Virtual Courses

Beginning with a brief look at the material wire, its role in history, how it has been made, and its application as a 3-dimentional line, this virtual workshop will demonstrate lots of techniques as well as highlight working methods based on Slovakian Tinkering.

In this live, virtual workshop students will learn the process of carving and shaping shell to make custom components for various types of jewelry. The class will focus on translating traditional jewelry hand skills such as sawing, drilling, and polishing into methods of manipulating Mother of Pearl.

In this live virtual workshop students will learn how to join multiple components by creating mushroom and flush rivets, the two main types of rivets used in jewelry and metalsmithing.

Knitting is a method of looping or stitching consecutive threads together to form a larger connected whole. In this live, virtual workshop students will learn how to apply the knitting technique to create a beautiful tubular chain using just a few hand tools and metal wire. Versatile and stylish, this chain looks very much like a Loop-in-Loop chain but is much easier.

This live, virtual workshop will introduce students to the process of salt water etching in order to produce deep relief on the surface of copper sheet, in preparation for filling and torch firing these etched pockets with wet-packed vitreous glass enamel. 

Explore synclastic forming, anticlastic forming, and spiculums, while learning to hammer comfortably and with control. In this live, virtual course, students will create concave and convex curves to transform a flat piece of metal into elegant fluidity through domed synclasts, saddle-like anticlasts, and tapered tube spiculums. 

In this live, virtual workshop, students will join master jeweler Kristin Mitsu Shiga to learn gypsy setting and easy tube setting for production. Students will create their own custom tools, cover alternative methods for holding pieces, and proper preparations and use of rubberized abrasives. 

This live, virtual workshop will focus on adorning the hand, as students design and make Argentium bangle bracelets while exploring a variety of designs and techniques such as hammer texturing, forging, forming, and fabrication. Proper bangle sizing, gauge choice, experimentation with measurement and length, as well as Argentium fusion will be covered throughout the course.

This live, virtual course will focus exclusively on two distinct stone setting processes - the first being bead setting and the second being hammer setting on a thick walled tube. Students will be guided on how to expertly hold and use bead setting tools, how to measure and construct an extra thick tube, and then how to hammer set a round faceted stone. Learn to to add perfect highlights to nearly any surface and create a clean visual frame that emboldens your stones to act as a focal point, while giving the piece a secure and structurally sturdy setting suitable for daily wear!

In this live, virtual workshop, students will focus on turning an enameled piece into jewelry, from the initial design to the final object. By learning various setting techniques for enamel, students will be shown how to incorporate their enameled pieces into their work using basic riveting, tube riveting, tab setting and some basic enclosed settings. Through sketching, demonstration and discussion, students will create a simple enameled jewelry piece using a new setting technique.

What could be more fun than a ring that is also a toy?!In this live virtual course, participants will create a unique, kinetic ring with a rotating or reversible bezel, inspired by ancient Egyptian and Roman rings. In addition to learning the fabrication process and mechanical construction for the moving parts, students will learn different surface design techniques, such as wire granulation and one-of-a-kind intaglio roller printing to make this style of ring your own.

In this live, virtual workshop, students will learn the basics of working with mild perforated steel sheet and wire in a range of patterns, how to fuse high karat gold and other metals to steel, how to finish the edges of perforated steel, and how to seal their jewelry pieces. 

This virtual workshop will introduce participants to the world of stamp making and stamping. Students will learn about variable types of steel and their properties, how to anneal steel, carving and pattern making techniques using files, and how to properly temper steel to make a lifelong, lasting tool.

In this live, virtual workshop students will learn to add high karat gold to fine, Argentium, and sterling silver through the ancient Korean gilding technique of “keum-boo”, a process of applying thin 24k gold to silver using heat and pressure.