This year in school, my arts concentration is metalsmithing.  I first began making jewelry three years ago, mostly focused on beadwork and wire wrapping.  

Last spring I wanted to branch out, and I decided to look into more advanced jewelry making techniques. And luckily, I found an amazing metalsmithing studio: OQZO. It’s in the woods about forty minutes north, and run by Lynn O. She’s a master jeweler and an incredible teacher. 

The first class I took with Lynn was a two-day session, where I learned the basics of metalsmithing and made two rings:

 Since then, I’ve made pendants with cabochons (domed stones with a flat bottom), rings, and this fall, I’ve already tried two new techniques: making cabochons and casting. 

The cabochon making class wasn’t at OQZO, but Sawtooth School for Visual Art in Winston-Salem. It was taught by one of their resident artists, and I learned so much. It was, oddly, a bit easier than metalsmithing. I loved doming the stones, and I wish I’d taken pictures of the before and after. The process was fascinating, because you go from a slab of rock to a polished stone. I set one of the cabochons, an opalized agate, in copper.

 My second new technique was casting in silver. I made the apple from the movie Fantastic Mr Fox, which is one of my favorite fall films. The apple has tiny little stars on it, which in hindsight, may have not been the smartest design to start with, but I’m actually really happy with how the piece turned out. 

The process has many steps: 

1. Use wax or clay to create your shape and carve your design into it. I used clay, so that’s what I’ll be writing about. 

2. Bake the clay. 

3. Hammer your baked clay into sand to get your mold. 

4. Melt fine silver (higher silver purity than sterling) and pour the molten metal into your mold. 

5. Immediately run the mold under freezing water. 

6. Take your piece out of the mold and re-carve the details. 

7. If it’s a pendant, like mine, add a bail so it can hang on a chain. 

8. Polish your piece and add it to a chain. And done!

 I finished this first piece in about four hours, which is actually pretty quick for casting. If you’re using wax, it takes much longer to carve your design. Wax is best for flatter designs and clay is better for 3D ones. 

Overall, I’ve had a great start to my year of metalsmithing and jewelry design. I’m really looking forward to casting again in the future, and I’ll definitely be taking more classes at Sawtooth.