Set It & Forget It: Part 1

Learning to design and fabricate your own settings is a great way to liberate your making process. In this virtual workshop participants will explore the wonderful world of making settings for stones, coins, ceramic shards, your child’s first lock of hair, or many other beautiful objects that are so special they deserve to have a home built for them.

Part one of this workshop will cover bezel, tab, frame, and basket settings. Students will be working with copper and/or silver depending on their piece and individual desires. Some basic metalworking skills such as sawing, filing and soldering will be needed in this workshop. The instructor will demo step-by-step processes and students will have a cheat sheet handout available to reference later in their own work.

For more information about virtual courses, visit our Virtual Course FAQ page. 

Please read the Materials & Tools tab! 

Meet the instructor

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Jennifer Wells is a studio artist and educator originally from the U.S but currently living in Italy. She holds an MFA, in Metalsmithing & Jewelry Design and has completed artist-in- residencies at: Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, Pocosin Arts in Columbia, NC and the Jentel Foundation near Banner, WY. She has worked for several U.S based Craft Schools, in a variety of roles.

As an educator, Jennifer has taught for and been a visiting Artist at Universities throughout the U.S and for study abroad programs based in Italy. She serves on the Board of Vita Institute and teaches short workshops on various enameling and metalsmithing techniques throughout Europe and the U.S. In recent years she has curated multiple international exhibitions focused on jewelry and enameling.

Her works are in the collections of the Enamel Arts Foundation, Racine Museum, All Russian Museum of Decorative Arts, Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Art Gallery, Crocker Art Museum and Private Collections.

Materials & Tools

The following supplies will be used for course demonstrations and objectives. A suggested item and/or vendor has been provided below for reference. Click the vendor name (in red) to be redirected to a page where you can find the item. The quantities needed for each item are listed first. If ordering, please be aware that some items may come in larger quantities than needed for this class. We recommend not opening an item's packaging until the day of the workshop. Student participation during or in-between class sessions is strongly encouraged but not required - observers are welcome.

Metal/raw materials:

  • 4" x square brass bar - 1/4" thick (Online Metals, etc.)
  • 7" x fine silver bezel wire - 1/4" x 28g (Rio Grande)
  • 24" min. x sterling silver round wire - 20g (Rio Grande)
  • 12" min. x sterling silver round wire - 18g (Rio Grande)
  • 6"x6" copper or sterling silver sheet - 22g (Rio Grande) 
  • objects to set under 1" dia. - cabs, coins, pebbles, etc. (Fire Mountain)

Torch setup:

Hand tools (note if you have no flex shaft, you can get the optional pin vise instead): 

Other/miscellaneous items:

  • fine point sharpie marker
  • masking tape
  • packing tape
  • dental floss
  • particulate dust mask
  • eye protection
  • old tooth brush
  • green scrubby pad
  • ajax/bar keepers friend/pumice based cleaner
Virtual Course
Tuition
$150.00
Instructor
Jennifer Wells
Level
Basic and above
Pre-requisites
Jewelry 1 skills required
Location
Virtual - Eastern Time Zone
Length
  • 0 days
 

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