Classes at Bead and Button 2010

In case you're thinking about attending the Bead and Button Show next June and want to start plotting your class choices, the schedule is due out soon. If you've attended before, the hard copy will be arriving in your mailbox; otherwise the complete listing will be available online December 15. Registration begins January 12, so it's not too soon to get organized.

I'll be teaching there for the first time, two different classes, tentatively on Wednesday and Friday.


The first is my Garden Windows Pendant class, which covers combining metal clay with glass. We'll make a set of hand-painted glass tiles using vitreous enamels, and then embed one of those into a two-part metal clay pendant. The class is so packed with information that it moves really quickly. I probably should add even more and expand to a two-day class, but it's hard enough to get a one-day class as a new instructor, so I'm squeezing a lot into one day. Topics covered include planning for shrinkage and reactions, drawing and painting on glass, using molds, combining prefired elements, using syringe and hand-formed decorations. Whew!


The second class is an electroforming class titled Copper On, Copper Off. Lots of great instructors teach the basics of electroforming, so I want to offer something different. We'll go beyond caging beads or copper plating pods as I introduce my carved electroforming technique. Yes, I'll cover the fundamentals of electroforming, including WHY things happen the way they do and how to exploit that understanding, but the focus is on carving a design, as fancy as you like, into the copper covering the glass bead. Simple bicone or lentil beads will be provided, so there's no glass work in this class. While it's possible to prepare more than one bead, only one bead should make it through the complete copper growth process due to time and equipment limitations. Also included are my ideas on adding controlled textures and finishing.

I do hope some of you will care to join me -- it will be a lot of fun! Or at least visit me at Meet the Teachers, where I'll have some exciting new treasures to share with you. Shhh, secrets!