Day 2 Fold Forming Conference with Charles Lewton-Brain

Can you tell I'm having fun?

Day 2 began with a review and then moved right into T-folds and their many variations including wedge T-folds, T-folds on an angle, and alternate T-folds. Here is a sample of a T-fold forged with the legs free on the left and legs pinned on the right.. If the piece was long enough it would spiral all the way around and take on a "bamboo" quality.

The next T-fold demo involved inserting items into the T, whacking it under a protective piece of rubber and voila! The poor mans rolling mill effect:

Chasing on air; a technique I've been wanting to learn.....

 

Last sample of the day; scored folds....

And finally, here's what I did today...

Day 1 Fold Forming Conference with Charles Lewton-Brain

Wow! We packed a LOT into one day, my body is exhausted, but my brain is in creative overdrive. For those unfamiliar with FF, here's a brief overview:

"Charles Lewton-Brain is credited with inventing fold forming, a metalsmithing technique recognized the world over as the only new, original innovation in metal working in millennia. Fold forming uses the metal's flexibility to make complex forms resembling chased, constructed and soldered shapes. You can rapidly achieve results in three to five minutes from single sheets of metal! The tools are simple: fingers, hammers, mallets, anvil, vise and rolling mill."

Our morning began with a lecture on the basics and terminology of FF, a review of the latest applications in industry and art, an overview of tools and how to modify them, and a quick discussion on intentional design. We also looked at slides showing the similarities and links between the organic nature of FF and actual designs that occur in nature. Fascinating!

Charles then spent several hours explaining and demonstration basic folds before turning us loose to "play". Here are his samples and a few of my pieces....

YOJ Week 31 - Biker Chic

I took a "Faux Chainmaille" class last week, it's fun to be the student once in awhile! :-)

Here's mine....

And here's the class photo....

A weekend in NYC

After finishing up classes in New Jersey last week, my delightful traveling companions and I spent a weekend in NYC. We had a lot to see and do on our list but I think we hit them all. Friday night our first stop was Times Square. Even a bit of rain didn't dampen our enthusiasm.

Saturday was a beautiful day, sunny, seventies and breezy; a perfect day to eat our way around Manhattan. The day began with "Breakfast at Tiffanys" and coffee in Central Park, then lunch in China Town and a gelato in Little Italy. Funny how a lot of things on our list revolved around food.... :-)

 

We ended the day at Ground Zero. Very sobering.

Sunday dawned another beautiful day, the perfect day for a ferry ride from which to view the Manhattan skyline, Ellis Island and the Lady Liberty.

 

 

We arrived home late Sunday, a bit tired and sunburned, but with great memories of our weekend in the city!

YOJ Week 30 - Lucy in the Sky (with Swarovski's)

Yes, I know. Epic fail. Could be a serious contender in the "show us you ugliest" competition. The only thing I like is the name.

The idea was to see if I could use crystal clay to layer 2 copper cuffs together and bling the top a bit by punching holes and inserting Swarovski chatons into the clay.

Guess I'll be crossing "crystal clay" of my list of jewelry making materials....

Classes at Create Mixed Media Retreat

I really enjoy teaching, but especially when I have a great group of students! Here's what they did. Fabulous, no?

YOJ Week 29 - Ride the Wave!

I don't know why I do this to myself. I'm leaving tomorrow to teach for 2 days at the Create Mixed Media Retreat in New Jersey. I should be packing, making a list, checking it twice...

But no.....

I got distracted by an idea and HAD to finish it. It started out as a triple wave cuff, but then it occurred to me that I should add some color. These beautiful enameled flowers by C-Koop are the perfect accent. It looks like the flowers are literally riding a wave down my wrist. I love it. I can't stop looking at it.

But now I really must get packing....

PS: There is still room in my classes..... :-)

Eva's Workshops at Create Mixed Media Retreat:

• Scribble Cuff & Doodle Rings (6 hours) (Thursday)
• Banner Wrap Beach Glass (3 hours) (Thursday evening)
• Textured Cuffs & Scrapbox Rings (6 hours) (Friday)

YOJ Week 28 - The Chained Convertible Cuff

While I was at Bead and Button, Norma Melton, the founder of WireKnitZ did a video on "The Convertible Cuff" which is designed with the 3000 series of WireKnitZ. I had some brass chain that was a perfect fit over the cuff and a perfect match to the brass magnetic closure. So I chained it up and Voila! What do you think?

