I spent last week at the John C. Campbell Folk School, again. I was there over 5 years ago for a temari class.
The school really is camp for adults. We sleep in 1, 2, 4, person rooms or a dorm. There is a dining hall for your 3 meals a day served family style; AND THE FOOD IS GOOD. There are soooo many different classes taught but there is a focus on Appalachian Crafts since that is why the school was created One Hundred Years ago, this year. Go follow the link above to see the variety of topics. Plus they are open year round. Another nice thing is that you don't need a car to get there, you can fly to an airport they suggest and then you get shuttled to and from the school - I did this the first time I came.
I came to the school this year for a week long class in Beginning Enamel and it was well worth it. I shall say that at the end of last semester, after I sign up for this class, I found out we were going to work on enamelling, next semester. Oh, well, that just gives me a better starting point.
To start, we learned about what metals can and can't be used; the 4 stages of basic enamel - sugar, orange peel, mature, and over fired. Then we moved onto using stencils, sgraffito, graphite, P4 ink, metallics, and basse-taille which is low relief in the base metal. For all of this we worked on small squares which were then glued to a wood block as a sample. This took 2-3 days depending on how much each of us focused on the task or made multiples.
Then we move into some other techniques to use our skills on. We wove a small dish out of 34 gauge copper strips which we enameled. Next was making a dish out of 32 gauge copper sheet (foil) and we learned a technique called Separation which is the application of at least 3 layers of enamel of which each is fired and then a special enamel is applied in a random pattern and allowed to dry and then fired. This last enamel "sinks" into the other layers and causes interesting effects and because the copper was so thin, it will expand and contract along with the enamels to warp the dish. This was so much fun, to see the results of everyone's.
The last 2 days was for us to make and play. Some bought pre-cut shapes to enamel for earrings or magnets, others did more stencils, graphite and ink. On the first free day I used 24 gauge copper sheet cut 6" square to make a bowl using the separation technique. It took most of the day to layer and fire the enamels. In between all of this I took 2 small 18 gauge copper discs to make very small bowls and prep others for earrings. The last thing I did was apply the special enamel so it could dry overnight. The next morning I fired my big piece and turned out amazzzzzzing! The teachers wanted to keep it as a classroom sample (or for themselves ?) because it was so beautiful. After that I made the earrings and attached ear wires to sell at the last night craft display and show. I sold 3 of the 4 pairs!
Here are all the pictures I took along with some nature pictures I took each morning as I walked from my room to breakfast and the classroom
The school really is camp for adults. We sleep in 1, 2, 4, person rooms or a dorm. There is a dining hall for your 3 meals a day served family style; AND THE FOOD IS GOOD. There are soooo many different classes taught but there is a focus on Appalachian Crafts since that is why the school was created One Hundred Years ago, this year. Go follow the link above to see the variety of topics. Plus they are open year round. Another nice thing is that you don't need a car to get there, you can fly to an airport they suggest and then you get shuttled to and from the school - I did this the first time I came.
I came to the school this year for a week long class in Beginning Enamel and it was well worth it. I shall say that at the end of last semester, after I sign up for this class, I found out we were going to work on enamelling, next semester. Oh, well, that just gives me a better starting point.
To start, we learned about what metals can and can't be used; the 4 stages of basic enamel - sugar, orange peel, mature, and over fired. Then we moved onto using stencils, sgraffito, graphite, P4 ink, metallics, and basse-taille which is low relief in the base metal. For all of this we worked on small squares which were then glued to a wood block as a sample. This took 2-3 days depending on how much each of us focused on the task or made multiples.
Then we move into some other techniques to use our skills on. We wove a small dish out of 34 gauge copper strips which we enameled. Next was making a dish out of 32 gauge copper sheet (foil) and we learned a technique called Separation which is the application of at least 3 layers of enamel of which each is fired and then a special enamel is applied in a random pattern and allowed to dry and then fired. This last enamel "sinks" into the other layers and causes interesting effects and because the copper was so thin, it will expand and contract along with the enamels to warp the dish. This was so much fun, to see the results of everyone's.
The last 2 days was for us to make and play. Some bought pre-cut shapes to enamel for earrings or magnets, others did more stencils, graphite and ink. On the first free day I used 24 gauge copper sheet cut 6" square to make a bowl using the separation technique. It took most of the day to layer and fire the enamels. In between all of this I took 2 small 18 gauge copper discs to make very small bowls and prep others for earrings. The last thing I did was apply the special enamel so it could dry overnight. The next morning I fired my big piece and turned out amazzzzzzing! The teachers wanted to keep it as a classroom sample (or for themselves ?) because it was so beautiful. After that I made the earrings and attached ear wires to sell at the last night craft display and show. I sold 3 of the 4 pairs!
Here are all the pictures I took along with some nature pictures I took each morning as I walked from my room to breakfast and the classroom
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