Thursday, June 12, 2008

Teaching heaven



These one-on-one silver metal clay workshops are proving to be really fulfilling...for both the student and me! It's a much more freeflowing way of teaching and the feedback I'm getting is awesome.
What I generally ask when people book in for a one-on-one metal clay workshop is to bring pictures, both drawn and from books and magazines, of the type of jewellery they like or want to make...keeping in mind to keep it simple. I don't promise we'll make something like it but we use these sketches and inspirational pics to form our own prototype. In Jen's case, we took her drawing of an elegant long earring, altered it slightly in it's design to ensure success for a first piece (ie simplified it a bit with clean straight lines) and included certain elements like texturing, adding layers, adding elements, making bails so that many of the basic techniques are covered. I want people to go home after a day here with a good basic foundation so that once home, they can immediately start to create with confidence. We then made a polymer clay protoype. Having a much better sense of what 'works' asthetically when I see it in 3d rather than a flat drawing, making a test piece really highlights what needs to be altered before the pmc pack is even opened.
So anyway...meet Jen.. and enjoy these pics of her pieces. You can imagine how happy she was, having made these exquisite pieces on her first ever play with silver clay.

2 comments:

Susan Turney said...

Wow, Mel! Those are beautiful! She must have been absolutely thrilled. I'm sure you'll have many more students once her friends see her new pieces.

Mel said...

Hiya Susan, nice to hear from you! Yes, she was thrilled and so was I. We both had a great day and I'm always thrilled when I see how people 'take' to claying, be it polymer or silver clay.I remember it from when I first touched clays, of any description. It's like your heart skips a beat...as it finds a new love...