Sunday, February 05, 2012

silversmithing

35mm Brass Sphere
This semester I've had the opportunity to take a silversmithing class with Shao-pin Chu, an incredibly talented designer of jewellery, furniture, and other sculptural objects.  I really like his approach and methods of teaching, but the learning curve has also proven to be rather steep.  Last week I spent 12 hr days in the studio hammering assignments that Shao-pin completed in just a couple hours.. *sigh*

Brass Bowl
I spent hours hammering and planishing the bowl above, only to discover that I'd been hammering incorrectly and had to re-hammer multiple times over to try and perfect the form.. By the end, my hands were so swollen and blistered that I could hardly even hold on to my metropass when I walked to the subway at the end of the day...

however, we learn from our mistakes and although these mistakes are time costly, I am learning so many valuable techniques and things about myself in the process...patience being one of them!

2 comments:

  1. I just stumbled on your blog this morning & had to comment - good for you for learning silversmithing! My dad is a custom jeweler and although I work for him I never learned the trade. I think metals are fascinating though & it takes a special kind of person (patience!) to learn to work with them. Keep it up! :)

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by - and for the encouraging words! They mean a lot to me :)

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