Last Sunday was day 3 and yesterday, Saturday was day 4 of the Squash Blossom & Flower cuff.  You can read about sessions 1 and 2 here. 

Last Saturday we only had 7 of the 8 students attends as one was out sick with that thing that has been going around (and I had in February). But we had to keep moving... we spent more time working on the repousse and most of the students were actually ready to start the chasing on the front.  

On Friday night, the day before yesterday, we met at the club shop for an open "studio" session from 6 pm - 9 pm. About half the students made it and they were able to continue to work on their cuffs and be ready for yesterday's session which was about finishing their cuffs. 

This last session allowed the students finish the chasing - texturing, planishing and relining of the design and to start cutting off the extra silver to the outside of their cuffs.  The cuff I am making was beyond this point so I could show them how to trim off the metal and then use shears to cut the metal away; use a saw blade to trim close to the frame; use files to get it flush and sanding stick to get it all square.  

I am applying gold to my squash flowers so I came to the workshop ready to show the students how to fuse and burnish the gold.  

I also talked about polishing their cuff - the different compounds, different types of wheels, a polishing station and using mini wheels in a hand piece, and then demonstrated the pre-polish so they can then determine if they can move on or have to go back and do more filing and sanding by looking for scratches and such. 

The 3rd demonstration/discussion was on how to anneal, bend, anneal, bend and form the cuff.  

And the final discussion was on patina - not just LOS but the various other ways to add color and accent to your piece such as solvent and alcohol dyes and pastes. 

No one actually finished their cuffs so we will work together over the next few weeks, on Friday nights, to get everyones done.   

Yes, in the future, this will be a 5 day workshop. 

Here are pictures from the last two days. 

This past weekend was the first two sessions of the Squash Blossom Cuff workshop. 

Diane, the workshop shop elf, and I arrived early to setup.  At 10 am the students: Karen, Stephanie, Laurie, Eleanor, Mary, Heather, and Sylvia arrived; ready to start. 

I started by discussing the steps to make the cuff:  Forming the frame, stick soldering the frame to the sheet, transferring the design, the lining, repousse, final chasing, removing the extra silver and clean up of the cuff, polishing,  forming and patina. Then a mention of the bonus enhancements - applying gold or tube set CZ's.

And so we began.

By the end of day one all the frames had been soldered, the designs transferred and the lining done.
For day 2  everyone was working on their repousse with a side discussion of tiny tools and tool making. 
Now they have home work to finish the repousse before the next session which is in two weeks.  To help them get to that point, I am will be available for the 2 Friday evenings at the club shop before that 3rd session. 

Here are pictures from the two day of them working on their pieces.