Jewelry Artisan Cooperative: Necklaces

Showing posts with label Necklaces. Show all posts

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Fusion Art Jewelry Has First Solo Gig

On Saturday, April 17th, Fusion Art Jewelry designer and artisan, had her first solo exhibit and sale in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. She set up an awesome display with her fabulous jewelry spread out over three tables and she almost ran out of room.

It was a lovely day for an outdoor event. She took a great photo of one of her larger multi-strand necklaces and had it enlarged to use as a framed sign, which she hung toward the back of her canopy - it looked very professional.

She used a number of small and medium signs to let people know they could request custom orders, etc. And she also had some very cute miniature polymer clay couches she used to display her new business cards. Way to go!

We're Still Learning

Three of us are continuing in our quest to learn more and different jewelry techniques and have recently begun a class in Bronze Precious Metal Clay at our local adult education facility in Sarasota, Florida . The class instructor is Colleen White, a wonderfully talented jewelry artist and silversmith who has learned all the ins and outs of using precious metal clay and has a studio and gallery in The Village of The Arts in Bradenton, Florida.

Judy Levine, Sue Herring, and Judy Pirkey, along with the rest of the class, made pendants the first week, and then a pair of earrings the second week. It's a real challenge as you have to make sure you do everything according to instructions or risk problems with your work. The clay has to be kneaded to make sure there are no air bubbles that can burst when the item is placed in the kiln to be fired. And then there are the little cracks that occur when the clay is a little too dry. Sometimes they can be fixed using slip, and other times you just have to ball it up and try again. And if you press too hard while you're sanding a piece before it's fired, it may break. But we're all determined to have new beads and components to add to our ever-growing jewelry collections.