First Day of School

This will be short because I'm running behind.

Today was the first day of class (at my local college).  Just to be clear, I am TAKING a class there, not teaching one.

The class is "jewelry making" and before you question this, let me say that I've already picked up some pointers on our first day.

Yes, it's true I've been making jewelry for years, but when you have no formal education (are self-taught) there can be gaps here and there that you missed out on that could be very helpful to your work.

Also, talking to others (teachers, students, peers, etc), there's always some little trick you learn that you didn't know about before.

This morning we went over safety and the class outline/syllabus.  Then we got a wire-wrapping demo and set off on our own wire-wrapping adventures.  Sitting to my right was someone who does wire-wrapping for a living which was nice.

We each got a piece of fused glass and some 20 gauge copper wire and then we got to play.

So far, I learned a different way to make a loop in a wire and I learned an interesting way to make a bail with wire wrapping.

We then watched a Tim McCreight video that (to me) had some pretty involved creations but I guess it's always fun to see the possibilities of the techniques you're going to learn.

The section on the rolling mill got me excited to use mine again (it's been ages).  On my way out of class I picked up some leaves that I think would make beautiful impressions.

We'll have more homework in this class than I did in my welding class.  Our first assignments (due in a week) include designing and making a piece of alternative art jewelry (as in made from non-typical materials... think of Project Runway's unconventional challenge).  The second thing is to design the first thing we'll be saw piercing (we have instructions to use our initials for this first one).

Okay, the day is ending and I still have a lot to do.  Talk to you later... and all of you on the east coast take care with blizzard Juno heading your way.