{"id":6957,"date":"2016-06-27T11:46:44","date_gmt":"2016-06-27T01:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.melissacameron.net\/blog\/?p=6957"},"modified":"2016-06-27T11:46:44","modified_gmt":"2016-06-27T01:46:44","slug":"new-class-at-danaca-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.melissacameron.net\/blog\/?p=6957","title":{"rendered":"New Class at Danaca Design"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"colour!<\/a>
yes, I can do colour! Enamelled washers from 2011<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Enameling Recycled Steel for Jewelry<\/a> is a new class I’ll be teaching at Danaca Design on July the 16th and 17th. Registration instructions here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The focus for this course is a slight shift from the other workshops I’ve taught to date, as I have finally figured out a way to teach what it is that I do without having to get AutoCad and a lasercutter involved for a 2 day class.<\/p>\n

\"sandblasting...\"<\/a>
sandblasting… (hand-cut fiddlies)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In my own studio I enamel fiddly little things, some of which I painstakingly draw, drill and cut out myself, and some of which I painstakingly draw and then find someone\/thing else<\/a> to do the drilling and cutting grunt work. In either case, it involves a lot of cutting before enamelling commences, after which I’m left with tiny fiddly parts to enamel, that I later piece together into jewellery.<\/p>\n

\"painting<\/a>
painting on enamel and drying… (laser-cut fiddlies)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"enameling...\"<\/a>
after firing…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"assembly...\"<\/a>
assembly…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I could say that this is not really how I learned, rather that it was by trial and error I developed a method to suit my work, (which in some cases I did), but if you dig really deep on this blog<\/a>, you’ll see that’s just not true. In fact my formative enamelling experience was working in Elizabeth Turrell’s studio at the University of the West of England (images below for a recap), where I spent a month dipping in enamel the things I found on the street on my walk to school in the morning. I then figured out a rather ad-hoc way to fire them, and to be un-flatteringly honest, I’ve not improved any part of my system much since then!<\/p>\n

\"Day<\/a>
they’re er’rywhere!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the U.S. has such an amazing array of steel bits and bobs lining practically any street edge, I decided it’s time to repeat the earlier England experiment in a workshop. The deluge of scrap metal that I find kinda shameful in a city full of metalsmiths like Seattle, will then go from environmental problem to beautiful, wearable jewels once we get our hands, and Danaca’s range of steel-ready enamels, onto them!<\/p>\n