Here are some better pictures of my beehive pieces although I would like to get the necklace photographed outdoors somewhere to give it some context.

Swarm detail
Swarm, necklace
leather, bronze, stainless steel
Beehive brooches
leather, bronze, stainless steel

Beehive brooches detail


Well that's all for now, although I am working on carving some handles for the cake serving ware for YokoTazaki and Sean McMullen's wedding which should be a blast!! I 'll be sure to post pictures once their done. But right now I'm living in a world of wood dust as I am forced to carve in my apartment having been kicked out of the studio at SUNY New Paltz till classes begin. The start of which both cannot come soon enough and yet is approaching way too fast. Actually come tho think of it I should be working on my 100 drawings assignment..... eeck!

Summer class part II

Above are the students samples of leather Repousse and Pyrography. These techniques as well as the scrimshaw technique shown below prepared the the students for the second project.

Project #2: Surface
Every culture handles the treatment of surface decoration differently. In this project the students researched different decorative motifs in order to understand how each came to function within the society of its origins. Each student made a decorative motif in response to the motiff they researched. This motif was applied either my means of scrimshaw, leather burning, or leather stamping. Below are a few images of their work but you can visit the rest here.

Nicholas

Laura

Theresa

Sarah

Summer Class

I just finished teaching a class titled "Not Metal Jewelry" in SUNY New Paltz's summer program. It was only a five week class but the students managed to get a lot of work done regardless. The class covered techniques such as small wood carving, leather working, and scrimshaw. The picture above are the samples the students carved in wood. They were given the choice of carving either a soy bean (just as Sharon Church first taught me to carve), a habanero pepper, or a chinese water chestnut.

Their first project was called Structures. I left it a bit open but wanted them to choose a structure (such a skeletal structure) and either recreate that structure or use a structure as the support to make another piece. All of the pieces were made in wood, leather, or metal using the techniques learned in class. Bellow are a few pics of some of my students work. click here to view the rest.

Justine

Preston

Rebecca

Becky

Heather