I cant say I have ever done a blog before, so this feels a bit strange.
Metalsmith and Jewelry design is a completely new subject and medium for me. I am used to 2D type of art, like painting and drawing. They are more forgivable I think, and don't need quite so much teaching and scary tools. That being said, I think it is good to take a class outside of your comfort zone to learn, cause thats the point of college, right?
I missed the first week, so I immediately felt overwhelmed and scared, but I am catching up and am feeling more comfortable now as we get into our first project. There is a lot to metal that I had no idea existed. I hope I can remember it all.
Day 1 (3)-
My first day was everyone else's 3rd, so I had to do some catching up. I learned about annealing metal and having it work-hard, what these do for the metal, ect. I learned about the tools used in cutting metal, the differences in metal, and about cold-connections things together. We made our little metal pieces and turned them in. The very first thing I did was use the blow torch what a way to start a class.
Day 2 (4)-
We learned about doing rivets and how to connect two pieces of metal with an open rivet. We also learned to put patterns on the metal, which sounds artistic and helped me get more interested.
Day 3 (5)- we looked at our sketches for our first project. I am feeling more excited now that we have learned how to do certain things, and I have a goal to create something I am interested in. My project may be a little bit much for me to be able to do, but I would like to try.
I plan on making a bookmark with all the planets and the sun. I love astronomy, and I take a lot of classes, so Its an appropriate theme for a bookmark at least in my life. I plan on having one long unbroken strip of brass for the sun and the back plate to all the planets, and I plan on using copper for the planets and cold connecting them on top.
Its going to be a challenge but if I can pull it off I should have a pretty nifty bookmark for my astronomy textbook!
