YES, I know, I have not posted on how the workshop has been progressing. But hey, I am doing that now.

Week One (Recap): What is chasing & repousse; the different types of tools; hammer, pitch and bowls; other accessories; and books! 
Learning to line and what will the class project be. How to get the metal into and out of the pitch and not burning yourself and shop safety.

CharlesteinWeek Two:  Tracing, transferring and lining the design. Understanding what tools to use where on the design. Trying different hammers of which I have 5 different manufacturers: A generic cheapie, Fretz (2 different types), Picard (5 different sizes), Charlestein  and Nechamkin (2 sizes) and tools from different 8+ different makers: Mettleworks, Dawson, Corwin, Nechamkin, Yotkov,  Huang, Charlestein, Kern, and a vintage set . Various discussions and demonstrations so they can take a break.  Flipping the design they can do repousse the third week. 

Week Three: Repousse - what tools to use where, trying various hammers, and again various discussions and demonstrations so the students can take a break.  And at the end of the day, flipping the design again so in week four they are ready to start the final chasing. 

Week Four - Yesterday!: They relined, planished, textured, undercut and did a bit of deep chasing.  And yes, once again trying different hammer, tools plus demo's and discussions!  

Yes, they did not 100% finish the project but the worked through ALL of the basic skills which is what this workshop is about. 

These students did great - they learned fast and had great questions for me and each other.  Here they are with their piece in the bowl. 

Yesterday was the first week, of four, of a mixed level chasing & repousse workshop. This is the first time I have taught a mixed level but luckily all my students are beginner or just beyond advanced beginners.  The advanced beginners have taken an intro workshop but it was a while ago and never did anything else Or they took a class and was so confused, that they want to do the beginner project. 

So I have two beginners and three advanced beginners.

We spent the morning in "lecture" discussing what metal work they have done and what they want to do with C&R. What is pitch, the bowl, the tools, the hammers and we looked at lots of my work/samples, books for reference and what to gather for accessories/tools beyond the actual tools, hammers and pitch and bowl. 

During this they annealed and placed their copper into the pitch bowl and when it was cool they FINALLY got started on learning to line - straight and curved; postures, holding the tool and hammers and positioning the hammers. 

At the end of the day they pulled their lining sample out of the pitch and put another piece of copper in. This will allow them to start the workshop project next week and we won't have to wait for the pitch to cool.

I am taking a break again this weekend, not that i want to.

If you read this blog or my personal blog, you may know that I have an unspecific heart issue.  The past two weeks have been really bad for me and I guess you can say that it has slowly been rearing its ugly head for over a month.  A good part of it, unfortunately, is due to the day job.   

Last week I started a major plan to get it all under control and part of it is really resting more on weekends when I normally do my metal work.   

There are somethings with the metal work I can do such as not work both days and not work 8 hours at it when I do; and of course not work EVERY weekend.   

There are somethings I can't change at the moment. For example, I am teaching chasing & repousse the next FOUR Saturdays and i can't and won't cancel the workshop. Which means I will not do much on the next four Sundays. 

I am going to also push back two commissions I have plus rearrange my own schedule for making items to add to my website and to enter into shows or competitions.

I also can't change some trips I have scheduled in late September and early November as they are paid for. Unfortunately, I do have to cancel a private 2 day workshop I had just scheduled with Andrea of NC Black.  She is currently in her car driving to the west coast for various workshops up and down the coast. We discussed, on the phone, doing this workshop only two weeks ago and now I can't.  I feel bad about it but I have to. 

IF you are in the LA area and want to arrange something with her in early September, you can contact her via the website link I provided above or find her on Facebook, Twitter or other social media.