A Return to Jewelry Making

Well, my other new hobbies didn't take off quite as well as I had hoped; it seems I tend to stick to what I know best - running and making jewelry. I recently finished a six week long basic wire jewelry class at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center to jump start my creativity again and I'm soooo glad I did! We met Thursday evenings from 6 to 9pm and made some amazing pieces using techniques I hadn't tried before (to my surprise).

During the first two weeks we made a gorgeous copper bangle out of twisted wire. To start the project, she taught us how to use a drill to twist two 16 gauge pieces of wire together. Next, we coiled the twisted wire and slid it onto a 12 gauge of wire to anchor it. We used copper wire, because it's inexpensive, to learn the technique and while I love the fun look it creates, I prefer to work in silver once I have mastered a skill.






The next two weeks were spent making a second copper bangle using coiled beads we created, and making more clasps and ear wires. Here's a photo of my bangle before it was dipped in liver sulfur to darken it.





















My instructor, Stacy Perry, was wonderful, and I ended up signing up for a Soldering Basics workshop with her at Something About Beads in Palm Harbor. We made the disc earrings and silver ring in the photo below and I may have purchased a torch from her to continue practicing at home (since I couldn't ship mine from Hawaii!)

I would without a doubt recommend classes at the DFAC and they have an impressive offering in just
about every medium. I'm hoping to take the second session of her wire class in the fall but while I'm marathon training, I couldn't keep driving to Dunedin in rush hour this spring. I made the rings below in our last class.