Videos on "The Jewelry Making Professor"

I currently have 3 videos up on the "Jewelry Making Professor" site. This is a great resource for both hobbyists and professional hand crafted jewelry artists. Check out their membership program here and my videos here. Enjoy!

YOJ Week 27 - Student work plus some misc. ramblings

I've been so busy...I know, same old story...but really, I have. My slave driver of a co-author makes me work on our book 2 days a week, plus I'm trying to get proposals together for next years teaching schedule. I swear, all the various venues must be in cahoots.....I can hear them now...let's all make the submittal deadlines for the shank of the summer so they all have to spend the most beautiful days working in their hot sweaty studios...bwaaahaaahaaa...

But I digress...

On the upside, I did get to take a couple days off to celebrate my sweeties birthday and our anniversary, which I ingeniously scheduled on the same day 29 years ago......

This is us then.....

And now......

And just so I can keep current with my year of jewelry posts, here are some pix from a class i taught Saturday.

My students just keep getting better and better, no?

Copyright Info

Copyright issues are an endless source of discussion and disagreement in almost every group I belong to. My understanding is that techniques can not be copyrighted, only tutorials and photographs can be copyrighted. However, there is also the issue of ethics, which is where the water gets a little muddy. Here is what Mindy Brooks, editor of Bead and Button had to say on the subject....

Beaders' Ethics
Mindy Brooks Editor, Bead&Button
editor@beadandbutton.com

When, if ever, is it acceptable to sell or teach another person’s designs? That’s a question we hear frequently at Bead&Button, and it tells us that many of our readers care about the ethical and legal issues involved when it comes to the money-making aspects of beading. Unfortunately, we also have firsthand experience with beading’s darker side – the dishonest few who cause heartache and financial harm by cashing in on another person’s original work. And when unethical people profit from ideas that don’t belong to them, it hurts us all.

Maybe it was inevitable that as beading became more popular, people would look for shortcuts to exploit the growing number of lucrative opportunities, and maybe there is nothing one editor or one editorial can do to change that. So, it’s gratifying to know that my concerns about the ethics of beading are shared by the editors of other beading magazines, including Cathy Jakicic of Bead Style, Marlene Blessing of Beadwork, Pamela Hawkins of Bead Unique, and Leslie Rogalski of Step by Step Beads. They will also be covering this topic in upcoming issues of their publications. To address the question presented at the start of this editorial, Bead&Button’s position on copying designs is as follows:

• It is unethical to copy an artist’s work to sell without the artist’s permission. 
• It is unethical to copy any work that has appeared in a magazine, book, or website and represent it in any venue as an original design.
• It is unethical to teach a beading project that has appeared in a magazine, book, or website without the artist’s permission. 
• It is unethical to teach a beading project learned in another teacher’s class without the teacher’s permission. 

If you agree, please help disseminate this message by including a copy of these statements with your class materials, your kits, and the pieces you sell.

What I sent my BSBP partner....

.....and she seemed to like it! Can't wait to see what you do with it Astrid Boyce!!!!

:-)

One Year Blog Anniversary

 

I wrote my first blog post on July 3, 2011 and have had more fun than I ever imagined. Here's an overview of my first year of blogging....plus some shameless self promotion.... :-)

• All time history: 25,412 page views
• Largest audience: US with 17,217 page views
• Wrote 97 posts
• Most viewed post: FREE Caged Bead Bracelet Tutorial with 1,485 page views
• Most commented post: Win a Custom Created Birds Nest Ring with 41 comments
• Blogged 3 free tutorials: Brangle, Caged Beads & Bead Soup Bangle
• Completed and blogged Year of Jewelry 2011 and up to date with YOJ 2012
• Participated in 3 Bead Soup Blog Hops
• Taught nationally at: Tuscon Electric Park, Tucson Bead Show & Bead Fest Spring
• Published on the cover of a national magazine: Step by Step Wire
• Published 3 tutorials in Step by Step Wire and one in Jewelry Affaire
• Co-authoring a book on Designing Jewelry with Sea Glass due out late 2013

Oh, and happy Independence Day my friends!!!