I spent part of this weekend learning some basic leather working skills.  

Why? 

Well, 3 -4 years ago I worked on a series of leather journal covers with a riveted metal panel that had chasing & repousse designs. And even though they are all in the hands of others, I knew that this was something that I wanted to continue to make and eventually sell but the move to Texas and not having a studio interfered with my ability to resume this work.  Having a studio again, and having everything unpacked, I was finally able to do something about that and earlier in the month, I signed up for 3 leather workshops - this weekend was tooling, then I will have a workshop on sewing by hand and with a machine; and then a class by about dying. 

These will give me the basic skills to raise the visual appeal of the covers. 

What did I learn this weekend in the tooling class? I learned pattern transfer, casing (wetting) the leather, using a swivel knife, and 6 basic tool techniques using a Camouflage, pear shader, beveler, veiner, seeder and background stamps. We had a scrap of leather where we could practice with a specific tool and then we tooled a flower on a leather coaster. 

I did find that my chasing and repousse skills helped me understand how to not only hold the tools but to hammer and move the tools to even work; the teacher even commented that my "beginner" skills were very good.

So stay tuned, more leather and metal work is on the way!

Last year, after we move to Texas, I re-branded this site from The Adventurous Silversmith to The Adventurous Smith. 
I was having an identity crisis because I was thinking of giving up metal work (yes and I never told any one - GASP!!) and I thought I would focus more on fiber related things like weaving, temari, yubinuki, sewing and such.  Now, a year after that thought, I have come to the conclusion that I AM a metalsmith who will do fiber and even leather work on the side. 

It also helps to have a studio!

So as of today I have put the original silversmith banner back up, re-renamed my Facebook page and put my website url back to where it belongs.

For the time being, I have also shut my ecommerce store while I rethink what I will sell both the physical goods and workshops and possibly even downloadable tutorials.

Yesterday I held the inaugural class in my new workshop/studio. The class subject was sinking a simple copper bowl for beginners and was aimed at learning basic skills - working with a torch (annealing), using a jewelers saw (rounding the corners of a copper square), sanding, polishing, hammering (sinking and basic planishing) and observing soldering (adding the ring bases).   We also discussed shop safety, the tools and equipment used and assembling a toolbox to take to classes.

My students were Barbara, Irma, and Nancy. I know Barbara and Irma and Nancy is a friend of Irma's so it was a friendly and relaxed class. 

I started the day, before they arrived, annealing, winding, and sawing the ring bases for their bowls. The ladies arrived just before 10 am and into the studio we went!  After "The Safety Discussion", the ladies stamped their initials in the center of one side - this would become the bottom/outside of the bowl. Then they learned how to use the jewelers saw to round the corners. We moved on to sanding the edges and how to make sanding sticks. I then demonstrated polishing the copper to soften all edges and to remove the scratches, while the copper was flat so there was less work to do after the bowl was formed.  Then came the hammering - sinking into the custom wood forms I have had made over the years, and how to anneal in-between each round of going deeper.  When each was happy with the shape and depth of their dish it was time to go to the stake stump and they learned planishing and after that I worked with each of them to solder a ring base on; I did the soldering but they assisted by watching for the flow of the solder and turning the turntable, so I could focus on heating and soldering; they also quenched their dishes and put it in the pickle.  Lastly, they did a final polish and their bowls were done. 

As we sat around the table, after the class, discussing what they learned they asked what they could learn next! 
I guess I need to start planning another class.