Last weekend I took an all day class with Linda and Opie of Burnt Offerings in their studio in North Perry, Ohio. What a great day. They offered a few of these wonderful workshops this summer in their home for up to 4 students and my neighbor and art friend Lorel and I rode together and met Kim and Glenda - who were the other students taking the class. Everyone was great and we all shared bits and pieces that we brought with us that day to make our art. I took the class on Simple Metal Jewelry. We learned to rivet, hammer, cut and etch metal and also learned to make our own bezels. The picture I took shows what I did that day. The piece at the top left is a sheet of nickel plate and was etched. After it was etched I cut it into smaller pieces - one is my necklace and the two smaller pieces were then riveted to a piece of copper and aged them in Liver of Sulfur solution. The copper mesh, we painted with a torch to get the cool coloring, not sure what I'll use that for yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Linda and Opie were awesome teachers and hosts in their home/studio. They served us a wonderful home cooked lunch and (Linda also loves to cook) and shared great stories of their travels and projects they're working on. What really amazed me though, was seeing their art in person. You see their art in so many books and publications, but in person it was even better. I left at the end of the day feeling like I'd made new friends and hope to take more classes!
