Level: Intermediate and above
Requirements: Basic Metalsmithing Skills
Program: Summer
Status: Wait List
Length: 5 Days
Tuition: $ 745
Materials: TBA
Date: August 05, 2009 - August 09, 2009
Time: 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Location: Metalwerx

A little gold goes a long way!

The week will be filled with lots of demonstrations each day and plenty of time to practice different techniques including:

• Fusion applications (gold painting)
• Doublee (similar to bi-metal but can be cut through to reveal patterns)
• Keum-boo
• Depletion gilding
• Inlay and Overlay procedures
• Tumbaga & Guanin alloys will be introduced. These are South American copper and bronze alloys which can be depletion gilded to look more like pure gold.
• Discussion of fire gilding

Bring ideas, sketches, patterns, and designs so that you can re-create them on metal! Charles will demonstrate and define control factors so you can achieve free compositional choice.

Students will provide their own gold for this class (detailed below) which will be applied to both copper and sterling silver. Start by applying gold to thick copper sheet (1/8") which is rolled down to a finer gauge to end up with interesting gold surface patterns on copper. This will be followed with methods for applying gold to sterling silver for Keum Boo and Doublee.

Manipulate patterned sheet for finished work--students can try fold forming, bending, fabricating, texturing, etc. metal to create unique pieces that stretch the life of gold! Choose to make lots of samples of sheet metal to work with later on in your own studios or work to pursue finished pieces.

Many of the techniques work well under enamels as given in a presentation to the 1993 Enamelist Society Conference in Cincinnati.

SANDALS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE WORN IN OUR STUDIO FOR SAFETY REASONS. Make sure to wear close toed shoes to class!!!

Materials & Tools

There will be copper and silver for sale at the class. If you have your own metal, you are welcome to bring it (as suggested below in specific gauges). Students will be required to have (15) 1" x 1" square pieces of 1/8" thick copper sheet to make samples . Metalwerx will provide these for an estimated fee of $20. Silver can be bought as needed or brought by the student.

Students Must Bring:

Metalwerx will not have gold on hand to sell to students.

• 10 + grams suggested of old gold scrap (mixed, old chains, gold you wouldn't use for anything else, soldered, 14k, 18k).
• 1 - 15 grams of 24 kt pure gold for Doublee and Keum Boo. We suggest getting around 7 - 8 grams so that you have enough to use for projects--the more the merrier. This can be in the form of lump casting grain, sheet, coin (stamped bar or coin may be cheaper)
• Art Clay people have a 23 Kt gold slip. If any student wishes to bring some--we can use that too.
• If you want to pursue more samples using sterling silver, we suggest bringing 14 gauge sheet as well.

Students can bring or purchase at the class:

• Sterling Silver Wire: 3 feet of 16 or 14 gauge
• Sterling Silver sheet: 18 or 20 gauge for making Keum Boo
• IF YOU HAVE IT: thick copper (2 - 3mm to 1/8" preferred)