It's been a while!

Feb 14 2010,Happy Valentine’s Day!

I can’t believe how long it has been since I have posted last! I guess I haven’t figured out how to fit blogging into my regular schedule. A year seems like a long hiatus, no? But it’s been a good year, full of many happy things, and lots of jewelry fun and sales.

I love teaching metalsmith classes at the Garden of Beadin in Bartonsville, PA, and classes are going strong. I like it so much that I have been dreaming of finding new places to teach. Maybe something will turn up soon. I had begun teaching classes at a wonderful new shop (for me), My Father’s Beads, In Coopersburg, PA. Sadly for me, they are closing soon. I will miss the owner, Jeri, and the people I was beginning to meet and know there.

Here are some samples I made in a great workshop I took last fall, with Janna Gregonis. Steeling Kisses is an example of the Korean art of Po Mak San Dum. First, make a nice sharp chisel. Then, chisel an intricate pattern in steel sheet. Finally, hammer in some metal foil. Anything from 24K gold foil to colored candy foil will do. That’s how Steeling Kisses got its name: Mild steel combined with Hershey’s Kiss foil! (Extra perk – you get to eat the kisses.) Here, another pair of earrings for a friend’s gift, this time with 24K gold foil.

Below, some Keum bu earrings from the same weekend, 24 K gold foil heat bonded to sterling silver. Janna taught keum bu with both a hot plate and a torch. I have done keum bu before with a hot plate, but I didn’t want to have to buy and store yet one more piece of equipment. I just loved learning how to do keum bu with a torch! It was right up my alley, and helped avoid a case of hot-hand. Now, if only the cost of 2 K gold foil would drop. Ha!