Description:

Use this fun box project to hone your small metal sculpture skills! Building on the basics of jewelrymaking, students will practice design, layout, soldering, filing, forming, and decorative embellishment with the flex shaft in the fabrication of a small, friction-fit brass box. This decorative item is a perfect practice project to expand your small metal sculpture comfort zone, and also makes a lovely gift!  A small bezel set stone can be added if time permits.

Prerequisites:

Students should have experience in using hand tools and be comfortable with a torch.

Materials:

A fee for $50 will be collected on the first day of class. The fee covers consumables, brass, silver bezel stock, flex shaft supplies and stones.

What to Bring:

Students can bring their own jewelry hand tools, a note book and some pictures of examples of small boxes for inspiration.

Instructor Biography:

Karen Christians is an educator and maker in the metal arts. She developed the metals program at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, founded Metalwerx in Waltham, a non-profit school for jewelry and the metal arts, and the new jewelry section of the Hot Craft Studio at Artisans Asylum in Somerville. She teaches nationally, lectures around the country, and is published in many professional and technical magazines. She is the author of the book, "Making the Most of Your Flex-Shaft." Karen holds a BFA with High Honors from the Massachusetts College of Art. She is currently writing a second book, "The Jewelry of Burning Man."