Inter-connected: Connections for Enamel

This team-taught virtual workshop will cover a variety of construction methods and techniques for steel (and copper) in preparation for enamel. Tab & slot, mortise & tenon, and scoring & bending are perfect set-ups for the enameling process and will be covered in this dynamic workshop prior to shifting gears into liquid enamel preparation and application, enameling on mild steel, hot sifting, and dry sifting.

Class one will cover construction methods with Elliot and in the second class, students will learn to enamel on their constructed forms with Tanya. Class three will feature both instructors fielding questions and demonstrations as needed. Students will receive pre-cut steel blanks to work from and will purchase the rest of the materials from the material list as needed.

This course will consist of three sessions on Thursday 1/7/21, Friday 1/8/21, and Thursday 1/14/21.  

Class will be held live via Zoom during the designated time frame. A link to the Zoom meeting will be sent via email.

The sessions will be recorded and you will receive a password protected link to the recordings that expire after 30 days. 

Please read the Materials & Tools tab! 

Meet the instructor

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Tanya Crane is a Southern California native who holds a degree in Metal from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a degree in Art/Metals from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She seeks adventure and experience, which has led to a lifetime of moving from one metropolitan city to another. These experiences have informed her work offering a diverse range of materials, which she has integrated into her jewelry and sculptures that speak more to her research about identity and race, than to the material itself.

 

 

Elliot Earl Keeley is an artist and metalsmith from Raleigh, North Carolina. He holds a BFA with a concentration in metalsmithing and jewelry design from Appalachian State University. In 2016, he participated in the two year Core Fellowship at Penland School of Craft. He is currently based in Baltimore, Maryland where he is a Studio Manager with the Baltimore Jewelry Center. His practice focuses on metalsmithing techniques while maintaining a broader practice in drawing and painting.

 

 

Materials & Tools

To lower expenses for students, the following $10 partial supply kit will be sent to the shipping address you have listed on your Metalwerx account. Kits will be mailed out by December 31st. If you register after this date, the kit can still be mailed to you, but may not reach you by the workshop start date. Payment can be made to Elliot via check, Venmo, or Paypal during the workshop. Please inform us if you reside outside of the United States, as your shipping cost may differ from the standard shipping included in the materials kit fee and may also need to be expedited. All items listed below are covered by the kit fee.

  • 2 x laser-cut steel sheets with tabs
  • 2 x pre-cut steel sheets no tabs
  • shipping cost
Students should bring

Students will need to have the following materials in preparation for this online workshop. If you do not already have them, a suggested item and/or a vendor from which you can purchase these items has been provided below. Click the vendor name (in red) to be redirected to a page where you can find or choose the item. The quantities you need for each item are listed first. Please be aware that some items may come in larger quantities than needed for this class. Please order these materials as soon as possible due to longer than usual turn-around times. We recommend not opening the enclosed packaging until the day of the workshop.

Enamels:

  • variety of Thompson or W.G.Ball 80 mesh sifting enamel (Enamel Warehouse or E-namels)
  • 4oz - variety of dry form liquid enamel for copper (E-namels)
  • 4oz - dry liquid enamel for steel groundcoat (E-namels)
  • 1 x W.G.Ball painting enamel kit (E-namels)

Enameling materials:

  • dust mask
  • eye protection - for kiln / torch
  • 4 x empty (butter tub size) containers - for mixing/storing enamels
  • rubber spatula
  • old utility tweezers - straight-tip 6" (Rio Grande)
  • 1 x compressed graphite 1/16" - item #1276N12 (McMaster Carr)
  • fan and open window - for ventilation 
  • palette knife (Blick)
  • enameled or ceramic tiles - 2 to 3 for mixing paints (hardware store)
  • pipettes
  • 90% isopropyl alcohol
  • variety paint brushes - wash brush or stroke - fine point or liner (Blick)
  • quill pen with variety of nibs - size #512, #513, #107 nibs work well (Blick)
  • the master's brush cleaner and preserver (Blick)
  • 1 x 2oz bottle of non-dry mixing medium (A Painter's Collection)

Enameling tools: 

Construction materials: 

  • copper sheet - 18g or 20g - quantity/size is up to you (Rio Grande)
  • 2 or more x pack of jewelers sawblades - #1 (Rio Grande)
  • 1 x pack of drill bits - #65 (Rio Grande)
  • 1 x pack of drill bits - #70 (Rio Grande)
  • 1 x pack of silicon carbide seperating discs (Rio Grande)
  • 1 x pack of 1/16" screw mandrel - 3/32" shank (Rio Grande)

Constructions tools:

 

Virtual Course
Tuition
$360.00
Instructor
Tanya Crane and Elliot Keeley
Level
Basic and above
Pre-requisites
Jewelry 1 skills required
Location
Virtual - Eastern Time Zone
Length
  • 0 days
 

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