I’ve never been very good at arts and crafts. I recall one time in fourth grade art, we were making pumpkins out of construction paper, strips were cut and glued to the background, an inch was to be left between each strip. I remember finishing mine and I can’t say I was please with the outcome. Do you know how difficult it is to cut construction paper with right-handed scissors when you’re left-handed? Needless to say, my artwork was scrutinized and i was told not to rush through my projects. My suggestion of possibly getting some scissors for the one left-handed student wasn’t well received and I continued to struggle through art.
This past Christmas, S bought me a silversmith course at The Devil’s Workshop. It’s a great place! I took part in a 7 week course in which I got to create two projects. One, a ring:
It’s made of brass and a yellow beryl gemstone. I made it entirely from scratch and am so proud of it. The band has this great texture, I had hammered it all around, so it looks dented, like this. Hmmm, I wonder if I can charge something like that for this ring? Perhaps if it were made of gold and my last name was Picasso.
The second project, a necklace, is my favourite. This one took a bit more time, as expressed earlier in this post, I’m not very good with scissors, can you imagine me with a saw? However, I had surprised even myself, I wasn’t half bad at it (I won’t even point out the mistake I may have made). I didn’t realize when I had chosen this design how difficult it could be. The design itself is fairly simple, take a look:
You like? Doesn’t my iPhone take half decent photos? I had to solder all of those leaves onto the piece of wire but it was challenging as heck. Imagine trying to place a piece of metal about a millimeter around (ever so gently) on top of each of those leaves as they sit next to (not yet affixed) the wire branch. Breathing was not allowed, as I learned, after blowing them away on several occasions. And a steady hand is so important, I think I have the early stages of my Baka’s (Grandma’s) shaky hand syndrome. Nooo!
You can’t tell in this photo but the bird and branch are one piece now and sit on a lovely silver chain that goes down to my ribs. It’s fabulous and I’m wearing it right now and almost every day since I had finished it.
If you’re in Toronto and looking for great jewelry making classes or to buy some great original, handmade jewelry, check out The Devil’s Workshop. Sarah, my instructor, is great, super creative and extremely patient. Class sizes are small, about 6, so it almost feels like a personal class.
And if you’re getting married and want to add a great personal touch to the event, there’s a class available for you. You’ll both create wedding bands. How awesome is that?
Now that I’ve proven to myself that I can in fact make something artsy, I think I can finally let go of my fourth grade art class complex.
