how satisfying it is to watch the little ball of silver form in the flame and crawl up the wire.

I've now finished two weeks of class, and my first project - and I could not be more pleased.   

I am back in my happy place, I have a shiny, new pair of earrings - that of course, have a story - and clearly I'm going to have lots of material for future blog posts.

If you're new to following along on my jewelry adventures - welcome - I've missed sharing them.  If you've been here with me a while, either from the before times or during the pandemic - thanks for hanging around.

Until next time.